
Glass. 



HISTORY OF THE 

CxREat rebellion vvV 



By 

Thomas P. Kettell 
W 



1865 



PREFACE. 



In tlie following pages it has been attempted to give a suc- 
cinct and aiitlientic narrative of the war against the American 
Union, wliich, commencing practically with the secession of 
South Carolina in the autumn of 1860, in consequence of the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, terminated a few weeks after the 
second inauguration of the same chief magistrate. Although 
the period embraced within these limits comprises less than 
four and a half years, yet so prolific were these years of 
great'events and great ideas, so radical were the social and 
political changes wliich they involved, so numerous the civil 
and military chiefs they brought into public notice, that a 
single volume may appear inadequate to describe the History 
of the Great Rebellion. Undoubtedly to another age and to 
another generation of writers belongs the elaborate treatment 
of special episodes of the struggle. • Passion must also be- 
come cool, prejudices be softened, and the light of truth 
illumine many passages, at present obscure, before effects 
can be traced to their proper causes, and such a history be 
written as will bear the unmistakable imprint of accuracy 
and impartiality ; and few, probably, who read these pages, 
will live to see that time. Our materials at present are like 
the direct evidence educed at a trial — the cross-examination 
has not yet been had. Meanwhile, however, a work which 
shall refresh and re-enforce the memory, bewildered by the 
rapid march of events, and give a clear outline of what these 



IV PREFACE. 

wonderful four years and a half have brought forth, to be 
filled out by materials "vvhich the future alone can furnish, 
may not be undesirable. Such the present volume assumes 
to be ; and it is confidently believed tliat no important civil 
or military event will be found to liave been omitted from 
its pages. To the writer of contemporaneous history little 
opportunity is presented for philosophic generalization, and 
the author has gladly avoided speculations, which, from the 
necessity of the case, could only be crude and premature, 
contenting himself for the most part with recording facts, 
and leaving the reader to draw his own inferences. That 
his narrative has been written from a Union point of view 
will be sufliciently apparent, and for that circumstance he 
neither desires to apologize nor expects that an apology will 
be required. The sources of his information have been, 
wherever obtainable, official documents, and particularly the 
reports of generals who have conducted active operations in 
the field, or whose position has enabled them to describe 
such operations with accuracy. Where materials of this 
nature were not to be obtained, free use has been made of 
the voluminous and often graphic narratives of the army 
correspondents of the daily press — a branch of literature to 
which the war has given a surprising development, and 
which must be largely referred to by future historians. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGS 

Introddction 17 

CHAPTER I. 

Secession dctennineil upon by Southern Leaders. — Treachery of Cabinet Officers. — Division of 
the Democratic Party. — Election of Mr. Lincoln. — I'he John Brown Kaid. — "The Impending 
Crisis '" and the " Coniiteudiuni." — Movouients lor Secession in the Cotton States 31 

CHAPTER 11. 

Boutli Carolina Convention.^Ordinance of Seces.sion and Declaration of Catises. — Resolutions for 
(^)nveiitiou of Seceded States. — Mississippi Convention. — Alabama Convention. — Florida Ordi- 
nance—Seizure of Forts. — Georiria's Uesoliiuon in response to New York.^Ordinance of Seces- 
sion. — Louisiana (Convention. — Te.\as Couvmlion. — Vote of the People. — General Houston. — 
Vir;;inia lit-solutions. — Ordinance of Secession. — Convention wiih the Confederacy. — Arkansas. 
— Secession deffateil.— Norih Carolina Ordinance i>assed. — Tennessee Act of huiependencc. — 
Military League. — Maryland Kesolutions. — Confederate Congress. — Constitution. — Jefl'crson 
Davis, President. — Address 35 

CHAPTER III. 

Mcctin? of Congress. — President's Mes.sage. — designation of Secretaries Cobb, Cass, Floyd, and 
Thompson.— Defalcations. — S|iecial Message of the President. — Committee of Thirty-three. — 
Crittenden Eesolutions. — Border States' Plan. — Vinrinia Uescdutions.— Peace Convention. — 
Close of Congress. — New Territories. — Finance. — Constitutional Amendment. — Mr. Lincoln's 
Arrival at Washington.— Inaugural; its EH'ects.— Southern Commissioners.— Supplies to Fort 
Sumter. — Policy of the Government. — Charleston Harbor. — Events at the South.— Bombard- 
ment and Surrender of Fort Sumter. — Fort Pickens lie-enforced 50 

CHAPTER IV. 

Effect of t!io Fall of Sumter.— Call for Seventy-five Thousand Troops, and Replies of Statea— Con- 
gress Convened.— Destruction of Property at Norfolk.— Effect ol the Proclamation at the North. 
— Kaltimore Riot.— March of Troops to Washington. — The Position of Maryland.— Proceedings 
of her Legislature. — Pacification of Baltimore . ... 73 

CHAPTER Y. 

Confederate Congress. — Davis's Message.— Virginia.— Beauregard's Proclamation.— Border States' 
Convention. — Western Virginift. — State Reorganization 8S 

CHAPTER YI. 

Troops concentrated at Washington. — Popular Impatience. — Occnp.ation of Alexandria. — Opera- 
tions in Virginia 89 

CHAPTER YII. 

Occupation of Fortress Monroe.— Engagement at Big Bethel.— Increase of Army.— Army Organi- 
zation.— Want of Arms. — Advance to Centreville. — Bull Run 91 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHArTER VIII. 

PA«IB 

Missouri. — Capture of State Troops. — Booneville. — Carthajre. — Shenandoah Valley. — Patterson 
Crosses the Potomac. — Bunker Hill. — Campaign in Western Virfrinia. — Philippi. — Laurel Hill. 
— Itich Mountain. —Beverly. — Western Virginia cleared of Hebels. — McClellun tniiisierred to 
the Potomac 104 

CHAPTER IX. 

Eifcct of the Battle of Bull Eun. — Confederate Congress. — Davis's Message. — Privateering. — Affairs 
iu Missouri. — Commissioners to Europe. — Southern Armies and Finances 113 

CHAPTER X. 

Meeting of Congress. — President's Message. — Naval and Military Affairs. — Estimates for Tear. — 
Senators e.^pelled. — Acts passed. — Conliscation. — Operations of the Treasury. — The Different 
Loans Authorized. — Difliculties of the Government. — Habeas Corpus. — The Press. — iJewspapers 
Suppressed .' 121 

CHAPTER XL 

Modern Art of War. — Great Wars of Europe. — New Principles. — "Strategy." — "Tactics." — Forma- 
tion of Soldiers. — Kdueation of Officers. — Scientific Aspect of the Present War.— McClellan's 
Order. — Kestoration of Discipline. — Army Organization. — Inactivity of the Enemy. — His Pro- 
jects.— liatteras Occupied. — General Fremont in Missiniri. — Battle of Dug Springs. — Battle of 
Wilson's Creek. — Death of Lyon. — lietreat of tlie Army under bigtH.— Martial Law. — Position 
of Forces. — Colonel Blair's Charges. — Fremont's Proclamation. — Manumission.— Capture of 
Lexington. — Advance of Fremont. — lietreat of Price. — Major Zagouyi. — Fremont Eelieved. . . . 1S4 

CHAPTER XII. 

Kentucky. — Vote of the State. — Meeting of Legislature. — Message of Governor. — Kentucky for tHi 
Union. — Breckinridge's Proclamation. — Military Movements. — Cairo. — Columbus, its Position 
and Strength. — Padiicah. — Ci>ncentraUon of Troops. — Mill Spring. — Defeat and Death of Zolli- 
cofl'er. — Construction of Gunboats. — Capture ot Fort Henry. — Bowling Green Evacuated.— Fort 
Donelson. — Escape of Pillow and Floyd. — Fall of Nashville. — Columbus Evacuated. — Missouri 
under General Halleck 160 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Affairs in Western Virginia. — Gener.al Rosccrans. — Oppression by General Wise. — Population of 
Western Virginia.^The ConlVderate Troops. — Gaiiley Bridge. — Kanawha expedition. — Uose- 
crans's Command.— ProclamatioJi. — General Lee. — Elk liiver. — Cheat Mountain. —General Mey- 
nolds.— His Command.— Carnifes Ferry. — The Battle.— General Benh.am.- Retreat of the 
Enemy. — Dogwood Gap. — Big Sewall. — General Floyd. — General lieynolds. — Green River. — 
Enemy's Loss.— Chapmanville.— Gauley Bridge.— Guyandotte.—itomnoy.— Camp Alleghany... 180 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Strength of the Navy. — Blockade. — Captures by the Navy. — Large Increase of Ships of War. — Eight 
of Blockade.— Propositions of the American Government.— Action of lingland and France. — 
Privateers. — The Sumter. — The Nashville.— Trial of Privateers.— Laws of I'iracy.— Retaliation 
of the Confederates. — Exchange of Prisoners 186 

CHAPTER XV. 

Improved EfRcicncy of tho Nj>vy. — Expeditions. — Port Royal.— The Fleet.— The Assault. — Troops 
Landed. — Proclamation. — Stone Fket. — Ship Island. — General Butler. — Proclamatii>n of (Jen- 
cral I'help.s. — Burnside's Expedition. — Fort Pickens. — Galveston. — Combat on the Mississippi. 
' — Effectiveness of the Blockade 19T 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Army of tho Potomac. — Volunteers. — Union Advance. — Lewinsville. — Ball's Bluff. — General Scott 
Retires. — McClellan in Command. — Dranesville. — Programme of Movement. — President's 
Proclamation 210 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGE 

Foreign Mission of the Confederates. — Mr. Seward's Letter of Instructions. — Earl Eussell iirfc tlie 
Confederates. — France Kecognizes de-facto Governments. — Foreign Recognition of the Bellig- 
erent Rights of the South.— Mr. Seward's Reply. — Spain. — Mexico. — Monroe Doctrine. — The 
Trent Aflair 216 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Age of InTcntion.— Change in Arms.— Springfield Riile. — Enfield Rifle. — Repeating Arms. — The 
Rodman Gun.— Columbiads. — Parrott Gua.—Dahlgrens.— Table of Guns in Service. — Projec- 
tiles.— Batteries _ 223 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Situation.— Army of the Potomac. — Gener.al McClellan. — The Retreat of the Enemy from 
Manassas. — The Peninsular Campaign. — Yorktown. — McDowell's Corps Withdrawn. — Siege of 
Yorktown 228 

CHAPTER XX. 

» 

Iron-plated Ships. — Mcrrimae. — Federal Fleet. — Hampton Roads. — Destrnction of the Cumberland 
and Congress. — Monitor. — Iron-clad Duel. — Repulse of the Merrimac 245 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Evacuation of Yorktown. — Retreat of the Enemy. — Pursuit. — Battle of Williamsburg. — West 
Point. — Advance of McClellan. — Fort Dai-ling. — Repulse of the Gunboats 251 

• CHAPTER XXII. 

Taking of Norfolk. — Chick.ahominy. — Position of Enemy. — Ilanover Couijt -House. — Battle of Pair 
Oaks. — Advance of the Reserves. — Retreat of the Enemy 256 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

General Jackson's Movement. — Battle at Winchester. — Advance Oi Banks. — Shields ordered to 
join McDowell. — Retreat of Banks. — P'ront Royal. — Banks driven across the Potomac. — Moun- 
tain Department. — Fremont supersedes Rosecran.s. — Battle at McDowell. — Fremont's Corps 
ordered to support Banks. — The Object of J.ackson's Raid. — Fremont's Movement. — Retreat of 
the Enemy. — llarrisonburg. — Cross Keys. — Escape of Jackson. — McDowell concentrates at 
Fredericksburg. — Formation of the Army of Virginia under Pujie 265 

■' • 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Continued Operations against Richmond. — Combat of June 25th. — McClellan's Dispatch Me- 

chaniesviUe. — Gaines's Mills. — Change of Base to the James River. — White Oak Swamp. — Mal- 
vern Hill. — McClellan Addresses the Troops. — Jefferson Davis"s Address. — Close of Campaign. 
— Causes of Failure 219 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Department of Missouri.— General Ilalleck.— Negotiations with Price. — Van Dorn, Curtis, and 
Sigel.- Pea Ridge 295 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Island No. Ten.— Beauregard at Corinth.— Battle of Pittsburg Landing.— Huntsville.— Fort Wright. 302 

CHAPTER XXVII. * 

Halleck at Pittsburg Landing. — F.all of Corinth.— Pursuit. — Memphis Occupied. — General Grant. — 
End of Campaign. — Halleck at Washington 313 



8 CO^sTEJSTTS. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

TAOB 

Operatiifhs of the Army of Virginia niulor General Pope.— New Policy of Conducting the War.— 
Cedar Mountain.— hiue of the llaiipahannock.- Khuikiug Movement of Stonewall Jackson.— 
Second Battle of Bull Kun.—Chantilly.— Death of Kearny.— Kvacuatiou of the Peniusula 319 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

The Expedition of Burnside.- Capture of Newbern.— Beaufort Captured.— Operations on the 
Southern Coast.— Siege of Fort Pulaski.— James Island. 883 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Financial Situation.— Lesal Tender.— Interest in Coin.— Duties in Specie.— Gold Notes at a Pre- 
mium.— Deposits.— Ways and Means.— Debt.— E.xcise Loan.— Income Tax.— Paper Circulation. 
Effect of Pai)er Money. — Uise in I'rice.— I'remiuui on Guld.-Oommorce.— Government Ex- 
penses.— Growth of Debt.— Immense M.aus 348 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



-Surrender of Commissioners.- 



Thirty-Seventh Congress.— Foreign Relations.— Public Anxiety.— 

War Conduct— Executive Action.— Presi<leMts Message.— Co-operation.— Hunter's Order. — 
Border State Delegation.— Kentucky U-gislature.- President's Letter.— His Position.— West- 
ern Delegation. — Emancipation Action of Congress. — No more Slave Territory. — District of 
Columbia.— Co-operation Resolution. — Military Hot to Surrender Fugitives. — Troops Author- 
ized.— Conscription. — Work of the Thirty-Seventh Congress 354 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Expedition of General Butler.— New Orlean.s.— Its Defences.— Passage of the Forts by Farragut.-<^ 
Capture of City. — Butler's Administration. — Baton Kouge. — Yicksburg. — Kam Arkansas. — Her 
Destriictiou 363 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Privateers. — Confederate Nav.v.— Oreto : Her Operations.— The Alabama. : Her Movements.— Dip- 
lomatic Correspondence. — Captures. — Uatteras Captured 371 

CHAPTER XXXIY. 

General Pope's Army.— Its Condition.— McClellan"s Armv.- Enemy Cross the Potomac. —McClel- 
lan in Command.— Halleck refuses Troop,';.— So nth Mountain.— Harj.er's Ferry.— Antietam.— 
Hooker. — Sumner.— Burnside. — Retreat of the Enemy.— Advance of the Army.— McClellan 
Superseded 376 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Burnside in Command.— Change of Plan.— Pontoons Delayed.— Plans of Crossing.— Two Attacks. 
—Franklin's Movements.— Seizure of Frederickshurg.— Sumner.— Terrible Slaughter.- Ilepulae 
on the Kiglit.— Inaction.— Withdrawal of the Armv.— End of Campaign.— lutrigues.—Order No. 
a— Burnside Believed 391 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Situation in Kentucky.— Bragg's Invasion.— Mnmfordsville.-Buell's Advance.— Perrysville.-Ee- 
treat of the Enemy. — Features of Cami)aign 399 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Cumberland Gap.— Morgan's Escape.— luk.a.— Price Retreats.— C/orinth.—Bepulso of the Enemy. 
— Vickbburg Exjie.dilion. — Reorganization of the Ohio Army by liosecrans. — His Advance. — 
Battle of Stone Kivcr.— Defeat of the Enemy 408 



CONTENTS. y 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

FA6B 

Turn of the Tide of War.— New Combinations.— Vicksburg.— Sherman's Attack.— Arkansas Post. 
—Renewal of Attempt upon Vicksburg.— Passage of Batteries by the Fleet.— Flanking March 
of Giant 41f 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Flank Movement against Vicksburg.- Battles of Raymond. Jackson, and Champion Hills.— 
Investment of the City.— Obstinate Defence.- Surrender.- Chronology of Events.— Crierson's 
Raid 428 

CHAPTER XL. 

Expedition of General Banks.— Investment of Port Hudson.- Unsuccessful Assaults.— Brashear 
City.— Capitulation of Port Hudson.— Chronology of Events 435 

CHAPTER XLI. 

New Movement against Richmond.— Lee's Flank Turned.— Battle of Chancellorsville.— Retreat of 
Hooker. — Operations by Sedgwick 443 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Second Invasion of Maryland.— Defeat of Milroy at Winchester.— Meade appointed to command 
the Army of the Potomac— Battle of Getty sburg.— Retreat of Lee 450 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

Lee's Retreat from Gettysburg.- Peace Mission.— Conscription.— Meade Re-enforced.- Draft- 
Riots.- Lee crosses the" Rapidan. — His Advance and Subsequent Retreat 464 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

-Re. 
-Kilp: 



Meade's Advance across the Rnpidan.—Recrosses.— Winter-Quarters.— Draft for Three Hundred 
Thousand Men.— Reconnoissauce.— Kilpatrick's Raid upon Richmond.— Death of Dahlgren 4T0 



CHAPTER XLV. 

Creation of the Office of Lieutenant-Gener.al.— General Grant Appointed.— .Army Reorganization. 
—Draft for Two liundreil Thousand Men.— Gc-neral Grant assumes Command in Chii-f.— 
Powers of the Lieutenant-General.— Country bt-t\veen Washington and Richmond.— Rule of 
Advance. — Rebel Position 473 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

The Army in Tennessee.— Results of Murfreesboro'. — Operations in Tennessee.— Minor E.^pedi- 
tions.— Advance of Rosecrans.— Retreat of Bragg. — Burnside's Campaign in East Tennes.^L-e.- 
Occupation of Knoxville. — Evacuation of Chattanooga. — Concentration of the Enemy. — Battle 
of Chickamauga. — The Two Generals. — Results of the Battle 480 

CHAPTER XLVII. • 

Inaction of Bragg.— His Position.— Ilis Indeci.sion.— Roseerans Recruiting.- Storms.— Hooker Ar- 
rives. — Grant Ordered up.— He Sui>ersedes Roseerans. — Thomas in Command of Department 
— Position of the Army. — Movement to oiien River. — Defeat of the Enemy.— Sherman's March. 
— Combat — Change of Route.— Burnside's Position. — Longstreet Detached from Bratrj;.— Siege 
of Knoxville.— Burnside Hard Pressed.— Brags; Weakened.— Grant Attacks.— The Movement 
Successful. — Sherman Relieves Burnside. — Retreat of Longstreet 494 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Operations against Charleston.— Arrival of Monitors.— Montauk.—.\ttock by the Enemy.— Iron- 
Clad Attack on Sumter.— Capture of the Atlanta — General Gillmore in Command. — A.-^sault on 
Flirt Watrner. — Bombardment of Fort Sumtt-r. — Siege and Reduction of Fort Wagner.— Occupa- 
tion of Morris Island • . ^1 



10 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 



PAOB 

Advance on Riclimond.— Crossin;^ of the Eapidan.— Routes of Corps.— The Enemy Attempts a 
Flanking Movement. — Meade's Attack.— liepulse of Gi-iffin. — Hancock Arrives.— Concentration 
of the Annv. — Burnside ordereil Forward.— .N'ew Dispositions. — Advance of Hancock on the 
6th. — Arrival of Lonjisireet. — Fall of Wadsworth. — Longstreet Wounded. — Att.ack on the Union 
Eight.— Itcsults of the Two Days' Fighting .~. 508 

CHAPTER L. 

Movement upon Spottsvlvania.— The Enemy on the Alert— Attack of May 10th.— Death of Sedg- 
wick.— Position of tlic Troops.— Grant "to Fight it out on that Line."— Assault by the Second 
Corps on Mav l'2lh. — Large Captures (Jf Prtsoiiers and Guns. — Results of the Struggle. — Sheri- 
dan's Cavalry Raid.— Death of General Stuart— Battle at Meadow Bridge.— Sheridan at the 
James River "^^ 

CHAPTER LI. 

Eetrograde Movement of the Enemy.— Bad Condition of the Ro.ads.— Union Movement to the 
Left— Relative Position of Armies.— Re-enforceinents. — Irruption on the Rear Repulsed. — 
Grant Crossing the North Anna.— Impregnable Position- of the Enemy.— North Anna Re- 
crossed, and Movement to the Left continued 528 

CHAPTER LII. 

Original Plan of Campaign.— Butler's Expedition up the James.— Movement on Petersburg.- Fort 
Darling. — Repulsii of the Union Forces.— Attack by Beauregard. — Beauregard Re-enforces Lee. 
— Smith sent to Support Grant 529 

CHAPTER LIII. 

Position of Grant's Army. — "Warren's Advance.— Further Development of the Union Left Wing. — 
Severe B.attles around Cold Harbor.— New Flank Movement determined upon.— Crossing of the 
James and Junction with Butler. — Results of that Campaign 533 

CHAPTER LIV. 

Advance on Petersburg.— Position of the City.— Assault and Capture of Earthworks and Guns.— 
Assault of Saturday, June ISth.— Repulse.— Aspect of the Campaign 539 

CHAPTER LV. 

Relative Strength of Armies.— Grant Moves against the Railroad Connections of Richmond. — 
Combat of June 21st.— Repulsed the 2.Sd.— Sheridan's E.xpedition.— Movement of Wilson and 
Kautzon the Danville Road.— Five Hundred Thousand Men called out— iixijlosion of the Mine 
in Front of Petersburg.— Failure of the Assault . 542 

CHAPTER LVI. 

Sigel's Movement in the Vallev.— Hunter Suf)ersedes Sigcl, and Defeats the Rebels near Staun- 
ton.— Occupation of Lexington.— Lynchburg.— Early sent to the Valley.- Retreat of Hunter 
through Western Vir::inia.— Advance of Early down the Valley and Invasion of Maryland. — 
Defoa"t of Wallace.— Washinu'ton Threatened.— Arrival of Sixth Corps and Retreat of Early.— 
Various Encounters in the Valley.— Hunter Superseded by Sheridan 549 

CHAPTER LYII. 

Dutch Gap Canal.— Movement North of the James.— Expedition of the Fifth Corps to the "Weldon 
Road.— Attack bv Hill.— Severe Fighting near Reams's Station.— Losses.— Repulse of the Ene- 
my.— Sub9equen"t Repulse of Hancock.— Renewal of Movement North of the James and Cap- 
ture of Fort Harrison.— Further Operations on the Weldon Railroad 554 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

Operations in Tennessee.— Sherman's Raid Through Mis.^issippi.— Failnro of Smith's Co-operative 
Movement- Invasion of Western Tennessee and Kentucky by Forrest— Massacre at Fort Pil- 
low ^1 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER LIX. 

PAOB 

Co-operative Movement on Atlanta.— Size and Organization of the Union and Eebol Armies. — 
Commencement of the Camjjaign by Sliorman.— livacuation of Dalton by Johnston. — Battle of 
Kesaca and Ketrcat of the Rebels.— Operations at Dallas and Kenesaw. — Rebels Flanked and 
Driven Across the Ohattahoocheo 587 

CHAPTER LX 

Tho New Position of the Enemy. — Johnston again Turned and Pushed Back upon Atlanta. — Kos- 
seau's Eaid.— Hood Succeeds Johnston. — Investment of Atlanta. — Battles of July '2Uth and '22d. 
— Death of McPherson. — Cavalry Uaids of Stoneman and McCook.^Defeat and Capture of 
Stoneman. — Battle of July 2Sth. — Prolongation of the Union liight Wing. — Changes of Com- 
manders in Sherman's Army. 5T9 

CHAPTER LXI. 

Siege cf Atlanta. — Position of the City.— ^Topography. — The Enemy's Strength. — Sherman Moves 
to the Kight. — ,Wheeler's Kaid. — Kilpatrick's Itaid. — Granil Flank Movement of the Arm3' on 
the Macon Kailroad. — Defeat of the Enemy at Jonesboi'o'. — Evacuation of Atlanta. — Congratula- 
tory Order of General Sherman. — Truce. — I)ei)opulation of Atlanta. — Correspondence between 
Sherman and Hood. — Pkcsults of tho Campaign 58T 

CHAPTER LXII. 

The Gulf Department. — Sabine Pass E.Kpedition. — McPher.son Moves from Vick.sbnrjr. — Expedi- 
tion to the Kio Grande and Occupation of Brownsville. — Banks's Red River E.xpedition. — Cap- 
ture of Fort De Russey. — Occupation of Ale.xandria.— liattle of Mansfield. — Retreat of the Arnij'. 
— Repulse of the Enemy at Pleasant Hill. — Operations of the Fleet. — The Dam at Alexandria. — 
Arrival of the Army and Fleet in the Mississippi. — Co-operative Movement of Steele in Ar- 
kansas. — Causes of its Failure 598 

CHAPTER Lxnr. 

War in Missouri. — Execution of Guerrillas. — Marmaduke's Movements. — Helena. — Successful Cam- 
paign of General Steele in Arkansas.— Capture of Little Eock.— General Gantt.— Sacking of 
Lawrence by Quantrell. — Price's Last Invasion of Missouri. — His Disastrous Defeat and Retreat 
into Arkansas 604 

CHAPTER LXIY. 

Mobile. — Its Defences. — Concentration of Troops. — Combined Operations. — Landing on Dauphine 
Island.—Order of Battle. — Tecumseh Blown up. — Tennessee Attacks. — Desperate Rattle. — 

Mode of Attack. — Fort Powell Blown up. — Fort Gaines Surrenders. — Siege of Fort Morgan. 

Surrender. — Minor Expeditious ". 610 

CHAPTER LXY. 

Expedition to Florida.— Oecupation of Jacksonville.— Advance of General Seymour.— Battle of 
Olustec, and Retreat of the Union Army.— Demonstration against Newbern.— Capture of Ply- 
muuth.— The Albemarle.— Her Fight with Union Gunboats.— Her Destruction. — Rebel Priva- 
teers.— Combat between tho Kearsarge and Alabama.— Capture of the Florida «ud Georgia 615 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

Depopulation of Atlanta. — Correspondence between General Sherman and Mayor Calhonn.— Plank 
Movement by Hood.— zVttack on Allatoona.— Hood Severs Sherman's Communications.- 
Marches into Alabama and Enters Tennessee.— Sherman's New Plan of Campaign.— Invasion of 
Tennessee.— Battle of Franklin.— Affair at Murfreesboro'.— Battles of December 15th and IGth 
before Nashville.— Retreat of Hood into Alabama.— Close of the Campaign C2S 

CHAPTER LXYH. 

Sheridan in Command of the Middle Militarv Division.— Maufieuvring in the Vallev.— Object of 
the Movements.— P>attles of Opequan Creek and Fisher's Hill.— Rcnit and Retreat of the Rebels. 
—Their New Position at Brown's Gap.— Mo vcments of Sheridan 641 



12 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 



Position of Armies. — Early Advances. — Battle of Cedar Creek. — Opiwrtnnc Arrival of Sheridan. — 
Disastrous Defeat of the Enemy. — Sheridan's Troops Leave for the rotomac. — Devastation 6-19 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

Politioal Parties.— Elections of 1862.— Organization and Strength of the Peace Party. — Banishment 
of Vallandighaiii. — Oliio Election. — Political Iteaction in Favor of the Administration. — Thiity- 
Eiirhtli CoiiLTi-ss. — I'lcMdenl's I'lau of I'lCeonstnietion. — Amendment to the Constitution. — 
Piejiidential Canvass of l.sfU. — Conventions at Baltimore and t'hieago. — Nomination of Lincoln 
and MeCkllan. — Kesult of the Election. — Peace Negotiations. — Colonel Jaques. — The Niagara 
Falls Correspondence , , 656 

CHAPTER LXX. 

Finances of 1S63. — Uevcnue.^ — Sales of Bonds. — Effect of Paper Money. — Policy of Mr. Chase.^ 
Gold Law and its Eflects. — Mr. Chase Itesigns. — Finances of 1S64. — Sales of Bonds in Europe. — 
titatement of Debt. — National Banks. — Prices of Gold 672 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

Sherman Proposes to Cross Georgia. — Comi)osition of Army. — Marching Orders. — Combat at Gris- 
woldville. — Appeal to the I'eople of Georgia. — Milledgt-ville Keached. — Army at Louisville. — 
Combat with Wheeler. — .March to Savannah. — Communicates with the Fleet. — Fort McAllister. 
—Evacuation of Savannah. — Sherman's Dispatches — Wilmington E.xpedition. — Fort Fisher.^ 
Powder-Shij). — Boinbarduient. — Failure. — Return to Hampton Koads. — Co-operation from Ply- 
mouth 679 

CHAPTER LXXIL 

Affairs at Petersburg. — Tlencwcd Attempt to Flank the Rebel Bight. — Battle at Hatcher's Bun. — 
F.glning on the NortJi Side of the .lames. — Review of the Year. — Importance of Sherman's 
Operations. — Culls for Troops. — Relative Strength of Armies. — Second Attack on Fort Fisher. — 
Capture of Fort and Garrison 7 _. 690 

CHAPTER LXXni. 

Capture of Remaining Defences on Cape Fear River. — Schofleld's Order from Tennessee. — Fort 
Anderson Taken. — Oc<uipalion of Wilmington. — Movement on Kiuston. — Goldsboro'. — Gill- 
more before Charleston. — Evacuation of the City by Hardee. — Flag Restored to Fort Sumter. — 
Kheridan in the Valley. — His R:ud. — Great Destruction of Rebel Property. — Joins Meade C99 

CHAPTER LXXIY. 

General Sherman at S.avann.ah. — The Advance Nortliward. — Pocotaliiro. — Salkehatchie. — Move- 
ment on Columbia. — Coiitlatrration in ('obunbia and its Origin. — Beauregard at Charlotte. — Lee 
Placed in ("hief Commaml of the Rebel .\rniie.s. — -Johnston Reinstated. — Fayetteville. — Rebel 
Strength. — Averysboro'. — Bentonville. — Goldsboro'. — Junction of Three Union Armies. — Ob- 
jective of the Campaign Gained 703 

CHAPTER LXXV. 

Gr.ant's Preparations for a Final ^^ovement. — Rebel Attack on Fort Steadman. — Disastrous Re- 
pulse.— Object of Lee. — Movement on the Left Commenced. — Alfairof Quaker Road. — Heavy 
Fighting on J5oyilton Road. — Decisive Battle of Five Forks. — Rebel Left Turned. — As.sault 
on Peter.sburg. — Evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. —L'ursuit of Lee. — His Surrender to 
Grant. — End of Campaign. . 717 

CHAPTER LXXVI. 

Eaids in Kentucky and East Tennessee. — Defeat and Death of Morgan. — Successes of Stonemiin 
and Buibri<lge. — Destruction of Works at Saltville. — Stoneman's Last Raid. — Capture of Salis- 
bury. — Negotiations between i^hermaii and Johnston. — .Vgreement f(]r Surrender by J<jlinston 
disavowed at Washington. — Reasons Assigne<l.— Final Suinnder of Johnstmi. — Wilson's Great 
E.aid in Alabama anil Geortria.— Cajiture of Seliiui. Moiilironiery, and Ma(^>n. — E.xehanges of 
Prisoners.— Cruel Treatnunt by Rebels of Union Pris<)n<-rs.— Horrors of Andersonville.— Rebel 
Plots in Caiuida.- The St. Albans Raid.— Execution of Beall and Kennedy.— Attempts to Fire 
A^lericau Cities and Introduce Pestilence 729 



CONTENTS. * 13 

CHAPTER LXXVIL 

PAQB 

Peace Negotiations at Fortress Monroe. — Their Fruitless Issue. — Second Inancrnration of Lincoln. 
— His Address. — Kojoicinfrs at the Prospc^ct of IVaoe. — Assassination of Lincoln. — The I'ublic 
Mourniiis. — Funeral I'rocession. — Character of Lincoln. — Dooth, the Murderer, Pursued and 
Shot. — Trial and K.xecution of his Accomplices. — Inauguration of .Andrew Johnson as Presi- 
dent. — Amnesty Proclamation. — Plan for Keconstruction. — Pursuit and Capture of Davis. — 
Capitulation of Generals Taylor and Kirby Smith. — Termination of the War and Disbandin<; of 
tho Armies.— The National Debt, — Concluding lleflections. 744 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 

^11 orwliicli were Engraved expressly- for this "Work. 
STEEL PLATES. 

Page. 

A. Lincoln, late President of the United States,. .Frontispiece. 

Jefferson Davis, 48 

Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary op the Navv, C5 

Eombardjient of Fort Sumter, 72 

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, 81 

Maj. Gen. G. B. McClellan, 112 

Maj. Gen. A. E. Burnside, 200 

Commodore D. D. Porter, 249 

Commodore Dahlgren, 249 

Commodore A. II. Foote, 249 

Lieut. J. L. Worden, 249 

Maj. Gen. B. F. Butler, 289 

Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, 289 

Maj. Gen. W. S. Hancock, 289 

Maj. Gen. Geo. G. Meade^ 289 

Maj. Gi-:n. G. H. Thomas, 289 

Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan, 289 

Lieut. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, 304 

Lieut. Gen. Braxton Bragg, 304 

Gen T. J. (Stoneavall) Jackson, 304 

Gen. Sterling Price, 304 

Gen. James Longstreet, ^ 304 

Gen John C. Pemberton, . „ 304 

Maj. Gen. Halleck, 312 

Vice Admiral Farragut, 3G9 

Charge on the Battery, 457 

Lieut. Gen. Grant, 472 

Cavalry Charge, 4g0 

Maj. Gen. J. A. Logan, 4§3 



list of illustrations. 

Maj. Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, 488 

Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman, , 488 

JMaj. Gen. John Sedgwick, 488 

Maj Gen. A. H. Terry, 488 

Brig. Gen. N. Lyon, 488 

Gunboats and Monitors Bombarding the Defences of 

Charleston, 504 

Hon. E M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 512 

Battle of the Wilderness, 520 

Lieut. Gen. R. E. Lee, 544 

Funeral Ceremony of the late President Lincoln at the 

White House, 745 

Andreav Johnson, President of the United States, 752 

South Carolina, 71 

Virginia, 81 

Missouri, 107 

North Carolina, 203 

Alabama, 205 

Fredericksburg to Petersburg, 259 

Gettysburg to Fredericksburg, \ 332 

Tennessee and Kentucky, 400 

Mississippi 424 

Charleston Harbor, 502 

Chattanooga to Atlanta, 571 

Mobile Harbor Gil 

Wilmington Harbor, 697 



INTRODUCTION. 



The attempt to describe the progress of a contest, in which the 
existence of a great nation has been involved, may fitly be preceded 
by a rapid review of the origin of the organic law of tliat nation, 
and of the previous efforts of discontented individuals, parties, or 
States, to resist, divide, or overthrow its government. 

The thirteen colonies Avhich united in the effort to throw off the 
British yoke, in 1775, had some points of agreement, but more of 
difference. Their agreement arose li-om the j)urpose, common to 
them all, of resisting oppression; their differences were the result 
of diverse origin, different modes of life, and divergent views of the 
essential characteristics of a free government. 

The Articles of Confederation or alliance of these colonies, adopted 
by most of them in 1778, proved a very weak and imperfect com- 
pact. Under it, the thirteen independent sovereignties were bound 
together rather by the moral attraction of a common purpose, than 
by that thorough affiliation which alone could make them a united 
nation. The collection of taxes, the adoption and enforcement of 
national measures, and that unity of action which would command 
the respect of foreign powers, were difficult, if not impossible, under 
such a compact ; and the use of force for the accomplishment of any- 
one of these objects contravened the cardinal principle of the Revolu- 
tion, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of 
the governed. 

It was felt, in all quarters, that a constitution or compact of 
greater stringency, and which should engage more thoroughly the 
confidence and consent of the people, was needed ; but so diverse 
were the views of the different States and of the leading statesmen, 
that it seemed hardly possible that an instrument could be framed 
which would receive general approval. Yet the attempt was made ; 
the initiative being taken by Virginia, whose legislature, in 1786, 
recommended the calling of a convention at Annapolis, to endeavor 
to adopt some articles of agreement providing for a more efficient 
taxation, the prosecution of commerce, &c. In this convention but 
eight States were represented, and the delegates, fully convinced of 
the magnitude and radical character of the changes required, con- 
tented themselves with calling a Convention to meet in the ensuing 
spring (1787), to recommend such alterations in and additions to the 
Articles of Confederation as they might deem necessary. In that 
Convention, to which were sent the most eminent statesmen of each 
State, and to which we owe our Federal ConstitutioUj there was a 
2- 



18 INTEODUCTIOJSr. 

great diversity of views. Two extreme parties appeared in the Con- 
vention — the advocates of a strong government, in whicli the States 
Bhould surrender a greater part of their rights to the nation, and 
wliich shouhl he governed by a president, with ahnost regal powers, 
elected for life; and the supporters of a mere Confederation of 
States, somewhat stronger than that already existing, yet cai-efuUy 
guarded against any tendencies to centralization — in other words, 
the Federal and the State Rights parties. To the former belonged, 
with some exceptions, the delegates from New England, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina ; to the 
latier, most of those from the other States, though the great name of 
Washington was on the side of a strong government. Neither party 
were entirely successful. But early in the session of the Cotnventiou 
one thing was decided : that the Constitution was to bind the whole 
people, and not to be a mere State compact ; that the 2)<^ople of the 
United States tcere to be one nation, and not an aggregation of 
sovereign States. This point settlek, there Avere still many others 
on which the delegates diifered ; and when the Constitution was 
completed and submitted to the people for ratification, neither 
Washington, Jefferson, nor Franklin concealed the fact that there 
were portions of it which were not wholly satisfactory to them. In 
the course of its ratification by the people of the different States, many 
amendments were suggested, and when, at last, after some slight 
changes, it became the bond of union of the nation, there were many, 
both in this and foreign countries, who predicted a brief existence to 
the nation thus consolidated. 

It has proved, however, a bond of greater strength than even its 
friends dared to hope, and though some needful modifications have 
been made by the concurrent vote of the people who first adopted it, 
it has with each successive decade, and we might say, indeed, with each 
Buccessive year, won a higher place in the love and admiration of the 
nation. 

There have been, it is true, occasional efforts to transcend its pro- 
visions, to violate its obligations, or to subvert its spirit, but these 
have been the acts of a few restless and misguided individuals, or at 
most of a portion only of the citizens of two or three States, until the 
commencement of the Great Rebellion. 

A brief notice of these manifestations of hostility to the national 
authority may not be inappropriate. The first in the order of time 
was the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, in Western Pennsylvania. The 
Federal Government, after its organization under the Constitution, 
had assumed the debts incurred by the several States in the war for 
independence, and m order to provide for the payment of the interest 
and the eventual liquidation of the principal of that debt, it became 
necessary to adopt a rigorous system of taxation. Heavy duties were 
laid on imported liquors, and the manufacture of whiskey, rum, gin, 
&c., which was very extensive in several of the States, was made to 
bear a part of the burden, in the way of an excise duty. The chief 
crop of Western Pennsylvania at that period was rye, which was almost 
entirely manufactured into Avhiskey, and sent east for the purchase 



INTEODUCTION. 19 

of Other needed commodities. The enhancement of the price of this 
liquor, in consequence of the exise duty, created intense excitement, 
and led to active resistance of the collectors and inspectors of the 
stills appointed by the Government, some of whom were subjected 
to personal indignities and violence, in their attempts to perform their 
duties. The law was modified, at the instance of the class who are 
always desirous of a compromise in such cases; but the malcontents 
would accept no terms short of its entire repeal, and resisted the col- 
lection of the tax till July, 1794. At that time the United States 
marshal was ordered to take a posse of armed men an serve warrants 
upon thirty offending distillers. He was successful in the service of 
the writs except in the case of one person, who made an armed resist- 
ance, compelled the officers to fly for their hves, and burned the house 
of the district inspector. Encouraged by this success, the insurgents 
now called out a force of seven thousand men, stopped and robbed 
the mail, under pretext of ascertaining who were in complicity with 
the government, and proceeded to array themselves hi open opposition 
to the national authority. General Washington, then President, issued 
his proclamation commanding the insurgents to disperse, and this 
proving ineffectual, he called out a force of fifteen thousand men from 
Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to suppress the rebellion. It 
being understood that every man found in arms would be arrested 
and hung, the insurgents became appalled, and, calling a convention at 
Parkinson's Ferry, adopted resolutions of entire submission. General 
Lee, with the Federal force, proceeded to the insurgent district, and, 
the excise officers performing their duties with very little opposition, 
proclaimed an amnesty. 

In 1798, the eflbrts of certain French revolutionists and their sym- 
pathizers to involve this country in a war with England, and the 
violence of their denunciations of President Adams, who opposed 
their policy, led to the passage by Congress of the alien acts and the 
Bedition law. The former gave the President power for two years 
to order all such aliens as he might deem dangerous to the peace and 
safety of the United States to leave the country, and made provision 
also for registering the names and residences of aliens. These laws 
were never enforced, the President not deeming it necessary. The 
sedition law punished, by heavy fines, any attempt to excite insurrec- 
tion or to conspire against the Government, also the publication of 
any false, fjcandalous, or malicious writings against the President, or 
other officers of Government or Congress. The operation of this act 
was also limited to two years. The Anti-Federalists, who were then 
in opposition, saw in the passage of these laws the opportunity of 
defeating the Federal party, and attahiing to power. They accord- 
ingly denounced them with great severity, and introduced resolutions, 
taking strong ground in favor of State rights, into the legislatures of 
Virginia and Kentucky; those in the former State being drawn by 
James Madison, and those in the latter drafted originally by Thomas 
Jeflerson, though subsequently modified, and stripped of some of 
their objectionable passages by George Nicholas. Mr. Madison's reso- 
lutions, though avowing the doctrine that the Federal Government 



20 mTEODUCTION. 

is a compact between the States as States, a doctrine utterly repu- 
diated elsewhere, proposed no nullification of the laws of Congress, 
and Mr. Madison himself subsequently explained that no extra-consti- 
tutional measures were intended. The original draft of Jefferson's reso- 
lutions was more objectionable. The eighth resolution declared, that 
when Congr(>ss assumes powers not delegated by the people (the States 
themselves being the sole judges), " a nullification of the act is the 
right remedy, and that every State has a natural right, in cases not 
within the compact, to nullify, of their own authority, all assumptions 
of power by others within their limits." These resolutions passed 
the two legislatures, with tlie more objectionable passages altered, 
and were seiit to the legislatures of the other States for their concur- 
rence, but not one concurred. The object of their authors was, never- 
theless, accomplished ; the ensuing presidential election resulted in the 
success of the Anti-Fedei-alists, and Thomas Jefferson was chosen 
President. But the poisonous seeds, thus carelessly sown, in due time 
sprang up and bore fruit which their author would have repudiated 
as heartily as any other patriot of his time. The doctrine that a State 
has the power and right to nullify the acts of the National Govern- 
luent, when she may deem them unconstitional or injurious to her 
interests, is one of the prime heresies of secession. 

The conspiracy of Aaron Burr, to found an empire in the West, was 
rather the mad scheme of an ambitious and reckless adventurer, than a 
serious attempt at the overthrow of our Government, and it is unneces- 
sary to speak of it particularly here. 

The next manifestation of a spirit hostile to the Government came 
from New England. The commerce of the New England States, 
after the Revolution and in the early years of the present century, 
had become very extensive. Salem, Boston, Newburyport, and other 
seaports of IVIassachuselts, Avere largely engaged in the East India 
trade; New Bedford, Gloucester and Marblehead in the fisheries; 
and the fleets of Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, were found 
in almost equal numbers on the coasts of continental Europe, Asia, 
and Africa. The ship-owners of Portland, in the district of Maine, 
and of the Connecticut ports, nearly monopolized the trade with the 
West Indies and South America. The embargo act of 1807, folio av- 
ing, as it did, the Berlin and Milan decrees, and the orders in coun- 
cil, proved tlie ruin of this commerce, and excited deep and bitter 
feeling against the Government in those States. An emissary from 
Great Britain, one John Henry, who ^dsited them at this time, is said to 
have done something toward fostering this dissatisfaction. 

The declaration of war, in 1812, was regarded by the commercial 
class in Massachusetts and Connecticut as an added wrong, and a 
strong "peace party" was organized, Avhich caused the support given 
to the war to be feeble and inefficient. The militia from those States, 
nevertheless, did good service during the first two years of the war^ 
but the Government having called them to the defence of other sec- 
tions, the ports of New England were unprotected against the rav^ 
ages of the enemy. Meanwhile the Government had, from want of 
resources, been compelled to impose upon these States the duty of 



INTIIODUCTION". 21 

looking after their own defence, while it refused to allow them to fur- 
nish State officers to eommand their troops. This excited further 
complaint, and the entire New England States became strongly dis- 
satistied wuth the Government, and with the Southern and Central 
,States, which favored the war. On the 15th of December, 1814, a 
convention of delegates frotn the five States (Maine was as yet a dis- 
trict of Massachusetts) met in secret session at Hartford, Connecticut. 
They remained in session till January 5th, 1815, and two weeks later 
published a report and series of resolutions adopted by them. The 
first of these recommended the legislatures of the New England States 
to protect their citizens from the operation of acts passed by Con- 
gress, subjecting tliem to forcible drafts, conscriptions, or impress- 
ments, not authorized by the Constitution; the second recommended 
that the States be empowered to defend themselves, and that they 
should have for this purpose their proportion of the taxes collected; 
the third advised each State to defend itself against foreign foes ; the 
fourth suggested several amendments to the Fdleral Constitution, 
making the wdiite population the basis of the apportionment of taxa- 
tion and representation, requiring a vote of two-thirds of both Houses 
for the admission of new States, for the interdiction of foreio-n trade, 
and for making war, except in defence of territory actually invaded, 
the restriction of the power of Congress in laying an embargo to a 
period of sixty days, making naturalized citizens ineligible to civil 
ofiice, and prohibiting the election of President for tw'o successive 
terms, or of two successive Presidents, from the same State. They 
also recommended, m case these resolutions, w^hen submitted to the 
General Government through the several States, should not receive 
attention, if peace should not be concluded, and the interests of the 
New England States were still neglected, that another convention 
should be called at Boston, wdth such powers and instructions as the 
exigencies of the case might requu^e. The report accompanying these 
resolutions, though moderate in tone and expressing attachment to the 
Union, contained views harmonizing to some extent with the State 
Rights doctrine of Mr. Jefferson's resolutions of 1798. 

Here was, it will be seen, no proposed violation of the Constitution, 
no insurrectionary movement, but simply the carrying out to its ulti- 
mate results of the State Rights heresy. But, moderate as w^ere the 
measures proposed by this Hartford Convention, compared with those 
which have since been propounded in other parts of the Union, they 
met with no general approval from the people of the New England 
States. The people of Connecticut were stimulated by them to more 
active loyalty, and the only expression of opinion they called forth in 
the other States was one of decided disapprobation. 

The close of the war, very soon after, may have had its effect iu 
producing this result; but it is certain that nearly every member of 
that convention was, in consequence of his connection with it, con- 
signed to political oblivion. 

The excitement consequent upon the application of Missouri for 
admission into the Union with a constitution recognizing slavery, 
ag.ain imperilled for a time the existence of our national Government. 



22 ESTTRODUCTIOIS'. 

The previous admissions of Slave States, like Alabama, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, and Mississippi, had been from territory belonging to, and 
peopled by, the ciiizens of Slave States; and in the single case of 
Louisiana, a populous district, possessing large numbers of slaves while 
imder the sway of another power, had been transferred into the Union 
■without changQ of its institutions or local laws. 

In the case of Missouri, there was a new issue. Tlie ordinance of 
1787, by which slavery was excluded from all territory northwest of 
the Ohio, expressed the opposition of the people to the extension of 
slavery over the territories which might subsequently become States ; 
and it was urged that the admission of Missouri (which was divided 
only by the Mississippi River from that territory) with slavery, Avould 
virtually annul that expression of the poj^ular will. The advocates of 
the admission of the State, on the other hand, ui'ged that as slavery 
had existed in Louisiana Territory, of which Missouri formed a part at 
the time of the purchase of the latter, it would be a violation of the 
treaty, by which the United States had pledged itself to maintain the 
rights ami privileges of the inhabitants of that territory on the same 
footing with those of its other citizens, to refuse to admit her with 
such social institutions as she preferred. The question was discussed 
Avith great ability during the greater part of three sessions of Congress, 
and produced an extraordinary excitement throughout the country. 
A resolution prohibiting slavery, and providing for the gradual eman- 
cipation of the slaves then in the State, passed the House, but was lost 
in the Senate. A compromise measure, proposed by Henry Clay, finally 
ended the controversy. JMissouri was admitted as a Slave State ; but 
slavery was prohibited in all territory north of the line of 36° 30', and 
south of that line the United States held no territories at that time 
except Arkansas and Florida, both of which from their position would 
necessarily be Slave States. The adherence to this compromise was 
solemnly guaranteed, and it was regarded as a final settlement of the 
question of the territorial extension of slavery. The vote on the 
admission of the State into the Union was taken in August, 1821, and 
in the Senate stood 28 yeas to 14 nays; in the House, 86 yeas to 82 
nays. 

The next attempt at nullifying or resisting the authority of the 
govei'nment of the United States, occurred in Geoi-gia and Alabama 
in 1825. The Ci'eek, Choctaw^, Chickasaw, and Cherokee Lidians, 
held large tracts of lands in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and 
Florida, which had been secured to them as "reservations" by the 
United States Government. They had been the original proprietors 
of the soil of the entire Gulf States, but by treaty had relinquished 
to the United States all except nine and a half millions of acres in 
Georgia, seven and a half millions in Alabama, fifteen and three- 
fourths millions in Mississippi, and four millions in Florida. They 
were considerably advanced in civilization, and had houses, farms, 
and herds of cattle on their reservations. But the rapid settlement 
of the Gulf States caused the white population to look with a greedy 
eye on these lands, and their State legislatures began to demand that 
the general Government should remove the whole body of Lidians to 



ESTTEODUCTIOlSr. 23 

the region west of the Mississippi, about the head-waters of the Ar- 
kansas. So peremptory were the demands of Geoi'gia to this eflect 
(slie having stipulated in her cession of Mississippi Tei-ritory, that the 
Indian titles to land in that State should be extinguished " wlienever 
it could be accomplished peaceably and on reasonable terms"), that 
just before the close of Mr. Monroe's administration, commissioners 
were appointed to make a treaty with the Creeks for the purchase of 
their lands by the United States Government. A treaty was nego- 
tiated (as it afterward a]>peared, fraudulently) on the 12th of Febru- 
ary, 1825, between the Creek chief, General William Mcintosh, and 
Mr. Crowell, the United States agent, by which all tW Creek reser- 
vations in Georgia, and a large tract in Alabama, wcreVeded to the 
Government. On learning of this treaty, the Creeks were greatly 
excited, and refused to accept it. On the 30th of April a party of 
them assassinated Mcintosh and another chief who had signed the 
treaty with him, and burned his house. The State authorities of 
Georgia prepared to take possession of the territory by force, and 
called out troops for the purpose. As the United States Government 
had, by treaty, stipulated to ju'otect the Indians in their just rights, 
President Adams sent a force of Federal tr.oops to the confines of the 
reservation for that purpose. Georgia called on the adjacent States, 
and troops and money were raised to assist her "against the Govern- 
ment and the Indians." In this emergency President Adams gath- 
ered at Washington the head men and principal chiefs of the Creeks, 
and negotiated a new treaty with them, by which all the lands in 
Georgia, but none of those in Alabama, were ceded to the Govern- 
ment. This treaty M'as ratified by Congress, though opposed by the 
Georgia delegation, and was faithf dly observed by the Indians. As 
there was no excuse for further hostilities, the Georgia troops were 
disbandedi 

Tlie tariff act of 1828 was the occasion of another rebellious out- 
break, and this time South Carolina was the chief actor, though en- 
couraged by several of the other Southern States. The war of 1812 
had greatly developed the manufactui-ing interest of the country, and 
for the protection of that interest against the formidable rivalry of 
Britisli manufacturers. Congress had, from time to time, laid heavy 
duties on such imported products, woollens, coarse cottons, sxigars, 
&c., as competed with our manuf ictures — as they had, in the intancy 
of the cotton production, laid a heavy hnpost on the importation of 
raw cotton. The woollen mainifacturo was carried on in many of the 
States — New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, and I*ennsylvania being 
most largely engaged in it. But when, in 1828, a higher duty was 
proposed on several classes of goods, including woollens, Mr. Hayne, 
of South Carolina, then a member of the United States Senate, took 
occasion to denounce the act as unconstitutional, a Northej-n exac- 
tion, a tribute which the South was to be compelled to pay to the 
Korth, and to assert the right and duty of his State to nullify the 
law, by refusing to pay the duties. Mr. AVebster replied to Mr. 
Hayne, in that great speech in defence of the powers of the Consti- 
tution Avhich has become historical, and so completely annihilated the 



24 INTEODUCTIOK 

doctrine of nullification that its resurrection seemed impossible. 
Events proved, however, that the speech of Mr. Hayiie was only the 
first step in the development of a plan to give the planting States the 
control of the Government, or to take theni out of the IJtiioii. The 
State Rights heresy was already a favorite doctrine iu Virginia and 
South Carolina, and was gaining ground in other Southern States; 
and to the propagation of this doctrine, as al-o to the defence and 
support of nullification, Mr. Hayne, and Mr. Calhoun, then Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States, lent their great powers. An open rupture 
between the United States and South Carolina seemed imminent, and, 
as usual, the timid recommended conciliation and the modification of 
the ofiensive tarifi", and succeeded in procuring a reduction of some of 
the duties ; but this only encouraged the conspirators to further de- 
mands. Congress, they urged, had been terrified into concessions by 
the threats of South Carolina; let those threats be increased, and every 
thing would be yielded. The legislature of that State met in the 
autumn of 1832, and appointed a Committee on the Relations of the 
State with the Federal Government. That committee reported in 
almost the language of Jefierson's resolutions, and of the Hariford Con- 
vention, declaring the Federal Constitution a mere compact between 
independent and sovereign States; that when any violation of the 
spirit of that compact took place, it was the right of the State to 
remonstrate against it; and that, though there was a tribtmal ap- 
pointed under the Constitution to decide controversies where the 
United States was a party, yet in some questions which might occur 
between the Government and the State, it would be unsafe to submit 
to any judicial tribunal, and it was proper for the State legislature to 
decide such questions for itself 

A convention of delegates met on the 19th of November, to act 
for the State in the crisis, and Governor (late United Stat(^ Senator) 
Hayne was elected its president. Resolutions were passed, declaring 
the tarifis of 1828 and 1832 null and void, and not binding upon the 
citizens of the States ; and that in case the geneial Government 
should attempt their enforcement by naval or military power, the 
union between South Carolhia and the United States sliould be con- 
sidered dissolved, and a convention called to foiin a government for 
the State. It was also resolved that no npjieal should be permitted 
to be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in respect to 
the validity of the ordinances of the convention, or of the laws passed 
to give effect thereto. A special session of the legislature was called 
on the adjournment of the convention, and acts passed authorizing 
the Governor to call out the militia to resist any attempt of the United 
States Government to enforce the laws, and ordering the purchase of 
ten thousand stand of arms and the necessary munitions of war. 
This was followed by Mr. Calhoun's resignation of the Vice-Presi- 
dency, and his election to the United States Senate. It had been the 
intention of President Jackson to order him to be arrested on his 
arrival at Washington, and tried for high treason, and, in case of 
conviction, to execute him. Messrs. Webster, Clay, and others, dis- 
suaded him from this step ; but, to his dying day, the stern old man 



rNTRODUCTIOIT. 25 

insisted that his failure to do this was the one great error of his ad- 
ministration. On tlie 10th of December the President issued his 
proclamation against nullification, in which he stated plainly the 
nature of the Federal Government, denied emphatically the dogma 
that the Constitution was a mere compact between the States, de- 
clared its supremacy, and exhorted the citizens of South Carolina 
not to persist in a course which must biing upon their State the whole 
military force of the Republic, and expose the Union to the hazard of, 
dissolution. 

While thus expostulating "with South Carolina, the President did 
not forget that the exhibition of power sufficient to enforce his 
authority was the surest means of securing attention to his remon- 
strances, A considerable military force was ordered to Charleston, 
and a sloop of war sent to that port to protect the Federal ofiicers in 
the dischai-ge of their duties ; and, before the South Carolinians were 
aware. General Scott, with a strong garrison, was in Fort Moultrie, 
prepared, if necessary, to use its cannon in the collection of the reve- 
nue. In his message to Congress, President Jackson recommended 
a peaceful settlement, if possible, but avowed his determination, if 
Congress did not deem it best to modify or repeal the law, to force 
South Carolina to submission. He declared nullification rebellion 
against the Government, and such rebellion he deemed it his duty to 
suppress. The determined position of the President and the formi- 
dable ]n-eparations of General Scott had a sensible effect in cooling 
the ardor of the South Carolinians. The revenues were collected at 
the Charleston Custom-IIouse, under the provisions of the hated 
tariffs, and all was quiet. The State Convention met, and resolved 
that it wouhl wait until February 1st before ordering any liostile 
action. On the 21st of January, 1833, a bill was introduced into the 
United States Senate by Mr. Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, attthorizing 
the President to summon, if necessary, tlie entire military power of 
the United States to put down the opposition to the collection of the 
revenue. In the course of the discussion on this bill, Mr. Calhoun, in 
a speech of great casuistry and adroitness, defended the State Rights 
interpretation of the Constitution ; and Mr. Webster replied in an 
argument showing most conclusively that the Constitution was a 
bond of union of the people, and not a compact between sovereign 
States, and that there Was no place nor room for State action to nul- 
lify national laws. The bill of Mr. Wilkins p;i9sed by an almost 
unanimous vote. The right and power of the Govermuent having 
been thus maintained, Henry Clay proposed and carried through both 
Houses a measure of compromise and concession, providing for a grad- 
ual reduction of the taritf duties to a minimum rate, to be reached in 
December, 1841. The 1st of February had come, btit no resistance 
had been offered to the collection of the revenue; and on the 11th of 
March, Governor Hayne summoned the Convention to "accept th.e 
highly satisfactory settlement of the difficulty afforded by the compro- 
mise of Mr. Clay, and to declare the great princijile of State sovereignty 
established." This partial triumph was the source of subsequent mis- 
chief South Carolina had, substantially, gained her demands, and her 



26 INTEODUCTIOIJ^. 

leading men believed that they had only to watch their opportunity, 
and, under a less resolute executive, put forth their demands, accom- 
panying them with threats, and they would be granted. In the next 
thirty years the experiment was tried more than once, and always with 
success. 

The policy of the Government at the adoption of the Constitution, 
and for some years after, had been to repress slavery. It was the 
belief of the framers of the Constitution that it would die out in a few 
years, and all of them regarded such a result as one to be desired. 
But the invention of the cotton-gin ga\'e such an impulse to the cul- 
tivation of cotton, and the rapid extension of the cotton manufacture 
rendered it so profitable and important a crop, that the demand for 
slaves to cultivate it increased beyond the supply, and the price was 
greatly enhanced. But the system of cultivation by slave labor woi-e 
out the lands of the cotton planters in a few years, and they were com- 
pelled to move to new lands in order to obtain good crops. This, and 
the desire to secure to their section the political ascendancy in the 
United States Government, led the statesmen of the South to seek con- 
stantly for the addition of new territory which could be made into 
Slave States. 

This motive had great weight in inducing the purchase of Loixisi- 
ana in 1803, without warrant from the Constitution; in the purchase 
of Florida from Spain in 1819 ; and in the struggle for the admission 
of Missouri as a Slave State in 1820, in which, as we have seen, they 
were successful. 

With this increase of slavery, however, there had been gradually 
springing up in the minds of the people of the non-slaveholding 
States a dislike of the system, and about the time of the nullification 
movement this feeling began to find public expression in newspapers, 
lectures, &c. At first the interests of the great body of the North- 
ern people, especially the manufacturing, mercantile, and commercial 
classes, were so fully identified with the South, that they were little 
inclined to tolerate any condemnation of slaA^ery ; and many of those 
who wrote against or sj^oke against it were mobbed and maltreated. 
The Southern leaders were enraged at the agitation of the subject of 
slavery. There was some reason to fear that their slaves might learn 
fhat there Avcre those who desired their freedom, and thus be 
tempted to rise in insurrection ; there was more reason to dread that 
if the opposition to slavery assumed an organized form, it might 
eventually curtail their power in the Government, and, since the 
North increased in population much more rapidly than the South, 
prevent the consummation of their plans for tlie extension of slave 
territory, and their control of the national administration. For these 
reasons they adopted measures of severe repression whenever any 
attempt was made to oppose or condemn the institution. The recep- 
tion of petitions by Congress on any subject connected with emanci- 
pation was prohibited ; an attempt was made to expel John Quincy 
Adams, a foimer President of the United States, from the House of 
Representatives, for offering such a petition ; laws Avere passed author- 
ing the seizure of anti-slavery pamphlets or papers passing through 



rPTTEODIJCTION. 27 

tlie mails, and postmasters were made the judges of their incendiary 
cliaractw ; for years respectable newspapers, published in New York, 
were not permitted to reach subscribers in the Southern States by 
mail. Colored seamen, citizens of Massachusetts, were, under State 
laws, seized and kept in jail at Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, 
while their vessels were in port, and occasionally sold to pay the jail 
fees ; and when that State sent an agent, one of her most distinguished 
and honored citizens, to South Carolina, to test the constitutionality of 
these laws, he was treated witli great indignity, and threatened with 
being mobbed unless he left the State within twenty-four hours. A 
citizen of Kentucky, of one of her most eminent families, who dared 
to advocate gradual emancipation, and set the examjjle by freeing his 
own slaves, was set upon by assassins, and though he defended himself 
with great bravery, was wounded nigh unto death ; and when subse- 
quently he established a paper to set forth his views, his press was 
destroyed and his type thrown into the Ohio River, and his life threat- 
ened. The support of Noithern men was demanded for whatever meas- 
ures were deemed necessary to maintain and strengthen slavery ; and 
if any reluctance was shown, the threat to dissolve the Union, unless 
Southern demands were granted, was always ready. 

In 1844, the statesmen of the South saw an opportunity of mate- 
rially increasing the area of slave territory by the annexation of 
Texas, which Mould give them the preponderance in Congress which 
they were otherwise likely to lose in the next decade. John Tyler, 
then President by the death of General Harrison, was favorable to 
their purpose. The annexation was consummated, with a proviso 
allowing four more States to be set otf from its territory when the 
population should be sufficient, to be Slave or Free States, as their in- 
habitants should elect. This annexation led to the war with Mexico, 
which was veiy popular in the South, from the belief that it would 
still further increase the territory to be devoted to slavery. When 
the war closed, and California,. Utah, and New Mexico Avere added 
to our domain, and the discovery of gold sent a vast body of emi- 
grants to California, who soon claimed its admission to the Union 
with a Free State Constitution, the Southern leaders were^ greatly 
dissappointed and vexed. They opposed its admission with great 
violence, and only consented after a further compromise, by which a 
new fugitive slave law, denying the fugitive a trial by jury, and com- 
pelling all citizens, under a penalty of one thousand dollars' fine, and 
six months' or a year's imprisonment, to aid in the surrender of an 
alleged slave, v/as passed, and the Government was required to pay 
to Texas the sum of ten millions of dollars (in addition to tlie pre- 
vious assumption of her debts), for the Gadsden tract, a barren, 
worthless strip of land, to which her claim was, to say the least, 
doubtful. 

It is not a matter of wonder that some of the Northern States, to 
all of which the surrender of fugitive slaves had always been an irk- 
some duty, should have been provoked by the passage of this fugitive 
slave law into the enactment of such State laws as should render it 
difficult of execution, and only capable of enforcement in cases where 



28 rNTEODUCTION. 

there was no jDOSsibility of question of the status of the alleged fugi- 
tive. Some of the States passed " personal liberty bills," securing a 
jury trial before surrender, forbidding the use of the county jails or 
other piisons for the detention of fugitives, <fec. Some of these laws 
probably conflicted with the provisions of the Constitution of the 
United States, and thus were void ; but others kept Avithin the letter 
of that instrument. In several of the States they were repe^^led, as a 
conciliatory mensure, in 1861. 

Thwarted in their expectation of adding territory for new Slave 
States by the Mexican war, the leaders of the Southern party turned 
their attention in a new direction. . In the heart of the continent lay 
a broad tract of excellent land, directly west of Missouri, but all of it 
above the, parallel of 36° 30"'. Toward this rich and fertile region 
the attention of emigrants was now directed, as one of the most 
desirable for agricultural purposes. It Avas proposed to erect it into 
two teritorries, Kansas and Nebraska. By the terms of the Missouri 
compromise, it must be free territory, but the South had already 
realized all it could hope for of profit fiom that compromise ; Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, and Florida had all lieen admitted as Slave States; 
and they had also acquired Texas, Avhich would in time, they hoped, 
make four more Slave States. The North had received five free 
States, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California; and two 
more, ]Minnesota and Oregon, would, before long, ask for admission. 
The advantage was yet, apparently, on the Southern side ; but they 
were resolved to have Kansas also, and therefore the Missouri Com- 
promise must be repealed. Alexander II. Stephens, then a member 
of Congress from Georgia, and subsequently Vice-President of the 
"Southern Confederacy," Avas selected to engineer the repeal, and 
thus to throw open the Avhole of the territories to slavery, and he 
did it Avith great adroitness. He caused the proposition for repeal 
both in the Senate and in the House to emanate from Northern men 
— Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, bringing in a bill to that effect in the 
Senate, and Mr. Richardson, of the same State, in the House. After 
a long and exciting discussion the measure was forced through, and 
received the sanction of President Pierce, in 1854. The pretext for 
thus violating a solemn compact, which, in the North at least, had 
acquired the binding efficacy of a constitutional provision, was that 
it Avas a viohition of the Constitution. It is a curious exemplification 
of the growing ari'ogance of the slave power that a compromise 
which had pioved satisfactory to Southern leaders in 1820, should, 
thirty-four years later, be scouted with scorn by some of these very 
men. 

A case of considerable interest, in relation to an alleged fugitive 
slave named Dred Scott, coming before the Supreme Court <k the 
United States about this time, the chief-justice, Poger B. Taney, 
took occasion, after rendering his opinion in the case, to declare that 
negroes could not be citizens of the United States, and to promul- 
gate the doctrine "that they had no rights Avhich a white man was 
bound to respect." He also gave it as his individual opinion that 
the slaveholder had a right to take and hold his slaves in any of the 



IKTRODUCTIOIT. 29 

Territories. A part of the associate justices of the Supreme Court 
coincided in this opinion, but others, and among them Justices McLean 
and Curtis, dissented. 

The obstacle to making Kansas a Slave State, which had been 
interposed by the Missouri Compromise, having now boen removed, 
fireat eftbrts were made to send slaveholding emigrants thither, and 
to secure its admission with a slave Constitution. This was found, 
however, a matter of greater difficulty than had been at first expected. 
In Massachusetts and New York, Kansas Aid Societies had been 
organized, with branches througliout most of the Northern States, 
by which funds were raised, land purchased, steam saw and flouring 
mills set up, hotels and dAvelling-houses erected, and emigrants fur- 
nished with the means of removal to Kansas, and necessary. assistance 
after their arrival, to maintain free institutions and oppose the estab- 
lishment of slavery. The Southern emigrants, aide.d by organized 
bands of lawless Missourians, known as "border ruffians," prominent 
among whom was David Atchison, formerly United States Senator 
from Missouri, soon came in collision Avith the Northern settlers, 
and sought in many instances to drive them from their settlements. 
Serious outrages, robbery, and often bloodshed, were the results. 
Arms wei'e sent from the Eastern States to the Northern emigrants, 
and in several instances bloody battles were fought. The United 
States Government interposed, but without much effect, its policy being 
vacillating and uncertain. After about three years of anarchy and dis- 
turbance, the border ruffians found the Northern settlers too strong for 
them, and left the Territory. The settlers met in convention repeat- 
edly, and adopted a State Constitution ; but on one pretext or another 
they were refused admission into the Union until the second session of 
the thirty-sixth Congress (1860-61). 

Foiled in this attempt to increase the area of slave territory, the 
Southern leaders turned their attention to regions outside of the 
United States. The annexation of Cuba, peaceably or by force, had 
long been one of their favorite schemes, which Mr. Buchanan did all 
in his power to accomplish by purchase ; but the decided refusal of 
Spain to listen to any proposition for parting with it put an end to 
that negotiation. The possession of Nicaragua, or some other of the 
Central American States, to be accomplished by an armed irruption 
and revolution, was another measure looking to the same end. An 
adventurer, named William Walker, fitted out several successive expe- 
ditions from Southern ports for this purpose, and prominent men in the 
South aided him with money and men, while- the Government made 
some feeble efforts to prevent the departure of the piratical expeditions. 
These enterprises failed, and, at the last, Walker was taken prisoner 
and executed by the Costa Ricau Government. 

One of the results of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and of 
those desiderate attempts to seize upon Kansas, and to acquire new 
regions to devote to slavery, was the organization of the Republican 
party, whose motto was, " No more slave territory." This party origi- 
nated in the autumn of 1855, and in 1856 nominated John C. Fremont 
for the Presidency. The Democratic party in the same campaign nom- 



80 INTEODUCTION". 

inated James Buchanan. The contest was a very bitter one, but re- 
Bulted in Mr. Buchanan's election. At one time the result was regarded 
as doubtful, and preparations were made by the political leaders in 
Virginia and South Carolina, as well as in some of the other Southern 
States, for precipitating the secession of their several States in the 
event of Mr. Fremont's election. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



CHAPTER I. 

Secession determined upon by Southern Leaders. — Treachery of Cabinet OfiScers. — 
Division of the Democratic Party. — Election of Mr. Lincoln. — The John Brown 
Raid. — " The Impending Crisis'' and the " Compendium." — Movements for Seces- 
sion in the Cotton States, 

Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated President March 4th, 1857 ; and 
it was not long before the leaders of the South began to discover that 
all their schemes for the exten.«:ion of the area of shivery were destined 
to prove futile. Kansas, amid strife and bloodshed, was struggling 
on toward the position of a Free State, and was certain in the end to 
secure it ; Cuba could neither be bought nor conquered, and Walker's 
expeditious not only lacked respectability, but were unsuccessful. 
There w^as then no resource for them but to attempt the desperate 
measure which their great Southern statesman had advised thirty years 
before — secession. They might reasonably hope to carry with them, 
they believed, a portion of the Northwest, to which the navigation of 
the Mississippi was indispensable ; and the great States of Pennsyl- 
vania and New York had such large commercial interests in slavery, 
that little doubt was entertained that they too would unite with the 
South. New England, Northern New York, the northern portions of 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota they 
did not care for. 

In order to accomplish this change several things were necessary. 
The minds of the prominent men in the South must be prepared for it, 
without creating excitement or apprehension on the part of the North. 
For this purpose a secret society, the " Knights of the Golden Circle," 
having for its primary object the extension and defence of slavery, was 
organized, and several degrees, as in the Masonic order, were open to 
the aspirant for high rank in it. To the initiated of the highest rank 
only was the whole plot revealed, and the others, with but an imperfect 
idea of its purposes, were employed to further its designs. Among the 
officers and members of the higher degrees of the order were, it was 
said, cabinet and other officers of the Government, and prominent citir 
zens of all the Southern and of some of the Northern States. 

The conspirators also sought to procure arms and money in aid of 
tTxe secession movement, which they had resolved should take place 



32 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

immecliately after the next presidential election. This proved a com- 
paratively easy task. Three of the members of Mr. Buehantia's Cabinet 
were their friends and at their service. These were Mr. Cobb, the 
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, and Mr. 
Thompson, Secrelary of the Interior. Mr. Cobb aided them, both directly 
and indirectly, with money and credit. Mr. Floyd, in addition to his other 
frauds, elsewhere detailed, sent loyal officers to remote and secluded posts, 
dismantled Northern forts, and stripped Northern arsenals of arms and 
munitions of war. Mr. Thompson contented himself with advocating 
treason. JVIr. Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, contrary to rumor, had in 
the Home Squadron twelve ships of war, against three when he entered 
the Cabinet, four in Northern waters and eight in Southern. 

It was necessary, moreover, to their success in the accomplishment 
of the act of secession, that they should have a decent and plausible 
pretext. If the Government at the next presidential election could 
be thrown into the hands of the Republican party, which could not 
poll any considerable vote in the Slave States, an opportunity would 
be afibrdi'd to assail the new administration on the ground that it 
represented only a section of the United States. To accomplish this, 
and yet hide their real object, was a somewhat difficult task ; but it 
was finally performed. Mr. Douglas was a favorite with a large portion 
of the Democratic party in the North; but, nlthough he had brought 
forward th'^, repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he had, on account of 
his subsequent opposition to some of their most extreme measures, but 
little strength in the South. His friends had urged him strongly for 
the Presidency in 1856, and there was a general understandmg that 
he would have the nomination in 1860. 

The Southern leadei's now put forward Mr. Breckinridge, then Vice- 
President, as a candidate, and, having packed the Democratic National 
Convention at Charleston, prevented a nomination, but secured an 
adjournment to Baltimore, where they divided, one party nominating 
Ml-. Breckinridge and the other Mr. Douglas. This was just what they 
desired. The Republican party, though it had increased rapidly within 
four years, was still numerically so inferior to the Democratic party, 
that could the votes of the latter be concentrated on one candidate, 
he would be elected; but with two candidates in the field opposed to 
him, and dividing the Democratic vote, the Republican candidate would 
certainly be elected, and a pretext for secession afforded. The Repub- 
licans nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and, unsuspicious of the 
tactics of the Southern leaders, adopted a moderate and conciliatory 
platform. The canvass was still further complicated by the nomination 
of a Union ticket, at the head of which was placed John Bell of Ten- 
nessee, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, as candidates for Presi. 
dent and Vice-President. 

The can\'ass was conducted with more than usual bitterness, and 
the Southern conspirators threw out constant threats, that in the event 
of Mr. Lincoln's election the Union should be dissolved. These 
threats were but little regarded at the North. Seeing the election 
conducted under a strict observance of all the forms of the Constitu- 
tion, and participated in by all the States, Northern men could not 



HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 33 

be induced to believe that the Southern States would repudiate a 
result to which, by voting, they had made themselves parties. Such 
a breach of faith had never occurred in the history of the country, 
and the threats uttered were regarded as but a repetition of the 
familiar braggadocio of Southern politicians. 
The popular vote was as follows : — 

For Abraham Lincoln, Republican candidate 1,860.452 

" Stephen A. Douglas, Northern Democrat 1,375.157 

" John C. Breckinridge, Southern Democrat 8J 7.953 

" John Bell, Union 590,631 

Total 4,680,193 

Had the Democratic vote been united on one candidate, that can- 
didate would have had a plurality of more than three hundred and 
fifty thousand over Mr. Lincoln. The electoral vote stood: for Mr. 
Lincoln, one hundred and eighty ; for Mr. Douglas, twelve ; for Mr. 
Bi'eckinridge, seventy-two ; for Mr. Bell, thiity-nine ; giving ]Mr. Lincoln 
a clear majority of fifty-seven electoral votes over all his competitors. 
He had received the entire vote of seventeen of the thirty-three States, 
besides a part of that of New Jersey ; and inasmuch as there had been 
a popular vote for him in twenty-three States, his election could not be 
said to be a sectional one. 

Here it may not be inappropriate to refer to one or two events of 
earlier date, which proved significant forerunners of the crisis which 
was approaching. 

In October, 1859, the country being then in a state of profound 
tranquillity, an incident occurred which showed that, imder the seem- 
ing calm, lay concealed a smouldering volcano, which might at any 
moment blaze forth and upheave the whole frame-work of society. 
Among the early emigrants from the North to Kansas was John 
BroAvn, formerly a citizen of the State of New York, who had 
rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious to the Southern emigrants by 
his courage in defence of his settlement at Ossawatomie against the 
"border ruffians," who had endeavored, more than once, to murder 
him and his family. This old man, a stern Puritan in habits and turn 
of mind, had been goaded by great and oft-repeated wrongs to a fren- 
zied hatred of slavery, and had finally come to believe himself raised 
up of God as a leader to efifect its overthrow in this country. He 
brooded upon this idea till it became a monomania with him. He 
addressed letters to prominent citizens at the North asking pecuniary 
aid, but never developing his j^lans. Some, deeming him insane, refused ; 
others, supposhig that he was only intent upon plans for keeping slavery 
out of Kansas, sent him money. Suddenly, on the night of October 16th, 
with sixteen white and five black followers, he made a descent upon 
the United States Arsenal, at Harper's Ferry, Va., captured it without 
bloodshed, and took several prominent citizens prisoners. He evidently 
believed that the slaves of the vicinity would, without further effort 
on his part, rally to his standard, and it was a part of his design to de- 
clare them free, without, if he could avoid it, shedding anj'^ blood. 

The intelligence of this raid produced almost unparalleled excite- 



34 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

ment in Virginia. Henry A. Wise, tlien Governor of the State, called 
out a force of several thc^usand militia, and increased the pnnic by vio- 
lent proclamations. Meantime, Brown remahied in possession of the 
arsenal, and though fifteeh hundred of the Virginia militia had gath- 
ered in the vicinity, it was not until a company of marines, with artil- 
lery, sent by the President, attacked the arsenal, that he sui-rendered. 
The old man and five of his compnnions, and two others subsequently 
captured, were delivered up to Virginia, tried for treason and murder, 
found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. Efforts were made to induce 
Governor Wise to extend executive clemency to them, on the ground 
that Brown was undoubtedly insane, and that his companions had been 
led to follow him without any treasonable intent; but the Governor 
was inexorable, and the sentences were strictly carried out. In many 
parts of the North, Biown was regarded rather as a martyr than a 
criminal, and, under the belief that he was of unsound mind, the wrong 
he had committed was forgotten in the punishment he sulfered. 

About two years previous to this event, Hinton Rowan Helper, a 
native of North Carolina, who had been till the prime of manhood 
a citizen of that State, published a work entitled " The Impending 
Crisis," in which, drawing his statistics from the United States cen- 
sus and other sources, he had attempted to demonstrate the degra- 
ding influence of slavery on the non slaveholding whites of the South, 
and urged them to exert themselves in their several States for its 
overthrow. The book possessed small literary merit, and was char- 
acterized in passages by a bitter spirit, which marred its value ; but 
the statistics which it contained illustrated forcibly the eflect of 
slavery upon the white population. The work did not meet with a 
large sale, although it had attracted some attention. In the summer 
of 1859 a proposition was made to compile from it a "Compendium," 
containing the statistical portion and some notes of explanation, but 
without the denunciatory passages, to be circulated as a campaign 
document by the Republican party, preparatory to the next Presi- 
dential campaign. A circular was prepared, and the object appear- 
ing unobjectionable, it was signed by many of the leading men of 
that i)arty, Avithout ever having seen the book. The preparation of 
this compendium was delayed, and when Congress assembled, in De- 
cember, 1859, after the John Brown raid, members of Congress from 
the Slave States, who had secured copies of the original work, accused 
the members who had signed the circular of designs against the Union 
and against the South in connnending the work. John Sherman of 
Ohio, the Republicau candidate for Speaker, was defeated, though the 
Republican and American parties together had a majority in the House 
of Representatives, because his name was appended to the circular ; and 
a considerable part of the session was consumed in violent denuncia- 
tion and recrimination on the part of the members from the slavehold- 
ing States. One result of this denunciation was to secure for the book 
thousands of readers who would not otherwise have seen it. 

The Presidential election took place on the 6th of November, and 
upon the announcement of the success of the Republican candidates, 
the conspirators went eagerly to work to consummate their design* 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 35 

against the Union. On the 10th of tlie same month, a bill was ir>- 
troJiiceil into the South Carolina legislature for the calling out and 
equipment of ten thousand volunteers, and an election was ordered 
to be held on the 6th of December, for the choice of delegates to a 
convention to take action on the question of secession. Messrs. 
Chestnut and Hammond, senators from South Carolina, resigned their 
seats on the 10th and lltli of November. Meetings in favor of dis- 
union were held within a week from the election in all the principal 
towns of the Cotton States. Robert Toombs, then and for two 
months later a member of the United States Senate, made a violent 
speech in favor of secession at Milledge\T.lle, Georgia. On the 10th 
of December, Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, having 
previously declared himself unable to extricate the United States 
treasury from the condition of bankruptcy to which he had reduced 
it by his mismanagement. On the 15th of December, two days be- 
fore the meeting of her secession convention, South Carolina drew 
her quota of United. States arms for the year 1861, John B. Floyd, 
Secretary of War, accepting the requisition of her Governor ; and on 
the 29th of the same mouth Floyd resigned, after having delivered 
to all the seceding States their full quota of arms for the next year 
as well as for the current one, and ordered the greater part of the 
regular army to parts so distant as to render it impossible to bring 
them to the Atlantic coast in season to meet any emergency. So rapid 
was the development of the conspiracy, wnthin the two months that 
elapsed between the Presidential election and the new year. 



CHAPTER II. 

South Carolina Convention. — Ordinance of Secession and Declaration of Causes.^ 
Resolutions for Convention of Seceded States. — Mississippi Convention. — Alabama 
Convention. — Florida Ordinance. — Seizure of Forts. — Georgia's Resolution in 
response to New York. — Ordinance of Secession. — Louisiana Convention. — Texas 
Convention. — Vote of the People. — General Houston. — Virginia Resolutions.— Ordi- 
nance of Secession. — Convention with the Confederacy. — Arkansas. — Secession de- 
feated. — North Carohna Ordinance passed. — Tennessee Act of Independence. — 
Military League. — Maryland Resolutions. — Confederate Congress. — Constitution. — 
Jefferson Davis, President. — Address. 

Ox the 17th December, 1860, the South Carolina Convention met 
at Columbia, but on account of the small-pox, which prevailed there, 
adjourned to Charleston. On the 20th, the ordinance of secession 
was taken up. It was textually as follows : 

SECESSION ORDINANCE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
"J.W Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other 

States united with her under the Compact, entitled the Constitution of the United States 

of America : — 

" We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare 
and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by us 



36 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJS". 

in convention, on the 23d day of May, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Con, 
stitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all acts and parts of 
acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying the ameudments of the said Con- 
stitution, are hereby repealed, and that the union now subsisting between South Caro- 
lina and other States under the name of the United States of America is hereby dis- 
solved." 

The ordinance passed by a unanimous vote of one hundred and sixty- 
nine members, at a quarter past one o'clock in the afternoon. 

As the news spread through the streets of Charleston, it was 
greeted with immense cheering, and in the evening, in the presence 
of a crowd of over three thousand people, the instrument w^as duly 
si'^ned and sealed. The convention also adopted a declaration of the 
causes that led to secession, the leading allegations of which Avere : the 
frequent violations of the Constitution by the State Governments ; the 
nullification of acts of Congi^ss by citizens of those States ; the per- 
sonal liberty laws of some of the Northern States ; the triumph of a 
sectional party at the North ; the elevation of colored persons to 
citizeiiship in some of the States ; and the probability that under the 
incoming administration the South would be excluded from the common 
teri'itories, and the judiciary made sectional, thus taking away all hope 
of remedy for w^rong. Governor Pickens immediately issued a procla- 
mation that South Carolina is a separate, free, sovereign, and independ- 
ent State, and upon this event being telegraphed to Washington, 
Messrs. McQueen, Boyd, Bonham and Ashniore, members for South 
Carolina, withdrew on the same day from Congress. 

The letter of resignation of the South Carolina members to the 
Speaker of the House, was laid on the table, and the speaker directed 
that their names be retained on the roll, thus not recognizing the act 
of the State. 

Thus was consummated the act of secession, on the part of that 
tmruly State, which neai'ly thirty years before had attempted to nullify 
the laws of the Union. The persevering efforts of a few misguided and 
unprincipled men, continued through a period of thirty years, had 
finally culminated in an actual attempt to destroy what the people with 
reason considered the best government ever devised by man. The 
ambition and crimes of a faction had apparently destroyed the power 
and welfare of a nation and dashed the hopes of humanity throughout 
the world. 

Tlie work of breaking up the old Union and attempting to construct 
a new government, was now actively pushed by the Southern leaders, 
whose intention was to have their new Confederacy in operation, and 
in a posture of defence, before the accession of Mr. Lincoln to office, 
on the 4th of March, 1861. Accordingly, the South Carolina Conven- 
tion, afler passing the ordinance of secession, adopted the following 
resolutions for a convention of the seceded States : — 

" First — That tho conventions of the seceding Slaveholding States of the United 
States unite with South Carolina, and hold a convention at Montgomery, Alabama, for 
the purpose of forming a Southern Confederacy. 

" Second. — That tho said seceding States appoint, by their respective conventions 
or legislatures, as many delegates as they have representatives in the present Con- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 37 

gress of the United States, to the said convention to be held at Montgomery; and 
that, on the adoption of the constitution of the Southern Confederacy, the vote shall be 
by States. 

" Third. — That whenever the terms of the constitution shall be agreed upon by the 
said convention, the same shall be submitted at as early a day as practicable to tlie 
convention and legislature of each State, respectively, so as to enable them to ratify or 
reject the said constitution. 

" Fourth. — That in the opinion of South Carolina, the Constitution of the United 
States will form a suitable basis for the Confederacy of the Southern States with- 
drawing. 

" Fifth. — That the South Carolina Convention appoint by ballot eight delegates to 
represent South CaroUna in the convention for the formation of a Southern Con- 
federacy. 

" Ladiij. — That one commissioner in each State be elected to call the attention of the 
people to this ordinance." 

In the midst of her exhilaration South Carolina remembered that for 
the time being she was alone in the world, and that it behooved her to 
find shelter and friends. Mr. Calhoun, in the convention, remarked : 
*' We have pulled a temple down tliat has been built three-quarters of a 
century ; we must clear the rubbish away to reconstruct another. AVe 
are now houseless and homeless, and we must secure ourselves against 
storms." These expressions betray, perhaps, the desolation of feeling 
the seceders must have experienced on looking back upon the security 
ancl glories of that temple wliich they had so ruthlessly demolished. 
The traditions of the past, the fame of ancestors, the respect of nations, 
the glory of the present, almost the hope of the future, lay buried in 
that mass of rubbish, and in place of the stately structure which for 
eighty years had been growing in proportions, and whose rising dome 
was always gilded by the sun of liberty, they were preparing to 
erect a building Avhose corner-stone was slavery. They, however, 
deliberately turned their backs upon tlie past, and recklessly pushed 
into the unknown, dim, and dangerous future. Commissioners 
were sent to the other State conventions, which "u^ere called to follow 
the lead of South CaroHna. On the 9th of January, the Alabama and 
Mississippi delegations at Washington telegraphed to the conventions 
of their respective States, advising immediate secession, as they con- 
sidered that there was no prospect of a satisfactory adjustment, and 
about the same time a caucus of Southern senators at Washington 
advocated separate and immediate secession. 

The Mississip])i Convention organized January Vth, 18G1, A. J. Barry, 
of LoAvndes, in the chair. It Avas lesolved that a committee of fifteen 
be appointed by the president, with instructions to prepare and report, 
as speedily as possible, an ordinance of secession, providing for the 
immediate withdrawal of Mississippi from the Federal Union, Avith a 
view of establishing a new Confederacy, to be composed of the seceding 
States. 

Delegations from South Carolina and Alabama were invited to 
Beats in the convention, amidst much applause. All efforts to post- 
pone action were voted down, and the ordinance was adopted, Jan- 
uary 9th, by eighty-four yeas to fifteen nays. The opponents of the 
ordinance, however, signed on the folloAving day, and the vote was 
then unanimous. 



38 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

Fireworks were displayed at tlie capitol in Jackson ia the evening. 
Tiie excitement was intense. 
The ordinance is as follows : — 

"The people of Mississippi, in convention assembled, do ordain and declare, and 
it is hereby ordained and declared, as follows, to wit: — 

" That all the laws and ordinances by which the said State of Mississippi became a 
member of the Federal Union of the United States of America be, and the same are 
hereby repealed; and tliat all obligations on the part of said State, or the people 
thereof, to observe the same, be witlidrawn ; and that the said State shall hereby re- 
sumo the rights, functions, and powers, which by any of said laws and ordinances were 
conveyed to the Government of the said United States, and is dissolved from all the 
obligations, restraints, and duties incurred to the said Federal Union, and shall hence- 
forth be a. free, sovereign, and independent State." 

The passage of this ordinance was followed by the withdrawal of 
the Honorable Jefferson Davis from the United States Senate on the 
21st of January, in company with the senators from Alabama and 
Florida. The Mississippi delegation in the House of Representatives 
withdrew a few days previous. 

The Alabama Convention met January 8th, and on the 11th passed, 
by a vote of sixty-one ayes to thirty-nine nays, the following ordinance 
of secession : — 

" An Ordinance to dissolve the Union hetiveen the State of Alabama, and other States, 
* united under the Compact and Style of the United States of America. 
" Wliereas, The election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of 
President and Vice-President of the United States of America, by a sectional party, 
avowedly ho.^tile to the domestic institutions, and the peace and security of the people 
of the State of Alabama, following upon the heels of many and dangerous infractions of 
the Constitution of the United States, by many of tlie States and people of the Northern 
section, is a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character, as to justify the 
people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for 
their future peace and security. 

" Therefore, be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in 
convention assembled, that the State of Alabama now withdraws from the Union, 
kno^vn as the United States of America, and henceforth ceases to be one of the said 
United States, and is, and of right ought to be, a sovereign independent State. 

"Sec. 2. And be it further declared and ordained by the people of the State of 
Alabama, in convention assembled, that all powers over the territories of said State 
and over the people thereof, heretofore delegated to the Government of the United 
States of America, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from the said Government, 
and are hereby resumed and vested in the people of the State of Alabama. 

"And as it is the desire and purpose of the people of Alabama to meet the 
Slaveholding States of the South who approve of such a purpose, in order to frame a 
provisional or a permanent government, upon the principles of the Government of 
the United States, be it also resolved by the people of Alabama, in convention assem- 
bled, that the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennes- 
see, Kentucky, and Missouri, bo, and they are hereby invited to meet the people of 
the State of Alabama, by their delegates in convention, on the 4th day of February 
next, in Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of consultation with 
each other, as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted, harmonious action 
in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for the common peace and 
security. 

^^ And be it further resolved, That the President of tliis convention be, and ho ia 
hereby, instructed to transmit forthwith a copj^ of the foregoing preamble, ordiAancej 
and resolutions to the governors of the several States named in the said resolutions. 

" Done by the people of Alabama, in convention assembled, at Montgomery, this 
2lth day of January, 18G1." 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 39 

Some of the nays indicated opposition to separation from the North, 
others to action independent of other States. A proposition to submit the 
ordinance to the people was lost by yeas forty-seven, nays fifty-three. 

The popuhir vote of Alabama at the Presidential election had num- 
bered ninety thousand three hundred and fifty-seven. In choosinsx dele- 
gates for the convention, the question was mainly that of unconditional 
secession, or of co-operation with other States. The result of the vote 
was twenty-six thousand two hundred and eighty-six for co-operation, 
and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and seventy-six for immediate 
secession. Total, sixty-two thousand and sixty-two, or twenty-eight 
thousand two hundred and ninety-five less than were cast at the Presi- 
dential election. When the ordinance was ])assed, seven co-operation 
members voted for it, and the rest expressed themselves in favor of it, 
although under instructions to vote against it. A committee of fifteen, 
one to each Slaveholding State, was appointed to jiromote co-operation. 

The passage of this ordinance was celebrated in Mobile by a mili- 
tary parade, illuminations, processions, and public meetings, amid the 
most intense popular excitement. 

The Florida Convention was even more emphatic than that of 
Alabama, in its vote for immediate secession, the ordinance having 
passed, January 10th, by a vote of sixty-two to seven, as follows : 

FLORIDA ORDINANCE OF SECESSION. 

" Wliereas, All hope of preserving the Union upon terms consistent with the safety 
and honor of the Slaveholding States, has been finally dissipated bj the recent indica- 
tions of the strength of the anti-slavery sentiment of the Free States; therefore. 

"Be it resolved by Hk; people of Florkki, in convention assembled, That it is mid mbtedly 
the right of the several States of the Union, at such time, and for such cause as in the 
opinion of the people of such State, acting in their sovereign capacity, may bo just and 
proper ; and, in the opinion of this convention, the existing causes are such as to com- 
pel Florida to proceed to exercise that right. 

" We, the people of the State of Florida, in convention assembled, do solenmly ordain, 
publish, and declare, that the State of Florida hereby withdraws herself from the Con- 
federacy of States existing under the name of the United States of America, and from 
the existing Government of the said States ; and that all political connection between 
her and the Government of said States ought to be, and the same is hereby totally 
annulled, and said Union of States dissolved; and the State of Florida is hereby 
declared a sovereign and independent nation; and that all ordinances heretofore 
adopted, in so far as they create or recognize said Union, ore rescinded ; and all 
laws, or parts of laws, in force in this State, in so far as they recognize or assent to 
said Union, be, and they are hereby repealed." 

Immediately on the passage of this ordinance, the Navy Yard, forts 
and other property of the United States, at Pensacola, were seized hj 
the State authorities, with the exception of Fort Pickens, which was 
held by Lieutenant Slemmer, with a small garrison of regulars. 

An act passed by the Florida legislature declared, in the event of 
any actual collision between the troops of the late Federal Union and 
those in the employ of the State of Florida, it shall be the duty of 
the Governor of the State to make public proclamation of the lact ; 
and thereafter the act of holding office under the Federal Govern- 
ment shall be declared treason, and the person convicted shall sxtffer 
deatJi. 



40 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

On tlie Sd of January, Governor Brown, of Georgia, seized Forts 
Pulaski and Jackson, near Savannah. The State of New York had, 
January 4th, passed a resolution tt'udering to the President the mili- 
tary seiwices of the State, to be used as he might think proper, for the 
support of the Constitution. These resolutions caused much excitement 
in the South generally, and the Georgia Convention passed the follow- 
ing resolution unanimously : — 

" As a response to the resolutions of the legislature of the State of New Tork, that 
this conventitm highly approves of the energetic and patriotic conduct of the Governor 
of Georgia in taking possession of Fort Pulaski by the Georgia troops; that this conven- 
tion request him to hold possessron of said fort until tlie relations of Georgia with the 
Federal Government shall be determined, and that a copy of this resolution be trans- 
mitted to the Governor of the State of New Tork." 

On the 19th of January, the secession ordinance was passed, two 
hundred and eight to eighty-nine ; the lion. A. H. Stephens voting 
against it : — 
*' An Ordinanca to dissolve the Union hetiveen the State of Georgia and other States united 

with her under tlie Compact of Government entitled tlie Constitution of the United 

States. 

""We, the people of the State of Georgia, in convention assembled, do declare and 
ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinances adopted by the 
people of the State of Georgia in convention in 1788, whereb}^ the Constitution of the 
United States was assented to, ratified, and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts 
of the General Assembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, 
are hereby repealed, rescinded, and abrogated. 

"And we do further declare and ordain, that the union now subsisting between the 
State of Georgia and other States, under the name of the United States, is hereby dis- 
solved, and tliat the State of Georgia is in full possession and exercise of all tho.se rights 
of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State." 

The United States Arsenal at Augusta, Georgia, was soon after taken 
possession of by the State authorities. 

The Louisiana State Convention took up the question of secession 
witli great enthusiasm, and an ordinance to that effect was passed Jan- 
uary 2Gth, by one hundred and thirteen to seventeen votes. The con- 
vention refused by a vote of eighty-four to forty-five to submit their act 
to a popular vote. The following is the ordinance : — 

" An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of Louisiana and the other States 

united with her under the Compact entitled the Constitution of the United States of 

America. 

"We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, do declare and 
ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance passed by &e State 
of 22d November, 1807, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America and 
the amendments of said Constitution were adopted, and all the laws and ordinances by 
which Louisiana became a member of the Federal Union be, and the same are hereby 
repealed and abrogated, and the union now subsisting between Louisiana and the other 
States, under the name of the LTnited States of America, is hereby dissolved. 

"We further declare and ordain, that the State of Louisiana hereby resumes the 
rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of 
America, and its citizens are absolved from allegiance to the said Cjovernment, and she 
ig in full possession of all the rights and sovereignty that appertain to a free and inde- 
pendent State. 

" Wo fiu-ther declare and ordain, that all rights acquired and vested under the Con- 
stitution of the United States, or any act of Congress, or treaty, or under laws of this 
State, not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force, and have the same 
«ffcct as lliough this ordinance had not passed." 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 4.1 

A resolution was rej^orted to the convention that the following be 
added to the ordinance : 

"We, the people of Louisiana, recognize the right of free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi River and tributaries by ail friendly States bordering thereon; wo also recognize 
the right of the ingress and egress of the mouths of the Mississippi by all friendly 
States and Powers, and hereby declare our willingness to enter into stipulations to 
guarantee the exercise of those rights." 

The popular vote in Louisiana was twenty thousand four hun- 
dred and forty-eight for secession, seventeen thousand two hundred 
and ninety-six against it. 

The Convention of the State of Texas, by one hundred and sixty-six 
yeas against seven nays, passed an ordinance of secession February 1st, 
to be voted on February 23d, by the people, and if adopted by them, 
to take effect March 1st. The vote of ratification was thhty-four 
thousand seven hundred and ninety-four yeas to eleven thousand two 
hundred and thirty-five nays. The ordinance was as follows : — 

" An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of Texas and the oilier States under 
the Compact strjkd tJte. Constitution of the United States of America. 

"Sec. 1 Whereas, The Federal Government has failed to accomplish the purposes of 
the compact of union between these States, in giving protection either to the persons 
of our people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizens; and whereas, 
the action of the Northern States is violative of the compact between the States and 
the guarantees of the Constitution ; and whereas, the recent developments in Federal 
affairs make it evident that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made 
a weapon with which to strike down the interests and property of the people of Texas, 
and her sister Slaveholding States, instead of permitting it to be, as was intended — our 
shield against outrage and aggression — therefore, We. the people of the State of Texas, by 
delegates in convention assembled, do declare and ordain that the ordinance adopted by 
oair convention of delegates on the fourth (4th) day of July, a. d. 1845, and afterwards 
ratified by us, under which the Republic of Texas was admitted into the Union with 
other States, and became a party to the compact styled ' The Constitution of the United 
States of America,' be, and is hereby repealed and annulled. 

"That all the powers which, by the said compact, were delegated by Texas to the 
Federal Government are resumed. That Texas is of right absolved from all restraints 
and obligations incurred by said compact, and is a separate sovereign State, and that 
her citizens and people are absolved from all allegiance to the United States, or the 
government thereof. 

"Sec. 2. The ordinance shall be submitted to the people of Texas for their ratifica- 
tion or rejection, by the qualified voters, on the 2'.'A day of Februarv, 1861 ; and unless 
rejected by a majority of the votes cast, shall take effect and be in force on and after 
the '2d day of March, A. D. 1861. Provided that in the representative District of El 
Paso said election may bo held on the 18th day of February, 18G1. 

" Done by the people of the State of Texas, in Convention assembled, at Austin, tlie 
1st day of February, a. d. 1861." 

After the passage of the ordinance, the convention passed another 
forming the foundation of a Southern Confederacy, and appointed dele- 
gates to the Montgomery Congress. It also passed an ordinance re- 
quiring all State officers to take the oath of allegiance to support the 
new government, and appointing a day for the governor and other 
principal officers to appear for that purpose before the convention. 
The venerable Governor Houston, who had so long led the destinies of 
Texas, feebly attempted to stem the current. He issued an address 
protesting against the entire action of the convention, and refused to 
take the oath. His life-long popularity seemed now to desert him. 



42 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

The legislature framed a resolution approving of the convention, and 
deposing the Governor if he refused the oath. The United States prop- 
erty in the State was seized by the authorities. On the 10th of May, 
General Hor.ston made a speech in which he said that having opposed 
secession earnestly, he had, now that the Federal Government adopted 
armed coercion, no recourse but to stand by his State in resistance to 
subjugation. In such a juncture a man's section was his country. 

That the Cotton States should with almost common consent follow 
the lead of South Carolina, was regarded almost as a matter of course; 
but even that was not accomplished without some dissent to the dic- 
tation of South Carolina. The interests of the Border States were, 
however, not so identical, and the line of policy they might pursue not 
so well defined ; in one respect they seemed to be agreed, viz. : that 
tliey Avould not countenance armed coercion of the South, and thpir re- 
lations with the North seemed to hang upon the quesrtion of coercion, 
or conciliation. The most influential of them was Virginia. The 
leaders in the State seemed earnestly bent on preserving the Union, 
and early in January the legislature sent invitations to all the States 
to meet in a conference, in order to devise means of compromise. The 
State Convention, which assembled February 13th, was many weeks in 
session, and in its proceedings exhibited no little vacillation of opinion ; 
the old-fashioned conservatives being reluctant to cut adrift fiom the 
Union, while the more advanced politicians could not repress a hanker- 
ing after the glories of a new slave confederacy. Commissioners were 
appointed to wait on the Piesident and ascertain the policy that he in- 
tended to pursue. A resolution was adopted expressing a willingness 
that the independence of the seceding States should be acknowledged. 
On the other hand, resolutions expressive of a desire for conciliation 
and com})romise were passed. When, however, the coramissionerg 
were not satisfactorily received at Washington and the President is- 
sued his call for troops, the tone of the Convention changed ; it imme- 
diately went into secret session, and passed, by yeas eighty-eight, 
nays fifty-five, the following ordinance : — 

"An Ordinance to repeal the Eaiificatlon of the Constitution of the United States of America 
hy the State of Virginia, and to resume all the liiglds and Powers granted under said 
Constitution. 

" The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States 
of America, adopted by them in convention on tlie 25tli day of June, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand seven hundred and eiglity-eight, liaving declared that the powers 
granted under said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and 
might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppres- 
sion, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury 
of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States: 

" Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain that the ordi- 
nance adopted by the people of this State in convention, on the 25th day of June, one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United 
States of America was ratified, and all acts of the General Assembly of this State, rat- 
ifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated, 
that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution 
aforesaid is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and 
•zeroise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and iude- 



mSTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIS". 43 

pendent State. And they do further declare that the said Constitution of the United 
States of America is no longer binding on anj of the citizens of this State. 

" Tliis ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day when ratified by a major- 
ity of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the 
fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule to be hereafter enacted. 

*' Done in Convention, in the city of Richmond, on the 17th day of April, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty -fifth year of the 
Commonwealth of Virginia. 

" John L. Eubaxk, Secretary of Convention." 

"An Ordinance for i?ie Adoption of the Constitution of the Provisional Governmtnt of the 
Confederate States of America. 
'We. the delegates of the people of Virginia, in convention assembled, solcnndy im- 
pressed by tlie perils winch surround tlie commonwealth, and appealing to the Searclicr 
of Hearts for the rectitude of our intentions in assuming the great responsibility of this 
act, do, by tliis ordinance, adopt and ratify tlie Constitution of the Provisional Govern- 
ment of the Confederate States of America, ordained and established at Montgomery, 
Alabama, on the eighth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-one; provided 
tliat this ordinance shall cease to have any legal operation or effect, if tlie people of 
this commonwealth, upon the vote directed to be taken on the ordinance of secession 
passed by tliis convention on the 17th day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, 
shall reject the same. 

"A true copy. "Joiix L. Eubank, Secretary.^' 

Tlie passage of these ordinances was telegraphed to the South, and 
Mr. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States, at once set out 
for Virginia, and on April 24th formed a convention between tliat State 
and the Confederacy. The secession ordinance was in the latter part 
of June announced to have been ratified by a vote of one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty, to twenty thousand three 
hundred .and seventy-three ; but this did not include the vote of a large 
portion of Western Virginia. 

In the State of Arkansas the Convention met on the 4th of March, and 
an ordinance of secession was, after elaborate discussion, rejected by a 
vote of tbifty-nine to thirty-five. On the 18th of April was passed an 
act submitting tlie question of secession to the people on the 3d of 
August. The effect of the President's call for troojts was the same 
here as elsewhere in the South. When it was received, April 22d, the 
authorities seized the property of the Federal Government in the State ; 
the convention immediately reassembled, and on the 6th of May passed 
the following ordinance, by yeas sixty-nine, nays one : — 

"An Ordinance to dissolve tlie Union now existing between the State of Arlcansas and the 
other States united with htr under the Compact entitled ' The Constitution of the United 
States of America.'' 

" Wliereas, In addition to the well-founded cause of complaint set forth by this coxt- 
vention in resolutions adopted on the 11th March, A. d. 1861, against the sectional 
party now in power at Washington City, headed by Abraham Lincoln, he has, in the 
face of the resolutions passed by this convention, pledging the State of Arkansas to r^ 
sist to the last extremity any attempt on the part of such power to coerce any State 
that seceded from the old Union, proclaimed to the world that war should be waged 
against such States, until they should be compelled to submit to their rule, and large 
forces to accomplish this have by the same power been called out, and are now being 
marshalled to carry out this inhuman design, and longer to submit to such rule or re- 
main in the old Union of the United States would be disgraceful and ruinous to the 
State of Arkansas : 

"Therefore, we, the people of the State of Arkansas, in convention assembled, do 
tiereby declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ' ordinance 



44 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EE33ELLION". 

and acceptance of compact,' passed and approved by the General Assembly of the State 
of Arkansas on the 18th of October, a. d. 1836, whereby it was by said Genera'i 
Assembly ordained that, by virtue of the authority vested in said General Assembly, 
by the provisions of the ordinance adopted by the convention of delegates assembled at 
Little Rock, for the purpose of forming a constitution and system of government for 
said State, the propositions set forth in ' an act supplementary to an act entitled an act 
for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the Union, and to provide for the due 
execution of the 1 iws of the United States within the same, and for other purposes, 
were freely accepted, ratifled, and irrevocably confirmed articles of compact and union be- 
tween the State of Arkansas and the United States,' and all other laws, and every 
other law and ordinance, whereby the State of Arkansas became a member of the Fed- 
eral Union, be, and the same are hereby, in all respects, and for every purpose herewith 
consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully set aside ; and the Union now subsisting be- 
tween the State of Arkansas and the other States under the name of the United States 
of America, is hereby forever dissolved. 

*' And wo do further hereby declare and ordain that the State of Arkansas hereby re- 
sumes to herself all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the 
United States of America — that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said 
Government of the United States, and that she is in full possession and exercise of all 
the rights and sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State. 

"We do further ordain and declare that all rights acquired and vested under 
the Constitution of the United States of America, or of any act or acts of Congress, or 
treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall 
remain in full force and effect, in nowise altered or impaired, and have the same effect 
as if this ordinance had not been passed. 

" Adopted and passed in open convention on the 6th day of May, Anno Domini 1861. 

" Elias C. Boudinot, 
" Secretary of the Arkansas Stute Convention." 

The disposition of North Carolina was on the whole friendly to the 
Union. The legislature, December 20th, gave audience to Messrs. 
Smith and Garrett, commissioners from Alabama, and also received a 
communicatiou from the Hon. Jacob Thompson, a member of the Fed- 
eral cabinet, and also commissioner from Mississippi, to urge co-opera- 
tion in fiivor of the proposed Confederacy. This fact happening' at a 
time when a large amount of bonds had been abstracted from his de- 
partment, produced an influence in North Carolina not favorable to the 
Southern cause. As late as January 31st, the legislature elected Thomas 
L. Clinginan United States Senator. On the previous day the people 
had voted by forty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-two yeas, to 
forty-seven thousand thrcje hundred and twenty-three nays, not to call 
a convention. 

When the Confederate Congress met, February 4th, North Carolina 
was invited to send delegates. She replied that, as one of the Federal 
States, she had no right to do so ; but she sent commissioners for the 
purpose of attempting to bring about an arrangement on the basis of 
the Crittenden resolutions as modified by the Virginia legislature. 
Those commissioners were invited to occupy seats. 

The North Carolina legislature then passed unanimously a resolu- 
tion, that, if reconciliation should fail. North Carolina would go with 
the other Slave States. But, thotigli really reluctant to leave the Union, 
the Slate could not withstand the nnpulse given to secession by the 
events succeeding the surrender of Fort Sumter, and on the receipt of 
the President's cull for troops, the legislature was ordered to convene 
on the 1st of May. It proceeded at once to call a convention, which 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIST. 45 

C5n the 20th passed the ordinance, by a unanimous vote, after a propo- 
sition to submit the matter to the people had been defeated by seventy- 
tJiree to thirty-four. The following is the ordinance adopted : — 

" "We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in convention assembled, do de- 
clare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by 
the State of North Carolina, in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of 
the United States was ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the 
General Assembly, ratif3'ing and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are 
hereby repealed, rescinded, and abrogated. 

""We do further declare and ordain that the Union now subsisting between the Stato 
of North Carolina and the other States, under the title of the United States of America, 
is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in the full possession and 
exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and 
independent State. 

"Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861." 

The following ordinance, ratifying the Confederate Constitution, was 
also passed : — 

" We, the people of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, 
and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the State of North Carolina does hereby 
assent to and ratify the ' Constitution for the Provisional Government of the Confederate 
States of America,' adopted at Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, on the 8th of 
Februar}', 1861, by the Convention of Delegates from the States of South Carolina, 
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and that North Carolina wUl 
enter into the Federal Association of States upon the terms tlierein proi>osed, when ad- 
mitted by the Congress or any competent authority of the Confederate States. 

" Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861." 

The State of Tennessee long held out against secession, and on Feb- 
ruary 8th, by a vote of sixty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty 
to fifty-four thousand one hundred and fifty-six, decided not to call a 
convention. But under the influences which had impelled other States 
to secede, its legislature, on May 7th, adopted a declaration of inde- 
pendence and ordinance, dissolving the Federal relations between Ten- 
nessee and the United ''States, and an ordinance ratifying the Confed- 
erate Constitution, the two latter to be voted for by the people on 
June 8th ; on May 8th, amilitary league was formed w ith the Confederate 
States, in vii'tue of which the forces of Tennessee were to act in aid of 
the Confederates. On June 24th, Governor Isham G. Harris declared 
Tennessee out of the Union, the vote for sej^aration being one hundred 
and four thousand and nineteen against forty-seven thousand two him- 
dred and thirty-eight. The latter was mostly thrown in East Tennessee. 

The State of Kentucky passed no acts of secession, but adopted a 
neutral policy. On the 20th of May, Governor Magoflin issued a proc- 
lamation, solemnly forbidding any movement of troops upon Ken- 
tucky soil. On the receipt of the President's requisition, the Governor 
issued a proclamation calling the legislature together, to place the 
State in a defensive position. 

Early in December, a commissioner, appointed by a resolution of the . 
legislature of Mississippi, visited Maryland to ask her co-operation in 
the formation of a new government. Governor Hicks replied that, 
" when he was convinced that the power of the Federal Government 
was to be perverted for the destruction, instead of being used for the 
protection of their rights, then, and not till then, could he consent so 
to exercise any power with which he was invested, as to afford even 



46 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJ^. 

the opportunity for such a proceeding." The Maryland legislature 
met at Frederick in extra session on April 2'7th, and, notwithstanding 
the feverish excitement in Avhich the secessionists had plunged the 
comiti-y, refused by a very decided majority to call a convention. Tlie 
members, however, seemed to have acted I'rom policy rather than love 
of the Union, and clung to the delusion of peace at any price, and 
neutrality between the Federal Government and the seceded States. 
They passed the following preamble and resolutions, May 10th, 1861 : — 

" Whereas, The war against the Confederate States is unconstitutional and repugnant 
to civilization, and will result in a bloody and shameful overthrow of our institutions ; 
and whilst recognizing the obligations of Maryland to the Union, we sympathize with 
the South in the struggle for their rights — for the sake of humanity, we are for peace 
and reconciliation, and solemnly protest against this war, and will take no part in it : — 

" Unsolved, That Maryland implores the President, in the name of God, to cease this 
imholy war, at least until Congress assembles; that Maryland desires and consents to 
the recognition of the independence of the Confederate States. The military occupar 
tion of Maryland is unconstitutional, and she protests against it, though the violent 
interference with the transit of Federal troops is discountenanced ; that the vindication 
of her rights be left to time and reason, and that a convention, under existing circum- 
stances, is inexpedient." 

We have here given the acts of secession of the several Slave States, 
in succession, before giving an account of the convention which met 
at Montgomery, in February, to form the Confederate Government of 
seven Cotton States, in order that the reader may see under what cir- 
cumstances each State prepared to participate in the proceedings of 
that body. The Border States, it will be observed, did not secede un- 
til after the Confederacy Avas formed, and the new Administration had 
adopted a decided coercive policy. 

On the 4th of February, the Confederate Congress, composed of 
delegates from the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, and South Carolina, met at Montgomery, Alabama. On 
the same day, a convention, composed of commissioners from twenty- 
one States, appointed at the instance and solicitation of the legislature 
of Virginia, met in Washington, District of Columbia, to endeavor to 
devise some plan of retaining the Border States in the Union, and 
winning back tliose which had already seceded. The purpose was a 
praiseworthy one, but it was soon evident that the task they had under- 
taken was impracticable. The resolutions of compromise, which they 
finally passed by a bare majority, composed almost entirely of members 
from the Border States, failed to satisfy either party in the contro- 
versy ; the Northern States felt that they were asked to yield what 
they ought not, and the seceded States were unwilling to come back 
under any circumstances. 

On the meeting of the delegates to the Southern Convention, Howell 
Cobb, Esq., late Secretary of the Treasury for the United States, was 
elected chairman. In his address he said, that they had met as the 
representatives of sovereign and independent States, Avhich had dis- 
solved all political connection with the Government of the United 
States. Tlie separation was complete and perpetual, and their duty 
was now to provide for future security and protection. 

The following were the 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 47 



DELEGATES TO THE MONTGOMERY CO>rv:ENTION, ALABAMA, 
FEBRUARY 4tH. 

Alabama. — Robert IT. Smith, Colin J. McRae, W. R. Chilton, David P. Lewis, 
Richard W. Walker, John Gill, S. F. Hale, Thomas Fearn, J. L. M. Curry. 

Florida. — Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, James Powers. 

Georgia. — Roljert Toombs, Francis Barton, Martin Crawford, Judge Xesbitt, Ben- 
jamin Hill, Howell Cobb, Augustus R. Wright, Thomas R. R. Cobb, Augustus Keenan, 
A. H. Stephens. 

Louisiana. — John Perkins, Jr., C. M. Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, A. Declouet, K 
Sparrow, Henry Marshall. 

Mississippi. — Wiley P. Harris, W. S. Wilson, A. M. Clayton, Walker Brooke, W. S. 
Barry, J. T. Harrison, J. A. P. Campbell. 

South Carolina.— T. J. Withers, R. E. Rhctt, Jr., L. M. Keitt, W. W. Boyce, James 
Chestnut, Jr., R. W. Barnwell, G. G. Memraiuger. 

Three commissioners from North Carolina, sent to "efifect an honorable and amicable 
adjustment of all the difBculties that disturb the country, upon the basis of the Crit- 
tenden Resolutions," were admitted to seats in the convention. 

After some discussion the convention adopted provisionally the 
Constitution of the United States, with some important changes, 
adapted to the altered circumstances and pecuhar views of tl seceding 
States. The preamble reads as follows : — 

" We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States of South Carolina., 
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty 
God, do hereby, in behalf of these States, ordain and establish this constitution for 
the provisional government of the same, to continue one year from the inauguration of 
the President, or until a permanent constitution or confederation between the sai^ 
States shall bo put in operation, wluchsoever shall first occur." 

The seventh section, first article, is as follows : — 

" The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the Slave- 
holding States of the United States, is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to 
pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same. 

" Article second. — Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of 
slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy." 

Article fourth, of the third clause, of the second section, says : — 

"A slave in one State escaping to another, shall be delivered up on the claim of the 
party, to whom said slave may belong, by the executive authority of the State in 
which such slave may be found ; and in case of any abduction or forcible rescue, full 
compensation, including the value of the slave, and all costs and expenses, shall be 
made to the party by the State in which such abduction or rescue shall take place." 

Article sixth, of the second clause, says : — 

"The government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of 
all matters between the States forming it, and their late confederates of the United 
States, in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal 
from them ; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to ad- 
just every thing pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common 
obligations of that union, upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith." 

The tariff clause provides that — 

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and ex- 
cises for revenue necessary to pay the debts and carry on the government of the Con- 
federacy, and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confe<i- 
eracy." 



48 HISTOEY OF THE GEEiVT EEBELLIOjST. 

This was adopted on February 9th. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, 
was elected President, and Alexander 11. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice- 
President, by unanimous votes. 

The inauguration of Mr. Davis took place February 18th. In his 
inaugural address, he stated that the change of the government illus- 
trates the American idea of the consent of the governed, elaborated at 
great length and with considerable tact the popular State-rigiits views 
of the secession leaders, and defined the prospects and policy of the 
new confederation. 

On the 21st, he nominated the following members of his cabinet: 
Secrctanj of State — Robert Toombs ; Secretary of the Treasury — 
C. J. Memminger; Secretary of War — L. Pope Walker; Secretary of 
the Navy — Stephen R. Mallory; Attorney- General — Judah P. Benjar 
min; Post master- General — John H.Reagan; all of whom were con- 
firmed. 

Acts were adopted by the Congress, taking charge of. all questions 
with the United States in relation to public property ; continuing in 
force all laws of tlie United States, not inconsistent with the new con- 
stitution, and continuing in office all incumbents with the same duties 
and salaries ; levying duties on goods coming from the United States, 
unless shipped before March 28th ; and authorizing a loan of fifteen 
million dollars, secured by an export duty on cotton. 

On the 11th of March a permanent constitution was unanimously 
adopted, which was substantially a cojjy of the Federal Constitution. 
The preamble reads, " We, the people of the Confederate States, each 
State acting in its sovereign and independent charactei*," &c. ; the 
President and Vice-President were to be chosen for six years, and to 
be ineligible for re-election while in office ; cabinet ministers were 
allowed seats in Congress, with the privilege of debating ; the term 
slave was studiously paraded where, in the Federal Constitution, it is 
expressed by a paraphrase ; and the instrument provided that the vote 
of five States should suffice for its ratification. 

The first measures of the Confederate Congress were evidently in- 
tended to exhibit to the world moderation and a disposition to con- 
ciliate. The renewed condemnation of the slave-trade was almost 
unanimously conceded, no doubt to set the Confederacy morally right 
before society. The next important measure was evidently for the 
benefit of the Western States ; it declared the navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi free to any State on its borders, or the borders of its navigable 
tributaries. This enactment was a necessity, even in the event of suc- 
cess attending the Southern movement. It is impossible to imagine 
that the Western States Avould ever permit their chief outlet to the 
ocean to be closed by the tourniquet of a foreign custom-house. Even 
in Europe, the Danube, which passes through the territories of various 
and often hostile races, has been made free. The people living on the 
head-waters of the Mississippi, on the Ohio, the Missoui-i, and even the 
Arkansas, would be most indignant if any attempt were made to inter- 
fere with the traffic between the Gulf and the heart of tlie American 
continent. Hence the Confederate Congress enacted that all ships and 
boats which may enter the waters of the Mississippi, within the limits 




^^-€ey>,<^.^^ 



IIISTOEY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOX. 49 

of the Confederacy, from nnyport or place beyond the said limits, may 
freely pass with their cargoes to any other place beyond the said limits, 
without let or hindrance, on paying pilotage and otlicr charges. Reg- 
nlations were made to prevent the disposing of any part of the cargoes 
without payment of the customs due to the Confederate States. This 
the Southerners probably thought was all that the Western people 
could desire, or, at least, justly claim. 

Having thus extended one hand, as they supposed, to the "Western 
navigation, they extended the other to Great BritMn, by modifying 
the navigation laws. The act, which was ready for the President's 
assent on the 26th of February, was "to modify the navigation laws, 
and to repeal all discriminating duties on ships and vessels ;" and 
enacted that "all laws wliich forbid th.e employment in the coasting- 
trade of ships or vessels not enrolled or licensed, and also all laws 
which forbid the importation of goods, wares, or merchandise from one 
port of the Confederate States to another, or from any foreign port or 
place in a vessel belonging wholly or in part to a subject or citizen of 
any foreign State or power, are hereby repealed." Discriminating 
duties on foreign ships were also repealed. Thus, the coasting-trade 
from Charleston to Galveston was now thrown open to the British 
flag. This was certainly a tempting bait to Great Britain, who had 
so long sought from the Federal Government to be admitted to the 
coasting-trade of the United States in return for the right to trade 
between her colonies. As the South owns no shipping, but supplies 
an immense freight annually in cotton, rice, and tobacco, it was equiv- 
alent to offering lier carrying-trade to Great Britain. 

The act for the sui)pression of the slave-trade was in the iisual terms, 
but contained a provision for dealing with the negroes found on board 
the captured vessels, which is somewhat amusing. If the vessel is 
cleared from any port in the United States, the President shall com- 
municate with the Governor of that State, and "shall ofter to deliver 
such negroes to the said State on receiving a guarantee that the said 
negroes shall enjoy the rights and privileges of freemen in such State, 
or in any other State of the United States, or that they shall be trans- 
ported to Africa, and there set at liberty, without expense to the 
Govei-nment." The notion of the Confederate States bargaining with 
Massachusetts or Pennsylvania that a negro shall "have all the rights 
and privileges of a freeman," might imply a doubt as to the sincerity 
of their professions in behalf of the negro. In default of the foreign 
State accepting this offer, the President was empowered to receive any 
propositions made for the transport of the negroes to Africa by private 
persons, and, should no such philanthropist offer himself, "the Presi- 
dent shall cause the said negroes to be sold at public auction to the 
highest bidder." This, it must be confessed, is a descent from the 
lefty morality of the earlier part of the clause. All these acts were 
passed with great unanimity. 

On the 6th of February, an act placing at the disposition of Con- 
gress five hundred thousand dollars for the placing of the seceded 
States in a better condition of defence was passed by the legislature 
of Alabaiua. This offer was accepted by the Confederate Congress. 
4 



50 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOJif. 

On the Oth of February, a committee of one from each State was 
appointed, to report upon a fiag. The Government assumed, February 
12th, charge of the questions pending between the several States of 
the Confederacy and the Goveinment of the United States, relating to 
the occupation efforts, arsenals, dock-yards, and other public establish- 
ments, and directed that act to be conimimicated to the several States ; 
and again, on the 15th of March, 1861, the Congress recommended the 
respective States to cede the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, and other pub- 
lic establishments within their respective limits, to the Confederate 
States; and, in case of such cession, authorized and empowered the 
President to take charge of the said property. It was also provided 
by act of February 28th, that the President be directed to assume 
control of all military operations of the Confederate States; and he 
was authorized to receive the arms acquired from the United States 
and then in the forts, arsenals, and navy-yards of the several States, 
and all other arms and munitions which tliey might desire to turn over 
and make chargeable to the Confederate Government. 

On the Oth of March, the Confederate Congress passed an act for the 
organization of the army, to be composed of one corps of engineers, 
one coips of artillery, one i-egiment of cavalry, and six regiments of 
infantry, and to number ten tlaousaud seven hundred and thirty-seveu 
officers and men. 



CHAPTER III. 

Meeting of Congress. — President's Message. — Resignation of Secretaries Cobb, Cass, 
Floyd, and Tliompson. — Defalcations. — Special Message of tlie President. — Commit- 
tee of Thirty-three. — Crittenden Resolutions. — Border States' Plan. — Virginia Reso- 
lutions. — Peace Convention — Close of Congress. — New Territories. — Finance. — 
Constitutional Amendment. — Mr. Lincoln's Arrival at "Washington. — Inaugural ; ita 
Effects. — Southern Commissioners. — Supplies to Fort Sumter. — Policy of tlie Govern- 
ment. — Charleston Harbor. — Events at the South. — Bombardment and Surrender of 
Fort Sumter. — Fort Pickens Reinforced. 

"While preparations for conventions of the Southern States wei-e on 
foot, with the view of bringing about disunion, the Congress of the 
United States met at Washington, as usual, on December 3d. The 
South Carolina representatives were present, but the Senators having 
resigned November 11th, were absent. The other Southern represen- 
tations were generally full. 

The message of the President was largely occupied with a discus- 
sion of the state of the country. lie declared that the long-continued 
and intemperate interference of the Northern people with Southern in- 
terests had at length produced its natural effects in sectional discord; 
and that the true cause of the Southern disquiet was neither the per- 
sonal liberty bills of the Northern States, nor the claim to exclude 
slavery from the national territory, but the fact that continual agita- 
tion was inspiring the slaves with the hope of freedom, and thus daily 
undermining the security of the Southern people. The apprehensions 



inSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 51 

from this cause, he alleged, would make disimion inevitable. The 
President stated that, with the possible exception of the Missouri Com- 
promise, no act had ever passed Congress impairing in the slightest 
degree the rights of the South to their property in slaves ; no at-t had 
passed, or Avas likely to pass Congress, excluding slavery from the Ter- 
ritories ; that the Supreme Court had decided that slaves are property, 
and that the owners have a right to take them into the Territories un- 
der the protection of the Constitution; and that no territorial legisla- 
ture possesses the power to exclude slavery from the Territories. The 
power belongs nowhere except to the whole people when forming a 
State Constitution. That neither Congress nor the President are re- 
pponsible for the State personal liberty laws, which, he said, have all 
been declared unconstitutional and void, by all courts before which the 
question has been brought, Avith the exception of a single State court 
in Wisconsin, and there the decision had been reversed before the 
proper tribunal. He argued strongly against the right of secession, de- 
claring it to be simply revolution. He then summed up the powers of 
the executive under the constitution, and the laws of 1795 and 1807; 
*' but these," he said, " do not ajjply in a State where there are no 
Federal ofiicers through whose agency the laws can be executed. The 
property of the United States in Charleston had, with the consent of 
the State, been purchased by the Federal Government, and Congress 
has the exclusive power to legislate therein ; hence there were no ob- 
stacles to the collection of the duties in Charleston." 

" It is not believed," he added, " that any attempt will be made to 
expel the United States from the property. The officer in charge has 
orders to act on the defensive, and if he sliould be assailed, the respon- 
sibility would rest rightfully on the heads of the assailants." 

The President, in relation to the power of coercing a State that at- 
tempts to withdraw from the Confederacy, held that the power to do 
so " was expressly refused by the convention which framed the Con- 
stitution." The President advised an explanatory amendment to the 
constitution on the subject of slavery. 

On December 10th, the Secretary of the Treasury, Ilowell Cobb, of 
Georgia, resigned. In his letter of resignation, he stated that he agreed 
with the President in the policy and measures of the Administration, al- 
though he differed from some of the theoretical doctrines expressed in 
the message, as well as from the hope expressed in it, that the Union 
could yet be preserved. Mr. Thomas, of Maryland, was appointed to 
succeed Mr. Cobb as Secretary of the Treasury. The resignation of 
Mr. Cobb was followed by that of the Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of 
State, on the ground that the President had refused to reinforce the 
garrison at Fort Moultrie. This work, situated on Sullivan's Island, 
in Charleston harbor, was one of the few fortifications in Southern 
ports in which the Government maintained an armed force, and was 
watched with great jealousy by the authorities of South Carolina. He 
was succeeded by Attorney-General Black, and Mr. Stanton, of Penn- 
sylvania, succeeded Mr. Black as Attorney-General. While General 
Cass resigned because the President would not strengthen Major An- 
derson's command, John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigned on the 



52 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

ground that he Lad, with the assent of the President, assured the au- 
thorities of South Carolina that, pending the adoption of some decided 
line of policy, there should be no change in the position of forces in 
Charleston harbor. On the evening of December 26th, the garrison 
was transferred from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, which he claimed 
A7as a violation of that pledge, and on the refusal of the President to 
redeem it, by withdrawing the troops, he declared he could not remain 
in the cabinet. His resignation was at once accepted, and Mr. Holt, 
Postmaster-General, aj^pointed to the War DejDartment ad interim. 
Mr. Horatio King was appointed Postmaster-General. 

The position of Major Anderson at Fort Sumter was not much im- 
proved from what it had been at Fort Moultrie. He was safe from 
immediate attack, but his supplies were becoming exhausted, and it 
became necessary to succor him. An attempt was made to extort a 
pledge fi'om the President that no reinforcements should be sent ; but 
no such pledge was given, and the Star of the West left New York, 
January 5th, wath supi)lics and two himdred and fifty men, to be 
tlirown into tlie fort. In consequence of this, Mr. Thompson resigned 
as Secretary of the Interior, January 8th. On the 11th, Mr. Thomas, 
v/ho had succeeded Mr. Cobb in the Treasury Department, also resigned 
for a similar reason. General John A. Dix Avas appointed in his place. 

At this juncture, when the frequent changes in the cabinet were causing 
universal uneasiness, the country was startled with accounts of immense 
frauds in the War Department. It appeared that there had been out- 
standing large contracts with Russell, Majors & Co., to convey ai-my 
sujiplies across the plains to Utah, during the Mormon war. The cap- 
ital required to conduct these was very great, and it had been custom- 
ary for the contractors to give drafts on the Government at three 
and four months. These were officially accepted by Mr. Floyd, the 
amount to be chai-ged at maturity upon the sum then due to the con- 
tractors. 

In consequence of the growing commercial difficulties, Russell & 
Co. found it no longer possible to raise money on the drafts. Under 
these circmnstances, Mr. Russell induced Godard Bailey, a clerk in the 
Department of the Interior, to abstract from the department eight hun- 
dred and seventy-one thousand dollars of stocks belonging to the 
Indian Fund, and loan tlicm to him for the purpose of raising money to 
meet his contracts. The discovery of these facts produced immense 
excitement. There is no doubt but that this incident had a powerful 
influence upon the course of events. The policy of the President 
seemed to be in some degree strengthened by the changes that had 
taken place in the cabinet. The immediate difficulty was the position 
of Major Anderson at Charleston, and the departure of the Star of the 
West from New York, January 5th, with men and stores for that 
point, under a clearance for Havana, had given the President rencAved 
confidence. On the 8th of January, therefore, the day on which the 
Star of the West should have succeeded in her mission, the President 
'sent to Congress a special message upon the state of the country, re- 
iterating his opinion previously expressed, in opposition to the right 
of secession, and his views in relation to his own duty and that of Con- 



HISTORY OF THE GHEAT REBELLION. 53 

gvess. He suggested that the questions at issue be " removed from 
political assemblies to the ballot-box, and the people themselves would 
speedily redress the serious grievances that the South have suffered." 
He intimated that the proposition to let the North have exclusive con- 
trol above a certain geographical line, and to protect Southern institu- 
tions below that line, ought to receive universal approbation. 

In tliis message, the President reasserted the sentiment that "the 
Union must and shall be preservecl," declaring his purpose to use the 
military power against all who resisted the Federal authority. 

If this energetic announcement had been accompanied, as no doubt 
was intended, by the news of a successful reinforcement of Fort Sum- 
ter, it might have produced a salutary effect, and perhaps have changed 
the course of e\ents. Unfortunately, the news came of the failure of 
the attempt, and of an insult to the flag. That event caused much 
alarm, and aroused fears of the actual approach of war. Such of the 
Northern State legislatures as were in session — and all were so, ex- 
cept those of New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
Illinois, and Indiana, some of which meet only once in two years, and 
the others either in spring or autumn — received the message of the 
President with favor, and tendered prompt assistance in support of the 
Government. In the legislature of New York were passed the fol- 
lowing resolutions : — 

" Whereas, The insurgent State of South Carohna, after seizing vhe post-offices, cus- 
tom-house, moneys, aud fortifications of tlie Federal Government, has, by firing into a 
vessel ordered by the Government to convoy troops and provisions to Fort Sumter, 
virtually declared war; and whereas, Tlie forts and property of the United States Gov- 
ernment in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, have been unlawfully seized, with hostile 
intentions; and tuhereas, Their Senators in Congress avow and maintain their treasona- 
ble acts; therefore, 

"Resolved, That the legislature of New York is profoundly impressed with the 
value of the Union, aud determined to preserve it unimpaired; that it greets with jov 
the recent firm, dignified, and patriotic special message of the President of the United 
States, and that wo tender to him, through the chief magistrate of our own State, what- 
ever aid in men and money may be required to enable him to enforce the laws and 
uphold the authority of the Federal Government; and that, in the defence of the 
Union, which has conferred prosperity and happiness upon the American people, re- 
newing the pledge given and redeemed by our fathers, we are ready to devote our 
fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honor." 

These resolutions were communicated by Governor Morgan of New 
York to the President, and also to the Governor of each State. 

The action of other States was similar, and illusti-ates the extent to 
which zeal outran ability, AVhcn New York passed her resolution, 
she had not military resources to equip thirteen thousand men. Mas- 
sachusetts had been more active. For Avhen, early in Deceuiber, she 
tendered her volunteers to the Government, she had five thousand men 
xmder drill; but of these only three thousand were armed with Spring- 
field muskets. When the call at a later date actually came for troops, 
both New York and Massachusetts were obliged to send agents to 
Europe to purchase arms. 

The views of the President, as expressed in his annual message, 
were received with various manifestations of dissent or approval, ac- 
cording to the light in which they were viewed. The importance of 



54 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

some mode of adjustment early impressed itself upon Congress, and 
on the 10th of December, the day on which Mr. Cobb resigned from 
the Treasury Department, a House Committee of thirty-three, or one 
from each State, was appointed, and also a Senate Committee of thir-^ 
teen, on the State of the Union, A variety of propositions were dis- 
cussed by the latter Committee, Avithout uniting a majority. A plan 
proposed by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, met with considerable 
fuvor. It practically re-established the Missouri Compromise, declared 
that Congress shall not interfere with slavery where it exists, and pro- 
vided for the faithful execution of the fugitive slave law. Tliis did 
not, however, meet the views of either side. The Republicans were 
willing to recommend an amendment to the Constitution declaring 
that Congress shall have no power to interfere with slavery in the 
States, but refused the demand of the Southerners that slave property 
should be recognized in the Territories imder the decisions of the 
Supreme Court. The Southerners contended that an amendment to 
the Constitution, declaring that the Federal Government had no right 
to interfere with slavery, was only declaring what was nowhere dis- 
j)uted, forgetting apparently that the leading secessionists had directly 
charged tlie Republicans with asserting the existence of such a right, 
and with preparing to exercise it. The judiciary of the United States 
had, however, they said, declared that under the Constitution the 
South had a right to the protection of the Federal Government for 
their slave property in the Territories. They wanted assent to that 
decision. This the Republicans were not prepared to give. 

The following is the Crittenden plan of adjustment, offered in the 
form of immutable amendments to the Constitution : — 

" First. In all territories north of 36 deg. 30 min. slavery is prohibited ; in all terri- 
tory south of that latitude, slavery is recognized as existing, and shall be protected as 
property during its continuance. All the territory north or south of said line shall be 
admitted into the Union with or without slavery, as the Constitution of the State shall 
prescribe. 

" Second. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the States permitting 
slavery. 

" Third. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District of Coliun- 
bia while it exists in Virginia and Maryland, or either. 

" Fmirtli. Congress to have no power to hinder the transportation of slaves from one 
State to another. 

^^ Fifth. Congress to have power to pay for a slave when the marshal is prevented 
from discharging his duty, the owner to sue the county in whieli the rescue was made, 
and the county have the right to sue the individuals who committed the wrong. 

'^ Sixth. No further amendment or amendments shall affect the preceding articles, 
and Congress shall never have power to interfere with slavery in the States where it 
is now permitted." 

The last resolution declares that "the Southern States have a right to tlio faithful 
execution of the law for the recovery of slaves ; and such laws ought not to be repealed 
or mollified so as to impair their efficiency. All laws in conflict with the fugitive slave 
law, it shall not be deemed improper for Congress to ask the repeal of. The fugitive 
slave law ought to be so altered as to make the fee of the commissioner equal, whether 
he decides for or against the claimant ; and the clause authorizing the person holding 
the warrant to summon a posse comitatus to be so as to restrict it to cases where vio- 
lence or rescue is attempted. The laws for the suppression of the African slave-trade 
ought to be effectually executed." 

Another proposition was framed by a Committee of the Border 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIO:JT. 55 

States, including Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Missouri, aud North Carolina; and 'New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. This contained nearly the 
suggestions of the Crittenden resolutions, Avith the addition of an 
amendment to the Constitution that no territory sliall be acquii-ed by 
the United States without tlie consent of " three-fourths of the mem- 
bers of the Senate;" and also a resolution that an act be passed direct- 
ing that the demand for the surrender of a fugitive slave should be 
made before the United States judge of the district in which the 
fugitive might be found, 

Neither the Crittenden resolutions nor the Border Stale propositions 
■were, however, destined to pass Congress, notwithstanding that a con- 
siderable body of the Northern people, in their anxiety to avoid civil 
war, were loud in their demands that one or botn of these propositions 
should be adopted. 

New York city, the great commercial metropolis of the country, 
showed an unfeigned anxiety to put off the evil day, which it required 
no prophet's eye to see, was now rapidly approaching. Two memo- 
rials, the one signed by her capitalists and leading men, and the other, 
which emanated from the Chamber of Commerce, h.aving upward of 
forty-five thousand signatures, were laid before Congress. They both 
suggested renewed guarantees to the Slave States, that no interference 
should be attempted in their domestic institutions, aud advised a gen- 
eral policy of conciliation and compromise. The coimtiy had been 
for so many years in a state of profound peace, that men, who after- 
wards afforded noble examples of self-sacrilicing ])atriotism in defence 
of the integrity of the Union, wore now pi-epared to concede almost 
every thing, in the hope of aA^erting civil war. Fortunately for their 
country, and for free institutions all over the world, this enervation of 
spiiit was more apparent than real. 

In Boston, meetings were held in favor of the Crittenden compro- 
mise, and a petition, more than one hundred feet long, bearing, it was 
stated, more than forty thousand names, was carried to "Washington 
by Messrs. Everett, Winthrop, Lawrence, C. L. Woodbury, and Foley, 
asking for the passage of the resolutions of Mr. Crittenden by Con- 
gress, In many other parts of the North a like energy was manifested, 
and petitions were signed by great numbers of voters for the Critten- 
den resolutions, or for any resolution that would restore harmony. 

Neither this delegation nor those fi-o;n New York had, however, 
much influence upon Congress. Those who opposed the passage of 
the resolutions argued, that nothing liad been actually done to need 
compromise ; that the constitutional election of a President was not 
a matter for compromise, and that, until Southern rights had been 
actually assailed, there was no need of volunteering amends. More^ 
ovei-, there was no evidence that the South wanted any compromise, 
or would be satisfied with those presented. 

In the mean time, the Border States were apparently very earnest 
to bring about some mode of settlement. On the iVth of January, 
the legislature of Virginia passed resolutions, inviting all States, 
" whether slaveholding or non-slaveholding, who are willing to unite 



56 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the present nnhnppy con- 
troversy, to appoint commissioners, to meet at Washington, February 
4th." They staled that " the resohitions of Mr. Crittenden embraced 
the basis of an adjustment that would be acceptable to this common- 
weahh." The President, in a message to Congress, January 28th, 
communicnting these resolutions, warmly seconded them, and urged 
Congiess to abstain from passing any law that might tend to bring on 
hostilities. 

The Virginia resolutions were forwarded to all the States, and mem- 
bers were appointed from twenty-one of them to attend. The States 
represented in the Convention were Maine, New Ilami^shire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Cotmecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennes- 
see, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, 
each of which sent from three to twelve delegates. The Convention 
met on February 4th, chose John Tyler, of Virginia, President, and 
sat until March 1st ; and having then adopted a plan satisfactory to 
the Border States, adjourned. Section 1, divided the Territories by 
the line 36° 30' ; north of which there were to be no slaves; south of 
it, slaves or no slaves, according to the people's wish ; Congress and 
the legislature to have no power of prohibition. Sec. 2. No terri- 
tories to be acquired without the assent of a majority of the senators 
North and of those South, and of two-thirds the whole Senate. Sea 
3. Congress to have no power to interfere with slavery in any State, 
nor to abolish it in the District of Columbia without the consent of 
the owners and that of Maryland; nor to abolish it in any place under 
Federal jurisdiction; nor to prevent transportation of blacks from 
one State to another ; nor to tax them higher than land. It provided, 
also, that certain clauses of the Constitution should not be altered 
without the consent of all the States ; that Congress should pay for 
slaves not remanded according to law ; and that the citizens of each 
State should have the privileges and immunities of citizens of the 
several States. 

The various propositions looking to conciliation or compromise con- 
tinued to be discussed in Congress, without any very satisfactory 
results. Several State legislatures meanwhile volunteered conciliatory 
action. Rhode Island repealed her personal liberty bill, and the legis- 
lature of Ohio, and tliose of some other States, made modifications in 
their respective ])ersonal liberty bills, tending to soften asperities. 
Mr. Stanton, of Oiiio, February 19th, introduced a bill into the House, 
to authorize the President to accept the services of volunteers, but it 
was not passed. On the same day, Mr. Fenton, of New York, offered 
a resolution for a convention of the States, and this was also defeated. 

The Thirty-sixth Congress was now drawing rapidly to a close, and 
nothing had been done either to sustain the authority of the Govern- 
ment, or to promote a settlement of the difficulties. A notable ele- 
ment of irritation was the occupation of Fort Sumter, which could 
not much longer hold out without sui)plies. The expiring Administra- 
tion would not take the responsibility of withdrawing the troops, and 
were averse to assuming the risk of colhsiou by reinforcing them. In 



mSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI^. 57 

a military point of view, the holding of the fort was of little moment, 
and in a political sense still less so, since the great question to be 
settled was separation, or continued union. If the fort should be 
abandoned, and union should ultimately triumph, it would be reoccu- 
pied. If separation should be determined upon, it would be settled 
for in the general terms of peace. The duty of the Executive was, 
however, very clear. He had no power to give up jDossessiou of the 
propert}^ he was sworn to defend. 

The whole question, therefore, passed over to the incoming Adminis- 
tration. The most important action of the Thirty-sixtli Congress was 
in suspending the postal service in the seceded States ; in erecting 
three new Territoires, viz. : Colorado, made uj) of parts of Kansas, 
Nebraskn, and Utah, having an area of one hundred thousand square 
miles, antl a population of twenty-five thousand, inclu'ling Pike's Peak 
gold region ; JVe»(/d(f, from Utah and California, including the fertile 
Carson Valley; and Dacofa/i, formerly part of Minnesota, with an area 
of seventy thousand square miles. Congress passed several loan bills, 
and also the tariif bill. 

The finances of the Federal Government had been in a very disor- 
dered condition owing to the revulsion in business, which resulted 
from political disturbances, and which, by reducing the imports of 
goods, had cut off the customs, the chief source of revenue, from the 
Treasury. In June, 1860, a loan of twenty million dollars had been au- 
thorized ; of this ten million was offered in October in a five per cent, 
stock, and it had been taken at a small jtremiura. Before the install- 
ments were paid up, however, the panic that attended the election had 
affected credit, and many bids were withdrawn. This sd seriously af- 
fected the means of the department, that as the 1st of January ap- 
proached, it seemed likely there would be no funds with which to meet 
the interest on the National debt. By the act of December 17th, 1860, 
an issue of ten million dollars, in treasury notes, was authorized, to 
bear such a rate of interest as might be offered by the lowest bidders, 
but so shaken was credit, that but few bids were made, and some of 
them at a rate of thirty-six per cent, interest, per annum. The capi- 
talists interested in the Government credit finally took one million five 
hundred thousand dollars of one-year treasury notes, at twelve per cent, 
per annum (the amount was subsequently raised to five million dollars), 
on condition that the money should be applied to paying the interest 
on the debt. This was certainly a dark day in the Republic, when the 
Federal Government, which had earned the honor of being the only na- 
tion that had ever paid its debts in full — principal and interest — and which 
in 1856, with an overflowing treasury, had paid twenty-two per cent, 
premium for its own six per cent, stock, to get it out of the market, 
was now rediiced to give twelve per cent, interest, for a few millions, 
and to engage to protect its credit with the money. 

In January the rest of the authorized treasury notes were issued, at 
rates of interest ranging from eight to twelve per cent. In February, 
Congress authorized a loan of twenty-five million dollars in six per cent, 
stock, a portion of which was negotiated at sixteen per cent, discount. 
The question of raising the tariff duties in order to provide more re , - 



58 niSTOEY or the great EEBELLIOIir. 

nue now came np, and a bill was reported, not only increasing the rates, 
but changing them from ud valoreiii to specific duties ; and in some 
cases, charging both on the same article. The provisions of the bill 
were complicated, and it was passed, March 2d, to go into operation 
April 1st. This tariff bill also provided for a new six per cent, loan of 
ten million dollars, or, in case it could not be negotiated, for the issue 
often million dollars more treasury notes at a like interest, and also 
for the emission of about fourteen million dollars remaining unissued 
of an amount authorized by the act of June, 18G0. This tarifi' caused 
much discontent, and was regarded as very injudicious at that juncture, 
since it revived the policy which had in former years been so distaste- 
ful to the South, and which therefore could not now be regarded as 
conciliating. The average duties of the foi-mer tariff had been nine- 
teen and a half per cent, on all importations, while those of the 
new one were about thirty-four per cent. This return to protective 
duties had also an adverse effect upon the Union interests in England, 
where it was regarded as hostile to British trade. Nevertheless, there 
is no doubt but that the Government revenues were in want of suc- 
cor, and it was an oj^en question how far the changes aided or defeated 
that object. 

In the last hours of Congress was decided the fiite of the several 
measures of conciliation which had occupied the attention of that body, 
and of the Peace Conference. The report of the Committee of thirty- 
three, in addition to several propositions for amending the fugitive 
slave law, settling the vexed question of slavery in the Territories, <&c., 
embodied the following amendment to the Constitution, which was 
passed by both houses by a two-thirds vote : — 

" No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give Con- 
gress power to abolish, or interfere within any State, with the domestic institutions 
thereof, including persons held to labor or servitude by the laws of said State." 

This, if it had been passed by three-fourths of the State legislatures, 
■would have become valid as a new article to the Constitution, but subse- 
quent events prevented the necessity of such action. Many Southern 
members had by this time departed, leaving the Republicans in a majority 
both iti the Senate and the House, and with their departure Northern men 
grew firmer in their resolve not to be intimidated by threats of seces- 
sion into unworthy or insufficient compromises. Mr. Crittenden's 
resolutions, after having been once rejected and the vote reconsidered in 
tlie Senate, were finally lost by nineteen yeas to twenty nays. Six 
Southern senators, with the deliberate intention of destroying all hope 
of compromise, refrained from voting. The resolutions of the Peace 
Conference were never acted upon, except on a motion by Mr. Critten- 
den, to substitute them for his own, which was lost by twenty-eight nays 
to seven yeas. Congress finally adjourned amidst great excitement. 

While Congress was drawing towards its close, the anxiety of the 
public had been divided between the action of that body and the move- 
ments of the incoming Administration. There had probably never in 
the history of the country been so much interest expressed in the views 
of a newly-elected magistrate, as in the case of Mr. Lincoln. The old 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOjS". 59 

Administration had been so severely denounced for its do-nothing pol- 
icy, that by inference some energetic action was expected or feared, 
according to the views of individuals, from the new chief magistrate. 
Every indication of what his course might be, was eagerly caught at 
and canvassed. On the llth of February Mr. Lincoln left liis home, at 
Springfield, Illinois, with the intention of making the journey by special 
trains, through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, 
Albany, Xew York, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Baltimore. On his 
way, Mr. Lincoln made brief speeches at all the larger places, without, 
however, giving any explicit statements of the proposed policy of his 
administration, beyond the general affirmation that it would be one of 
justice to every part of the country. He probably did not hold the 
opinion expressed by Mr. Seward at a public dinner in the Astor 
House in Xew York, that the difficultites were not serious, and were 
gradually dying out. The programme of the journey Avas carried out 
until on the afternoon of the 22d of February, Mr. Lincoln, on reach- 
ing Harrisburg, received, during the evening, intelligence that induced 
hira to change his plans. As his journey approaclud its end, threats 
of assassination, which had been made even before his departure from 
his home in Illinois, began to assume more definite form. Rumors of 
a conspiracy to efiect this object at Baltimore reached General Scott, 
who, upon inquiry, found such presumptive evidence of its existence 
that he sent a special messenger to Mr. Lincoln at Harrisburg, to advise 
him not to carry out the public programme announced, but pass 
through Baltimore at an early and unexpected hour. This suggestion 
was accompanied by such proofs of its necessity, as satisfied Mr. Lin- 
coln of the propriety of the change ; and he accordingly left Harris- 
burg on the night of February 23d, with the slight disguise of a 
military cloak and a Scotch plaid cap, and arrived safely in Washing- 
ton the following morning — the telegraph wires at Harrisburg having 
been cut to prevent the transmission of the intelligence of his departure. 
His family passed through Baltimore the next morning, and were met 
at the railroad station by a riotous assemblage, which showed itself 
ready for mischief, and appeared exasperated on discovering that Mr. 
Lincoln was not present. 

There had been threats in circulation that the new President would 
never be inaugurated, and many fears were entertained that those 
threats were not without foundation. General Scott had, however, 
taken every precaution, and the military under his orders were under 
arms on the 4th of March : a sorrowful and miaccustomed sight to 
those who prided themselves on a Government sustained by law and 
order, and who had never thought to witness troops assisting on such 
an occasion, except as part of a holiday pageant. The President, with 
his cabinet— W. H. Seward, of Xew York, Secretary of State ; Simon 
Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles, of Con- 
necticut, Secretary of the Xavy; Montgomery Blair, of Maryland,' 
Postmaster-General; Edward Bates, ot Missouri, Attorney-General; 
and Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the Inteiior — proceeded 
to the Capitol, and the inaugm-ation took place amid the acclama- 
tions of the people. The inaugural address gave general satisfaction, 



'60 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOI^. 

though some of its ^^'ositions were differently interpreted by different 
parties. 

It began by declaring that the election of a Republican President 
afforded no ground to the Southern States for apprehending any inva- 
sion of their rights. "I have," said he, "no purpose, directly or 
indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States 
where it exists. I believe 1 have no lawful right to do so, and I have 
no inclination to do so." He explicitly recognized the obhgation of 
enforcing the provision for the delivery of fugitive slaves. He then 
proceeded to argue against the right of secession under the Constitu- 
tion, declaring that all resolves and ordinances te the effect of seces- 
sion are null and void. He continued as follows : — 

"I shall take care that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. 
I shall perfectly perform it as far as is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the Amer- 
ican people, shall withhold the requisite means, or in some authoritative manner direct 
the contrary." "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess 
the property and places belonging to the Government, and collect the duties and im- 
posts, but beyond what may be necessary for these objects there wiU be no invasion, 
no using of force against or among the people any where. 

" Where hostility to the United States shall be so great and so universal as to pre- 
vent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no 
attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people that object. While the strict 
legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the 
attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, that I deem 
it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices. 

"The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the 
Union. 

''Suppose you go to war; you cannot fight always, and when, after much loss on 
both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical questions as to the 
terms of intercourse are again upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs 
to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing 
Government, they can exercise their constitutional riglit of amending, or their revolu- 
tionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that 
many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Constitution 
amended. While I make no recommendation of amendment, I freely recognize the full 
authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes 
prescribed in the in-strumcnt itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor 
rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will 
venture to add that to mo the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows 
amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them 
to take or reject propositions originated by others not specially chosen for the purpose, 
and which miglit not be precisely such as they would wish tliemselves to accept or 
refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution — wliich amendment, 
however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Gov- 
ernment shaU never interfere with the domestic institutions of States, including that of 
persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of most I have said, I depart from 
my purpose, not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that holding such 
a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made 
express and irreyocable." 

' . President Buchanan and Chief- Justice Taney listened with the ut- 
most attention to every word of the address, and at its conclusion the 
latter administered the usual oath, in taking which, Mr. Lincoln was 
Loudly cheered. 

The inauguration was the ninth ceremony of the kind at which 
Chief-Justice Taney had officiated, he having administered the oath of 
©flSce successively to Presidents Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. Gl 

Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Bucliauan, and Lincoln. TLe ceremony was 
exceedingly impressive. 

The South at once received the message as a declaration of war, 
while at the North opinion was greatly divided. Senator Douglas, in 
his place in the Senate, hailed it as the harbinger of peace, and the 
same view was entertained by many influential men at the Korth, 
where the hope of ultimate peace was strengthened. In the seceded 
States, however, intense excitement followed the reception of the 
address, except among those few who hoped for a restoration of union 
and harmony ; and these strove to consider the document as oj^posed 
to coercion. 

The Senate remained in session until the 28th of March, mostly 
occupied Avith the confirmation of jDersons appointed to oflice by the 
President. The Administration, for the first month, gave no open 
demonstration of its future line of policy, but after making the neces- 
sary changes in the subordinate officers of the difierent departments, 
and becoming familiar with the new and onerous duties it liad under- 
taken, prepared itself, as well as its circumstances alloAved, for the 
coming emergency, and awaited the development of events. The rest- 
less spirits in the Border States, who sympathized with secession, were 
not satisfied with this course, as it prevented them from hurrying for- 
ward their States into acts of treason ; while some sympathizers with 
the South at the North advised the recognition of the Southern Con- 
federacy as the only practicable and satisfactory settlement of the mo- 
mentous question which agitated the country. " Erring sisters, go in 
peace," was the remark of a once poj^ular New York politician, and 
the words found an echo in the hearts of many timid peo])le, whom the 
threatened approach of civil war deprived of what little manhood or 
resolution they possessed. But the Government, thougli silent, was 
not idle, and evidences of its activity became apparent in the navy- 
yards at the North. An expedition was fitted out at New York, having 
for its object to reinforce Fort Pickens, in Pensacola liaibor, and to 
throw supplies into Fort Sumter, the position of which had not ceased 
to be a matter of the greatest public concern. The Southern Confed- 
eracy and State authorities were kept informed, through their agents 
in Washington, occupying official positions, of all the movements of 
the Government, and were continually on the alert to collect and trans- 
mit the earliest intelligence. John Forsyth and Martin J. Crawford, 
Southern commissioners, had, on the 13th of March, addressed the 
Hon. W. H. Sew^ard, Secretary of State, on behalf of the seven States 
forming the Southern Confederacy, which now included Texas, and 
asked ibr an audience of the President, with a view of opening nego- 
tiations for a settlement of difiiculties. Mr. Seward, in a paj^er dated 
March 15th, though, with the assent of the commissioners, not delivered 
till April 8th, declined the request. He said : — 

"The official duties of the Secretary of State are confined to the conducting of 
tlie foreign relations of the country, and do not embrace domestic questions, or ques- 
tions arising between the several States, and the Federal Government is unable to 
comply with the request of Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford to appoint a day on which 
they may present the evidences of their authority and the objects of their visit to the 



62 HISTORY OP THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

President of the United States. On the contrary, he is obliged to state to Messrs. 
Forsyth and Crawford, that he has no authority, nor is he at liberty to recognize them 
aa diplomatic agents, or hold correspondence or other communication with them." 

An attempt was subsequently made to convict the Secretary of State 
of duplicity in relation to the matter of the attempted reinforcement 
of Fort Sumter, and his reply to the commissioners of the Southern 
Confederacy. The charge was made on the authority of John A. 
Campbell, formerly one of the associate judges of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, who, by his own acknowledgment, was at that 
time in full sympathy with the leaders of the rebellion, and acting the 

Eart of a spy on the United States Government, by communicating all 
e could learn to the Confederate Government. Such a man's state- 
ments, if unsupported as these were, are not entitled to full credence, 
and the use of them made by Jefferson Davis, the President of the 
Confederate States, showed a desire to make capital by a perversion 
of facts. Judge Campbell stated that Mr. Seward informed him that 
Fort Sumter would soon be evacuated. But that statement is un- 
supported by any corroborative evidence, and coming from a secret 
enemy of the Union, is justly open to suspicion. He also charged 
that Mi\ Seward informed him that Fort Sumter would not be rein- 
forced without notice being given to Governor Pickens. Such notice 
was given, as Governor Pickens himself informed the Confederate 
President. When Judge Campbell still reiterated his inquiries, Mr. 
Seward replied, "Faith as to Sumter fully kept — wait and see." 
Governor Pickens was notified of the intention of the Government to 
" reinforce Fort Sumter peaceably, or otherwise by force," on the 8th 
of April ; the attempt to do so was not made till the night of the 12th 
of April. 

Under these circumstances, the final letter of the commissioners of 
the Southern Confederacy to Mr. Seward can only be regarded as a 
piece of unnecessary impertinence. It was as follows : — 

" Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the active naval 
and military preparation of this Government, and a formal notice to the commanding 
general of the Confederate forces in the harbor of Charle.stou, that the President in- 
tends to provision Fort Sumter by forcible means, if necessary, are viewed by the 
tindersisjned, and can only be received by the world, as a declaration of war against 
the Confederate States; for the President of the United States knows that P'ort Sumter 
cannot be provisioned without the eflusion of blood. The undersigned, in belialf of 
their government and people^ accept the gage of battle thus thrown down to them ; 
and appealing to God and the judgment of manlxind for the righteousness of their 
cause, tiie people of the Confederate States will defend tlieir liberties to the last against 
this flagrant and open attempt at their subjugation to sectional power." 

Mr. Seward made no reply beyond a simple acknowledgment. 

These commissioners then left Washington, and on April 13th, the 
commission appointed by the Virginia Convention to ascertain the 
policy which the Federal Executive intended to pursue towards the 
Confederate States, was received by the President. He replied : — 

"In answer I have to say, that having, at the beginning of my official term, ex- 
pressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with deep regret aud mortifi- 
ijation I now learn there is great and injurious uncertainty in tbe public mind as to 
Vhat that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. Not having aa yet seen 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]^ 



63 



occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue the course marked out in the 
inaugural address. I commend a careful consideration of the whole document as the 
best expression I can give to my purposes. As I tlien and therein said, I now re- 
peat: "The power confided in mc will be used to hold, occupy, and possess property 
and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and impo.sts ; but 
beyond what is necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force 
against or among the people any where.' By the words ' property and places belong- 
ing to the Government,' I chiefly allude to the military posts and property wliich were 
in possession of the Government when it came into my hands. But if, as now ap- 
pears to bo true, in pursuit of a purpose to drive the United States authority from 
these places, an unprovoked assault has been made upon Fort Simiter, I shall hold 
myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, like places which had been seized before 
tho Government was devolved upon me : and, in any event, I shall, to the best of my 
ability, repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumtor has been as- 
saulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause tho United States mails to bo withdrawn 
from all the States which claim to have seceded, believing that the commencement 
of actual war against the Government justifies, and possibly demands it. I scarcely 
need to say that I consider the military posts and property situated within the States 
which claim to have seceded, as yet belonging to tho Government of tho United States 
as much as they did before the supposed secession. Whatever else I may do for the 
purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the duties and imposts by any armed invasion 
of any part of the country ; not moaning by tliis, however, that I may not land a force 
deemed necessary to relieve a fort upon the border of the country. From the fact that 
I have quoted a part of the inaugural address, it must not be inferred that I repudiate 
any other part, the wliole of which I reaffirm, except so far as what I now say of the 
mails may be regarded as a modification." 

This reply was made on the 13th, the day after thai on which the 
batteries at Charleston opened on Fort Sumter. 

The military power of the United States had never been large in 
respect of men; more particularly, the National Capital had ever been 
free from soldiers ; although, since the formation of the Government, 
large sums had been annually expended both for the navy and the 
army. By this means a considerable number of forts and coast de- 
fences had been built, and a large amount of munitions of war col- 
lected in the arsenals and depots of the several States, These were 
mostly precautions against enemies from without. The policy of the 
Government, harmonizing with the spirit of its institutions, had ever 
been averse to tiie keeping up of a standing army in time of peace ; 
and, although the country was possessed of a great number of well- 
educated officers, graduated, annually, during the previous fifty years 
at West Point, few of these were in actual service, and a large num- 
ber of them resigned for the Southern service. The whole authorized 
strength of the army was eighteen thousand one hundred and sixty-five 
men. Of these, the whole force available for active service in the field, 
was eleven thousand men. This little force Avas scattered over an 
area of three millions of square miles, occupying one hundred and 
thirty permanent garrisons, posts, and camps, many of which were so 
exposed to Indian hostilities, tliat not a man could be spared from any 
frontier. The Department of the East had a force of one thousand and 
twenty-seven, under GeneralJohn E.Wool.* Of this force, six companies 



* John E.Wool, captain in the Thirteenth Infan- 
try, April, 1812, and on the ISth of October, 1812, 
distinguished at Queenstown Heights, when he 
■was severely wounded. In April, 1813, major of 



the Twenty-ninth [nfantry, and in December, 
1S14, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for gallant 
conduct at the battle of Plattsbure. In May, 1815, 
he was retained in the Sixth Infantry, lu Sep- 



64 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



of artillery, under Colonel Brown, were at Fortress Monroe, consti- 
tuting all the troops within reach of Washington. 

Soon after the result of the election was known in December, rumors 
began to multiply of the organization and drillii)g of companies, in 
Maryland and Virginia, for an attack upon Washington. On the 2d 
of January General Scott, who was very active in the defence of the 
city, recommended Captain Charles Stone* to have charge of the organ- 
ization of the district militia. 

On the 8th of January a company of marines was sent to Fort Wash- 
ington, on the Potomac, fourteen miles below Washington. The forts, 
arsenals and property of the General Government south of the Potomac, 
with the exception of Fortress Monroe, Fort Sumter, Fort Pickens 
and' the Tortugas, were successively seized by the authorities of the 
States within which they were situated. The fort in Charleston Harbor, 
gallantly held, was destined to bring on the crisis of the war. The 
three forts that then defended Charleston Harbor were Fort Moultrie, 
of Kevolutionary fame, on Sullivan's Island ; Castle Pinckney, near the 
city ; and Fort Sumter, a new structure on an island in the channel, 
commandmg all the approaches to the city. It had been erected by the 
Federal Government, at considerable cost, and was not yet so far com- 
plete as to receive a garrison. The place was calculated for one hun- 
dred and forty-six guns, and a war garrison of six hundred and fifty 
men. The only force that the Federal Government had for these three 
forts was a single company of artillery in Fort Moultrie, under command 
of Major Robert Anderson. f 

Fort Moultrie, although formidable to an enemy entering the harbor, 
had never been designed to withstand an attack from the city of Charles- 
ton, the authorities of which now expressed a determination to possess it. 
Against such an attack Major Anderson could with dltEculty maintain 
himself. He had, under date of 11th December, the day on which the 



tember, 1810, inspector-general, with the rank of 
colonel. He was made lieutenant-colonel of in- 
fantry in February, ISIS; brevet brigadier-general 
in April, IS'26, for "ten years' faithful service;" 
and full brigadier-general in June, 1841. He led 
the central division of the army which united 
with that of General Taylor in February, 1847; 
May, 1S4S, brevet major-general, for gallant con- 
duct at Buena Vista; ISfil, appointed. to command 
at Fortress Monroe; ISC'i, took Norfolk, aud made 
full major-general; 1S63, n-tired. 

* Charles I'. Stone, a native of Massachusetts, 
entered West Point in 1S41 ; second lieutenant of 
ordnance in 1S45. From August, ISi.'i, to January, 
1S46, he was assistant jn'ofessor of ethics, &c., at 
the United States Military Academy. He was bre- 
vetted flrst-lieutenant in September, 1S47, for gal- 
lantry at Molino del Key, and captain the same 
month for meretorions conduct at C'liapultepec. 
In Februarv, 1858, he became flrst-lieutenant, and 
resigned November, ISoB, lu May, 1^G^, he was 
commissioned colonel of the Fourteenth United 
States Inlantry, and in August brigadier-general, 
with command of a division under Major-Geiieral 
Banks. In consequence of the severe defeat of a 
portion of his troops at Ball's Bluff, he was ar- 
rested and conlined for several months in Fort 
Lafayette, although no specific charges were ever 
made against him. He subsequently participated 



in Banks's Red lliver campaign, and in 1S64 re- 
tired from the service. 

+ IJobert Anderson was horn in Kentucky, in 
1805, entered the West Point Academy in 1821, 
and, on graduatinsin lSi!5,was made brevet second- 
lieutentant in the Third Artillery. During the 
Black Hawk war he acted as inspector-general of 
the Illinois Volunteers. In June, Ibo-i, he was 
promoted to a first-lieutenancy. From Septem- 
ber to December, 1835, ho was assistant instructor 
of artillery at the United States Military Acade- 
my; and from the last-mentioned date to Novem- 
ber, 1837, instructor. He was appointed aide-de- 
camp to Major-Generjil Scott in 1S3S; was bre- 
vetted capt.ain for gallant conduct during the Flor- 
ida war, in April, 1^3S ; was made assistant ad- 
jutant-general, with the rank of captain, the same 
year, and captain in 1S41. In September, 1847. ho 
was appointed brevet major and acting nsajor of his 
battiuion for gallantry at Molino del I'ey, whero 
he was severely wounded. At the commence- 
ment of the present war ho was placed in com- 
mand of the forts in Charleston Harbor, by Gen- 
eral Scott, and there became famous as the de- 
fender of Sumter. He was made a brigadier-gen- 
eral in the regular army May 15th, 1S61, but on 
account of feeble health ha,s not been of late years 
in active service. As an author. General Anderson 
has published two manuals of artillery tactics. 




SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 65 

Soutli Carolina senators withdrew from Washington, received from 
John B. Floyd,* Secretary of War, instructions " to hold the forts in the 
liarbor, and, if attacked, to defend himself to the last extremity." 
Moultrie wag>difficult to strengthen, and the bearing of the authorities 
of Charleston became daily more threatening. They had secured a 
jDledge from Floyd, that while negotiations were pending between the 
South Carolina commissioners and the Washinfjton authorities, there 
should be no movement on either side, and that Major Anderson should 
not change his position. It does not appear that the latter was aware of 
this pledge ; but on the 26th of December, Avhile the commissioners 
were on their way to Washington, he, on his own responsibility, re- 
moved his command to Fort Smnter, where the whole force disem- 
barked, at ten o'clock p. m., from row-boats. A few men were left at 
Moultrie, under Captain Foster, to cut down the flagstnff, spike the 
guns, burn the carriages, and dismantle the place. The flames notified 
the people of Charleston of what had happened, and the news, as it 
spread through the country, caused great excitement. At the North 
the name of Major Anderson was every where honored, as that of a bold, 
decided, and loyal leader. At the South his action was denounced 
as a breach of faith, which impaired all confidence in the Government ; 
and it stimulated the war preparations. 

Four days later Floyd resigned, and was succeeded in office by Post- 
master-General Holt. 

Major Anderson's position was not much improved by the change. 
lie, indeed, could not be captured by surprise, but neither could he be 
succored, all communications being cut olf ; and, unle^js relief should 
be sent, he would be soon starved out. 

Meanwhile preparations for repelling any attempt of the Federal 
Government to reinforce Fort Sumter went on in Charleston. Fort 
Moultrie was repaired and garrisoned, and new batteries were erected 
on Sullivan's and Morris Islands. The revenue-cutter William Aiken 
was surrendered by its conunander, N". L. Costa, and the crew volun- 
teered to remain under the Stnte authorities. At the same time troops 
Avere tendered to the Governor by the States of Georgia, Alabama, and 
North Carolina. The palmetto or South Carolina flag was raised over 
the post-office and custom-house at Charleston, and the Collecitor notified 
that all vessels from and for ports outside of South Carolina must enter 
and clear at Charleston. While these movements were being made, the 
streets of Charleston were patrolled by the military, and a censorship was 
established over the telegraph. The attention of the authorities was earn- 
estly directed to the getting possession of Fort Sumter, occupied by 
the gallant Anderson and his small but dauntless band, who steadily 
employed themselves in strengthening the defences of the place, al- 
though they saw the batteries of their assailants rapidly rising around 
them, closing the hope of succor ; while their little stock of supplies 



t John Buchanan Floyd, son of Governor John 
Floyd, of Virginia. He was born in Virginia, in 
1805, and succft-dod. in 1850, to the governorship 
of th« State, lil<e his father and grandfather. 
Fiom 1S56 to 1861, he was Secretary of War under 
Buchanan ; resigned December 29th, 1800: be- 



came a brigadier-general in the Confederate army; 
suffered reverses in Western Virginia, and es- 
caped from Fort Donelson, Tennessee, when it 
was surrendere<l. He saw but little active servico 
after this, and died in 1863. 



66 HISTOTJY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

dwindled rapidly away, notwithstanding the utmost economy and di- 
minisliing allowances. As previously related, on the 5th of January, the 
Btcaniship Star of the West cleared for Havana, and left New York, 
"with stores, for Fort Sumter. In the lower hay she took on hoard 
two hundred men Avith their arms and munitions, and arrived off 
Charleston Bar at half-past one o'clock a. m. of tlie 9tli. The lights 
on shore had been removed, and those of the steamer were extinguished, 
to avoid being seen. A steamboat was on the watch, however, and as 
the Star of the West passed over the bar, she mnde sign.-ils in shore. 
The buoys having been removed, the Star of the West made her way 
with great difficnUy. She had the Stars and Stripes floating from her 
fitafl'; but, when within half a mile of Morris Island, a slioro battery 
opened ujjon her. She then hoisted a large United States flag at the 
fore, and continued on, the shot flying over her, until the range seemed 
to have been got, and one took effect forward, and one amidships. It 
is necessary, in entering Charleston Harbor, to run close to Fort 
Moultrie, before making Fort Sumter. As the Star of the West pro- 
ceeded, two steamers near Fort Moultrie got under way, towing an 
armed schooner, with the evident intention of cutting her off. To 
reach Sumter, Avhose gu?is kept silent, it was necessary to encounter 
that force, .and ca])ture or destruction seemed inevitable. The Star of 
the West therefoi'c put about and returned to New York. 

During this attempt of the Star of the West to run in, her course 
had been watched by Major Anderson from Fort Sumter. He did not 
open his guns u|)()n the batteries, because he could not believe the act 
authorized by the Soutli Carolina authorities, and he was not aware 
that the vessel fired upon was coming to his relief He immedi- 
ately, January 9th, dispatched a message to Govei-nor Pickens, de- 
nouncing the act as one of war, and threatening that, unless it w.as disa- 
vowed, he would not permit any vessel to pass within range of the gun 
of his fort. Governor Pickens, in reply, stated that an attempt, on the 
part of the United States, to send troops into Charleston Ha'bor was an 
act of war, and that spec-ial .agents had been sent to warn off vessels. 

Major Anderson referred the matter to his (4overnment, and recpu'st- 
cd that lj(iutenar.t T. Talbot, bearer of dispatches, might have facili- 
ties extended to him for liis departure. 

Subse(pient to the firing upon the Star of the West, mrmy military 
events occurred in eacOi of the seceded States. In Florida, Fort Pick- 
ens, which had long been unoccupied, was garrisoned l)y Federal 
troops, and the garrison, as well as the fleet off tliat place, sup[)lied 
with food from time to time by citizens of Pensacola, near whieh the 
fort is situated, on Santa Rosa Island. General Bragg, formerly of the 
United.States army, and cons])icuous at Buena Vista, but now in con> 
mand of the Confederate forces at that point, therefore forbade all fur- 
ther commimication with the fort or fleet. In Louisiana, the cutter 
M'Clelland and the cutter Lewiston were both seized. General Dix, 
on succeeding to the Treasury Department, January ]5th, dispatched 
Mr. Jones, a clerk iti the department, to New Orleans to save the cut- 
ters if possible. On his arrival, ]Mr. Jones telegra})hed t,o tlie depart- 
ment that Captain Bre::hwood refused to obey any instructions of the 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLION. 



67 



department. The famous order of General Dix* in reply, "If any one 
attempts to haul clown the American flag, shoot hitn on tlie spot," 
thrilled every loyal breast, and gave a stamp of energy to the feeble 
Government, which had apparently been filling to pieces. In Texas, 
where General David E. Twiggs held conmiand, the entire military 
force, comprising about half the army of the United States, all the mil- 
itary posts, and public property to the amount of one million two 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, were, February 18th, surrendered 
to the State authorities. For this shameful act of treason, he was, 
March 1st, by order of the Secretary of War, dismissed from the ser- 
vice. The revenue-cutter Dodge also surrendered to the State author- 
ities. In Georgia^ the arsenal at Augnsta, with its contents, was 
seized ; and a quantity of arms on the way from the North for the 
State having been detained by the New York police, the Government 
of Georgia, in retaliation, seized a number of New York vessels, which 
were subsequently released. In addition to these treasonable acts, the 
following forts were seized by the authorities of the several States in 
which they were situated : Fort Macon, Beaufort, N. C. ; Fort Pulaski, 
Savannah ; Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay ; Foit M'Rae, Pensacola ; and 
Forts Jackson, St. Philip, and Pike, near New Orleans ; also the arse- 
nals at Fayettcville, N. C., IMobile, j\Iount Vernon, Ala., and Little 
Rock, Ark., besides the Navy-Yard at Pensacola. The general attention 
was, however, fixed upon Charleston, where General Beauregard had 
been placted by President Davis in command, and where the troops 
and batteries that surrounded the devoted Anderson continued to mul- 
tiply. Rumors of the most contradictory character in regard to Fort 
Sumter continued to circulate ; at one time it wns asserted that it 
would be supplied, at another that the order for evacuation was act- 
ually signed. The crisis was evidently at hand. 

An expedition had meanwhile been fitting out at New York, com- 
posed of the steamer Powdiattan, eleven guns, several steam-trans- 
ports and steam-tugs, with about thirty launches; also, the Pawnee, 
eleven guns, left Washington April Gth, and the Ilaniet Lane, five 
guns. These vessels, carrying thirteen hundred and eighty men, 
under the command of Colonel Ilarvey Brown, Second Artil- 
lery, sailed with sealed orders April 7th. On the following day 
General Beauregardf telegraphed the Confederate Secretary of War 



* John Adams Dix, born in Kew Ilaiupshire. 
179S; t-nsi;,'!! in Ihe wnr of l.sl'2; aido to Oi'ni.'riil 
Brown in 18'iS. and a lawyer in Coopcrstown, Nmv 
York; 18;iO, adjutuut-m-Dcral of Ni'W York ; Jan- 
uary, 1833, Socretary of State of Ni'w York; 1S42, 
ineniberof' Assoinl)ly ; lS4u, Unitcil States senator; 
introduced a bill for recii)roeal trade with the Biit- 
ish Provinces: 1S53, assistant tainted States 'IVeasii- 
rer New York City ; 18.'»9, postmaster of New York ; 
January, 1861, Secretary of the Treasury ; lSC)l,4na- 
Jor general cf volunteers; June. 1861, "commander 
of the military department of Maryland; 1862-63, 
commander of the Department of Virclnia; and 
186;}-C5 of the North, with lieadnuarters in New 
York. 

t P. 0. Tontant Benrecard was born on his fa- 
ther's plantation near Now Orleans, Louisiana. Ho 
graduated at West i'oint iu IS^S, second-lieutcnuut 



First Artillery, was transferred to tho Corps of En- 
gineers, and made tlrst-lieutenant in 1889. Ho 
was brevetted captain in August, 1847, for gallant 
Conduct at Contreras and C'hurubusco. and major 
in September the same year for services nt (Uia- 
pultepec. At tho assault on the City of Mexi('o, 
Major Beauregard was wounded. Subsecjueiiily 
he was placed in eliarsre of the construction ol' the 
mint and custom-house at New t)rleans, mikI of 
the, fortilieatidus at the month of the Mit^sisf-ippi. 
At the breakina: out of tho present war he was 
about to he appointed superinten<lent of the West 
Point Academy by I'resident Buchanan. Beaure- 
gard is in tho prime of life, being about I'orty-llireo 
years of age. He was in command of Chiule.'-ton 
Harbor, brigadier-general C(immandin<r at the l'a4- 
tle of Bull Run, and commanded at the battle of 
rittsburg Lauding, or Shiloh. llo subsequently 



68 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 

that a messenger from President Lincoln had notified him that Fort 
Sumter was to be provisioned peaceably or by force. In reply, Gen-' 
eral Beauregard was ordered to demand the immediate evacuation of 
the place. On the 10th the fleet appeared off Charleston Harbor. At 
two o'clock, April 11th, General Beauregard made the demand on Ma- 
jor Anderson to evacuate Avith arms and personal property. This 
Major Anderson promptly refused. On the same day, by order of the 
Confederate Secretary of War, General Beauregard demanded on what 
day Major Anderson would leave, if unmolested. He replied that he 
would do so on the 15th, unless he should receive, prior to that time, 
positive instructions from Government or additional supplies. While 
it remained uncertain whether the fort would be defended by its gar- 
rison in case of an attack, a limited supply of fresh food had been sent 
to it daily from Charleston ; but in the beginning of April this was cut 
off, and unless speedy relief could be sent, evacuation became only a 
question of time. General Beauregard replied, April 12th, at half-past 
tliree o'clock, a. m., that he should open his batteries on Fort Sumter 
in one hour. Accordingly, on Friday, April 12th, at half-past four 
o'clock, A. M., a day and hour ever to be remembered in the history of 
the American Continent, a battery of heavy Columbiads on Sullivan's 
Island opened upon the fort, from which floated the Stars and Stripes 
of the Union, and was quickly followed by all the surrounding forts 
and batteries. The force in the fort com^prised the following officers, 
and men: 

Eegiment or Original entry 
Names. Bank^ Corps. into Service. Born in 

E. Anderson Major 1st Artillery July 1, 1825 Kentucky. 

8. W. Crawford Asst. Surgeon . . Medical Staff March 10, 1851 Pennsylvania. 

Abner Doubleday Captain 1st Artillery July 1, 1842 New York. 

Truman Seymour Captain 1st Artillery July 1. 1846 Vermont. 

Theodore Talbot 1st Lieutenant. . 1st Artillery May 22, 1847 Dis. Columbia. 

Jeff. C. Davis 1st Lieutenant . 1st Artillery June 17, 184S Indiana. 

J. N. Hall 2d Lieutenant.. 1st Artillery July 1, 1859 New York. 

J. G. Foster Captain Engineers July 1, 1846 N. Hampshire. 

G. W. Snyder 1st Lieutenant.. Engineers July 1, 1856 New York. 

E. K. Meade 2d Lieutenant.. Engineers July 1, 1857 Virginia. 

Officers, 9. Band, 15. Artillerists, 55. Laborers, 30. Total, 109. 

When Major Anderson, at half-past three o'clock, received notice 
that the fire would be opened upon him in an hour, he removed the 
sentinels from the parapets, closed the posterns, ran up the National 
ensign, and ordered the troops not to leave the bomb-proofs until sum- 
moned by the drums. At half-past four, a bomb from Sullivan's Island 
burst over the fort, and in a few moments a circle of fire opened upon 
the devoted band from four large batteries and many smaller ones. 
One^ on Cummings's Point, one thousand six hundred yards distant, on 
the south, commanded the gorge or rear of the fort. On Sullivan's 
Island were Fort Moultrie and a new battery of heavy Columbiads and 
ten-inch mortars, and an iron floating battery of immense strength was 
anchored betv/een Sumter and Charleston, at a distance of one thousand 
eight hundred yards. From all these the fire converged upon the fort 

held command in South Carolina and Georgia, and ] year to oppose Sherman in the Southwest. At 
fn the canipaig i of 18C4 ivas otationed at Peters- f the close of the rebellion he commanded in North 
burg, whence lie wentip.tbe latter port of the same | Carolina. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 69 

with great power and accuracy. Before making any response to the 
rebel attack, Major Anderson directed his men to get their breakfasts, 
after which they were divided into three reliefs, to change every four 
hours. The first, under Captain Donbleday and Lieutenant Snyder, 
at half-past seven, opened the fire upon all points simultaneously, and 
■with great rapidity. The enthusiasm of the men was so great that all 
kept at the guns until relieved. The fire from Fort Moultrie soon 
disabled one ten-inch Colurabiad, one eight-inch Colunibiad, one forty- 
two-pounder, and two eight-inch sea howitzers, on the parapet, where 
the firing became so accurate and so intense that Major Anderson 
withdrew his men to the casemates. The explosion of shells and the 
quantity of missiles rained upon the fort from every quarter during 
the day, made it impossible to work the barbette, or upper uncovered 
guns. 

While this work of destruction was going on, the fleet beyond the 
bar was seen to dip its flags by way of signal. That of the fort was 
■ dipped in return. It was subsequently ascertained that a plan bad 
been perfected to throw two hundred and fifty men and supplies into 
the fort, by boats, at daylight on the 13th, which was frustrated by 
the Baltic runnmg aground on Rattlesnake Shoal, on the night of the 
12th ; so that the fleet w.as of no assistance to the fort. 

By noon, the cartridges were exhausted, and a party was sent into 
the magazine to manufxcture more, for which parpose blankets and 
shirts were used; but as there were no means of Aveighing the powder, 
accurate firing became impossible. The fire of the enemy, meanwhile, 
continually increased in violence and accuracy, and there was scarcely 
a moment in which the whizzing of balls and crash of shells ceased. 
An English rifled gnn on Cummings's Point was served with great pre- 
cision, every shot knocking out large quantities of masonry about the 
embrasures, and bruising the men with the flying concrete rubbish. 
Sergeant Rearnan, a Mexican veteran, was knocked down, but soon 
revived, and went to work, remarking, that he " was only knocked 
down temporarily." A* no immediate hostilities were contemplated 
by the original builders of the fort, they constructed wooden houses 
inside for the officers' barracks, which now offered a tempting mark to 
the enemy's hot-shot batteries, and were set on fire three times during 
the day. calling upon the men for renewed efforts to extinguish the 
flames under a most galling fire. The meals of the garrison were 
served at the guns, the cannoneers eating as they worked. The en- 
thusiasm was not confined to the soldiers, but the workmen engaged 
with zeal at the guns. A party took possession of a gun that had been 
abandoned because of the close fire made upon it, and worked it with 
great effect. 

In this manner the day drew to a close. The small force varied 
their work in making cartridges, extinguishing the fire, and serving 
the guns, until nightfall, when, it being no longer possible to see the 
effect of the shot, the exhausted men ate their last biscuit, closed the 
port-holes, nailed the old flag to the mast, and retired to their case- 
mates, to get what rest they could amidst the iron storm that did not 
cease to thunder about their devoted heads during the night. 



70 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

With the dawn of Saturday, the 13th, the guns of Sumter again re- 
plied to the enemy, but it became very soon apparent that the latter 
were throwing hot shot with the greatest rapidity. The barracks 
were fired, and the flames got such headway that they could not be 
mastered. The whole garrison was then called to remove the powder 
from the magazine ; and ninety odd barrels were rolled out by these 
intrepid men through the falling shot and bursting shells. The heat 
being then too great to allow the men any longer to approach the mag- 
azine, the doors were closed and locked. The fire soon spread to 
every portion of the wood-work, while the wind drove the smoke into 
the fort with stifling efiect. The men, no longer able to see each 
other, could breathe only by means of a wet cloth over the face. The 
cartridges were once more exhausted, and none could be made on ac- 
count of the sparks falling in all directions. The upper service maga- 
zines now took fire, and the shells and ammunition exploded with 
terrific force, demolishing the tower, and scattering the upper portions 
of the building in all directions. The powder removed from the mag- 
azine had hitherto been protected by wet blankets, but the spread of 
the flames made it necessary to throw all but four barrels out of the 
port-holes into the sea. Hour after hour that resolute little band, 
amidst the stifling heat, the blinding smoke, and the crumbling walls, 
stood to their guns without thought of surrender, looking aloft only 
occasionally to see that the Stars still floated above the din, for nine 
times had the flagstaff" been hit and the lanyards shot away. The 
staff" was finally cut oflT and planted on the ramparts, with the flag 
pierced with shot-holes nailed to it, a mark for a circle of batteries. 

At this juncture General Wigfall, formerly a United States senator 
from Texas, but now a rebel oflicei', reached the fort in a skiff" and made 
his appearance at an embrasure, with a white flag tied to his sword. 
He said he came from General Beauregard, the flag of Sumter being 
down; Lieutenant Davis replied, " It is up agam." General Wigfall 
then said, " You are on fire, let us stop this ; there is a white flag, will 
any one wave it from the embrasure ? One of the officers repKed, 
" That is for you to do if you wish your batteries to stop.." General 
Wigfall then held out the ffag, when Corporal Bringhurst was directed 
to hold it for him. The corporal did so, but the shot continued to 
strike around him. Lieutenant Davis then said, " If you request that 
a white flag be shown there, while you hold a conference with Major 
Anderson, it may be done." General Wigfall, then addressing Major 
Anderson, said, " I am from General Beauregard. You have defended 
your flag nobly, sir; on what terms will you evacuate the fort?" 
Major Anderson in reply said, " General Beauregard is already ac- 
quainted with my only terms." 

" Do I understand that you will evacuate upon the terms proposed 
the other day?" 

" Yes, sir, and on those conditions only," was the reply. 

" Then, sir," said Wigfall, " I understand, Major Anderson, that th» 
fort is to be ours ?" 

" On those conditions only, I repeat." 

" Very well," said Wigfall, and he retired. 



72 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 



A short time afterwards a deputation, consisting of Senator Chesnut, 
Roger A. Pryor, Captain Lee, and W. Porcher Miles, came from 
General Beauregard, and had an interview with Major Anderson. 
They agreed, substantially, to the terms proposed by Wigfall, which 
were that the garrison should take all their individual and company 
property, that they should march out with their side and other arms 
with all the honors, in their own way, and at their own time ; that 
they should salute their flag, and take it -with them. This was at a 
quarter before two p. m., April 13th. 

When the baggage of the garrison was all on board of the transport, 
the soldiers remaining inside under arms, a portion were told off as 
gunners to serve in saluting, the American flag. When the last gun 
was fired, the flag was lowered, the men cheering. At the fiftieth dis- 
charge there was a premature explosion, which killed one man instant- 
ly, seriously wounded another, and two more not so badly. The men 
were then lormed and marched out, at nine a. m., April 14th, the band 
playing " Yankee Doodle" and " Hail to the Chief" 

Thus fell Sumter, at the fratricidal hands of our " Southern brethren," 
not, however, while there was a cartridge to fire or powder enough 
left to make one. Never did famished men work with greater deter- 
mination, in the full knowledge of the fact that if they continued to 
hold the place there was not a biscuit to eat. 

It was a remarkable fact that no life was lost on either side during 
this terrible cannonade. This, on the part of the fort, must be attrib- 
uted to the small number of men, all of whom could find shelter in 
the casemates. A larger number would only have suffered great havoc. 

Major Anderson and his men, on their arrival North, were received 
with every Tionor due to their great merits. 

The fleet which left New York, January Tth, imder sealed orders, 
was supposed to be destined for Fort Sumter, and that belief, no doubt, 
stimulated the attack by the Charleston forces. It seems, however, 
that the larger portion was for Fort Pickens, which was occupied by a 
small garrison, and threatened by the enemy. On the 16th and 17th 
the steamers Atlantic and Powhattan landed a considerable number of 
troops and a horse battery on Santa Rosa Island, and, at midnight on 
the 19th, the Illinois arrived with three hundred and fifty additional 
troops, under command of brevet Colonel Brooks, "who were landed 
next morning. The force on the island then numbered over one thousand 
men, commanded by Colonel Harvey Brown, of the Second Artillery. 

This successful operation insured the safety of Foit Pickens agamst 
any attack of the rebels, who, under the command of General Bragg,* 



* Braxton Bracrg:, a native of North Carolina, en- 
tered West Point in 1S8'2. lie graduated in 1S37, 
second-lieutenant in tijis third infantry; assistant 
commissary of subsistence in November, 1S3T ; ad- 
jutant in December, 1S37; first-lientonant July, 
1833; brevet captain, for gallant conduct at Fort 
Brown, May, 1846; captain, June, 1846; brevet 
major, for pallant conduct at Monterey, Septem- 
ber, 1S46: and brevet lieutenant-colonel at Buena 
Vista. He resigned his place in the army in Jan- 
uary. 1R56, and in ISGl was appointed brigadier- 
general of the Confederate army, and took com- 
mand at Peusacola, Subsequently Jio fought at 



Shiloh ; was promoted to be a general, and in the 
autumn of 1862 invaded Kentucky ; was beaten at 
Murfreesboro', and in the summer of 1863 driven 
beyond Chattanooga, but defeated Eosecrans in 
turn at Chickamauga. In November, 1863, he 
lost the important battle of Missionai-y Kidge, 
and was soon after removed from active com- 
mand, but being a favorite with Davis, he was 
intrusted with the general supervision of tha 
rebel armies. Subsequently he was ordered to 
Wilmington, and held command under Johnston 
at the sui-render of the latter in 1865. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 73 

of Buena Vista fame, were assembling in large force in the neighbor- 
hood. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Effect of the Fall of Sumter. — Call for Seventy-five Thousand Troops, and Replies of 
States. — Congress Convened. — Destruction of Property at Norfolk. — Effect of the 
Proclamation at the North. — Baltimore Riot. — March of Troops to Washington. — 
The Position of Maryland. — Proceedings of her Legislature. — Pacification of Balti- 
more. 

The fall of Sumter produced a startling effect throughout the coun- 
try. The fact that armed resistance to the power of the Government 
was actually organized, on a large scale, seemed to burst upon the 
astonished North like a thunder-clap. Party lines at once disappeared, 
private interests and the pursuit of business were dropped as with 
one accord, and the people rallied to the support of that Government, 
the jeopardy of which they had not previously realized. When the 
news reached Washington, the President immediately issued a procla- 
mation calling out seventy-five thousand of the militia of the several 
States of the Union, to "repossess the forts, places, and property 
which had been seized." The persons resisting the operation of the 
laws were called upon to disperse within twenty days, and Congress 
•was, by the same document, convened for the 4th of July. 

The President thus assumed the power of calling out troops, rely- 
ing upon the exigencies of the case for justification. The assembling 
of Congress, however, although the Government was much embar- 
rassed for means, was delayed for ten weeks. The efiect of the 
proclamation at the South was at once to consolidate the Confederacy. 
The dispatches from the War Department, addressed to the Govern- 
ors of the several States, designated the quotas assigned to each 
State. The Executives of the slaveliolding States, with the exception 
of Maryland and Delaware, peremptorily refused to comply with the 
requisition, and Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee 
seceded, the first immediately, and the others some weeks later, and 
joined the Southern Confederacy, turning over their arms to it, and 
acceding to the new Constitution. In response to the call. Governor 
Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied, that "Kentucky would furnish no 
troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States." 
Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied, that " the militia of Virginia 
will not be furnished to the powers at Washington to subjugate the 
South ;" Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, " that he could not re- 
spond to the call for» troops, as he doubts the legality of the call ;" 
Governor Harris, of Tennessee, that " Tennessee Avill furnish not a 
single man for coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the de- 
fence of our rights, or those of our Southern brothers;" Governor 
Jackson, of Missouri, that "the requisition is illegal, unconstitutional, 
revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and cannot be complied with." 



74 mSTOEY OP THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]S". 

The Government of the Southern Coufederacy issued a call for 
thirty-two thousand men, five thousand from each of the Confederate 
States except Florida, which was to furnish two thousand; and Jef- 
ferson Davis, on the l7th of April, issued a proclamation offering to 
grant letters of marque and reprisal to aid the Southern Confederacy 
"in resisting the wanton and wicked aggressions" of the Federal 
Government. This was immediately responded to by President Lin- 
coln, in a proclamation, dated April 19th, declaring the Southern 
ports in a state of blockade. Jefferson Davis then convened the South- 
ern Congress for the 1 st of May. 

The State of Virginia, as we have seen, immediately abandoned her 
doubtful policy, and cast in her lot with the Confederacy, in accord- 
ance with the convention signed April 24th. The United States 
armory at Harper's Ferry, which had been the scene of John Bi-own's 
raid, contained fifteen thousand stand of arms, and was held by Lieu- 
tenant Jones, of the United States Army, with a force of forty men. 
On the 18th of April the place was seized by two or three thousand 
Virginia militia, after Lieutenant Jones had destroyed by fire what he 
could, and retreated Avith his men across Maryland into Pennsylvania, 
having lost two men, killed. The Gosport Navy Yard, at Norfolk, 
Virginia, was the largest depot of ordnance in the United States, con- 
taining many first-class ships, some two thousand cannon, and arras 
and munitions which had originally cost over ten million dollais, but 
which at this crisis were of almost incalculable value. The conspira- 
tors who had hurried Virginia out of the Union saw the importance 
of getting possession of this place, and sent thither General Taliaferro 
to obstruct the channel leading from Norfolk to Hampton Roads, and 
prevent the ingress or egress of National vessels. The Navy Yard 
was then in charge of Commander McCauley, an old and irresolute 
officer, who appears, under the apprehension of a rebel attack, to have 
BO far lost his presence of mind, as to consent to a useless and shame- 
ful destruction of the National property. Notwithstanding he had 
received orders from Washington to send the powerful steam-frigate 
Merrimac to Philadelphia, he refrained, through fear of exasperating 
the rebels, from doing so, and on the 20th, ordered all the ships in the 
Yard, except the sailing corvette Cumberland, to be scuttled. When 
it is considered that he then had several hundred trusty men at his 
disposal, the act seems almost like treason. Aware, possibly, of the 
inefficiency of McCauley, the Government, on the 19th, had dispatched 
Commodore Hiram Paulding in the steam-frigate Pawnee to assume 
command at Norfolk. Taking on board a reinforcement of four hun- 
dred and fifty Massachusetts volunteers at Fortress Monroe, he pro- 
ceeded safely through the obstructions to the Navy Yard, Avhich he 
reached at half-past eight r. m. on the 20th. 

Commodore Paulding, however, arrived too late to save the ships or 
the guns. The former had been scuttled and the latter spiked by his 
predecessor in command, and it was determined with what, now, 
appears needless precipitancy, to complete the destruction already 
commenced and abandon the Yard. Accordingly, the books and 
papers of the establishment were transferred to the Pawnee. Every 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 75 

tning of interest to the Government, which it was possible to preserve, 
was transferred to the Cumberland. Every thing in the Yard, that 
might be of immediate use to the Confederates, was destroyed, iuclud- 
ino- many thousand stands of arms. Carbines had their stocks broken 
by a blow from the barrels, and were thrown overboard. A large lot 
of revolvers shared the like fate. Shot and shell by thousands went 
to the bottom. 

The work of destruction was unweariedly continued from nine o'clock 
until about midnight, during which time the moon gave light to direct 
the operations. But when the moon set, the barracks near the centre 
of the Yard were fired, in order that by the illumination the work 
might be continued. But time was not left to complete the work. 
Four o'clock of Simday morning came, and the Pawnee was passing 
down from Gosport harbor with the Cumberland in tow — every soul 
from the other ships and the Y^'ard being aboard of them, save two. 
Just as they left their moorings, a rocket was sent up from the deck 
of the Pawnee, and as it burst, the well-set trains at the ship-houses 
and on the decks of the fated vessels left behind, went off as if lit 
simultaneously by the rocket. One of tlie ship-houses contained the 
old New Y^'ork, thirty years on the stocks, and yet unfinished. The 
other was vacant ; but both houses and the New York burnt like tinder. 

Within thirty mi'tiutes from the time the trains were fired, the con- 
flagration roared like a hurricane, and the crackling, soaring flames 
seemed, by their motion, to sympathize with the work of destruction 
beneath. In all this magnificent scene, the old ship of the line, Penn- 
sylvania, enveloped in towering masses of flame, was the central 
figure. She Avas a very giant in death, as she had been in life. 
Several of her guns were left loaded, but not shotted, and as the fire 
reached them they exploded with a roar which shook the surrounding 
country. 

As soon as the Pawnee and Cumberland were known to be gone, 
the gathering crowds of Portsmouth and Norfolk rebels burst open 
the gates of the Navy Yard, and rushed in." As early as six o'clock, a 
volunteer company took formal possession in the name of Virginia, 
and ran up her flag. In another hour, several companies were at work 
imspiking cannon, and by nine o'clock they were moving them to the 
dock, whence they were transferred to points below, where sand- 
batteries were to be built. 

In April, the Star of the "West, which had been fired upon on enter- 
ing Charleston Harbor, in the unsuccessful attempt to supply Fort 
Sumter, was sent to Indianola, Texas, to bring off* the United States 
troops that had vacated the forts seized by the Texans. On the l^th, 
the rebel Colonel Van Dorn, with eighty Texan troops, went on board 
the steamer General Rusk and steamed down to the Star of the West, 
as she lay off" the bar. As they ajjproached, Van Dorn's vessel was 
hailed, and he replied, " The General Rusk with troops." The cap- 
tain of the Star of the West took it for granted that they were the 
troops he was expecting. But in a few moments his vessel was seized 
and sent into Galveston. 

The effect of the President's proclamation calling for troops in the 



7G niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIf. 

loyal North was electric. The citizens every where formed themselves 
into relief and vigilance committees, the young and ardent rushed to 
arms, and the older and richer organized meetings, and subscribed with 
a liberal hand for equipping troops to aid the Government. The au- 
thorities of the several cities voted means, and the State Executives 
convened the k'gislatnres to provide for the exigencies of the nation. 
Governor Yates, of Illinois, convened the legislature for April 23(1, to 
adopt such laws as were necessary for the more perfect equipment of 
the militi;>, and to render efficient assistance to the General Govern- 
ment. Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, issued a proclamation 
for troojis to rendezvous at Hartford. New Hampshire promptly 
mustered her troops, and subscriptions of money from citizens and 
cor[)oration8 were tendered on all hands. All the States set themselves 
eagoi-Iy to the Avork, and the troops first ready immediately started for 
Washington. 

Tiic call of the President was for seventy-five thousand of the State 
militia, which, under the laws of Congress, could not be required to 
Bcrve more than three months in the year. As Congress was not in 
session and the Government was alipost without means, it was evident 
that tlie troops must be equipped and forwarded at the States' expense. 
Accordingly most of the States immediately voted loans. The quota 
of NcAV York was thirteen thousand, but a bill passed the legislature 
in a few hours, authorizing thirty thousand volunteers for two years, 
and creating a military board to organize them. On the 24th of April 
an agent was sent to England to buy tAventy-five thousand Enfield 
titles. A loan was autliorizcd for three million dollars, which was soon 
taken. The common council of New York voted one million dollars, 
which was promptly advanced by the banks, and various public asso- 
ciations subscribed funds to equip the troops that were promptly mus- 
ternig, and to aid their families. In all, twenty-three regiments of 
three months' troops, comprising a force of more-than fifteen thousand 
men, were ])ut into the field by the State, in compliance with the Presi- 
dent's proclamation. Among these were a number of well-equipped and 
disciplined organizations from the cities of New York and Brooklyn. 

In Massachusetts, Governor Andrew, in anticipation of a collision 
between the rebels and Federal authorities, had previously equipped 
two thousand militia, who were mostly ready to move. The call for 
troops w.as received April 15th, and two regiments mustered on the 



de- 



ath. The Third Regiment of State Militia, Colonel Wardrop, 
parted on the 17th for Fortress Monroe, where it arrived in time for 
the expedition to Gosport Navy Yard on the 20th. The Fourth and 
Nxth Jiegiments were also ordered forward at once, the former to 
1' oitre^s Monroe, and the Sixth to Washington via New Y^ork and 
J>;iltimoie. 

The excitement in the latter city was great. On the 18th tlie 
J^overnor ot Maryland issued a proclamation, exhorting the people to 
ke.p he peace, and assunng them that no troops would be sent from 
Mrirylan.l unless to deten.l the National capital. On the same day the 
Way or ot Ba timore issued a proclamation concurring with the 
Uoverncr. The rumors of approaching troops from other States began, 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLI02T. 77 

however, to inflame the disaffected, and preparations commenced to 
resist the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, which started on the 1 7th, 
passed through New Yorli on the 18th, in a sort of triumphal march, 
and on the morning of tlie 19th arrived at Camden Station in Balti- 
more, together with a portion of the Seventh Pennsylvania. 

Several of the cars containing the troops pushed through the city 
with horses to the Washington Depot, but the remainder, from want 
of horses, were unable to i)roceed. Meanwhile an excited and angry 
crowd gathered in the vicinity of .the Camden Station, and while a por- 
tion tore up the rails and otherwise obstructed the track, others began 
to make threatening demonstrations against the remaining Massachu- 
setts and Pennsylvania troops. These remained quiet for a short time, 
when the infuriated mob assailed them with stones, bricks, and other 
missiles, wounding several of the soldiers. The men then alighted, 
formed a solid square, with fixed bayonets, and with the INTayor of 
]5altimore and a body of police at their head, started through the city. 
The mob rapidly increased in numbers and ferocity, and the siiower of 
missiles upon the trooj)S momentarily thickened, interspersed with 
shots of revolvers and discharges from the muskets taken from the 
soldiers. As the wounded soldiers dropi)ed they were taken into tho 
centre, sustained by their comrades, and the column puslied on. Two 
were now dead and several wounded, when some of the exas])crated 
soldiers returned the fire by single sliots. After a severe and pro- 
tracted struggle, the men finally gained the Washington Depot, and 
immediately end^arked, having sustained a loss of three killed and eight 
wounded. Eleven of the rioters were killed and an unknown num- 
ber wounded. The Pennsylvanians were also attacked and many in- 
jured ; as they were unarmed, they Avere sent back whence they came. 

The mob now ruled supreme. The gun-shops were plundered, other 
stores closed, and a public meeting summoned for the afternoon. The 
Mayor and {io\ernor both notified the President that no more troops 
could pass through Baltimore, and also advised the President of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that the troops then in the city should be 
sent back, which was done. The mob then waited at Canton for the 
train coming from Philadelphia, conipelled the passengers to alight, 
and went back in the train to Gim])o\V(ler Bridge, which they burned, 
after which they burned Cushman Biidge and Canton Bridge. 

The news of this conflict, as it flew North, caused great excitement. 
The Northern blood boiled with indignation, and all were eager to 
save the capital of the Nation. Troops hastened their preparations to 
press forward and force a passage to the seat of Government. The 
fact did not fill to impress itself on the public mind, that this first 
conflict, in this great strife, was the anniversary of the day, the 19th 
of April, 1V75, when the Massachusetts yeomen drew the first blood, 
from the unading English, at Lexington. The lineal representatives 
of these men, after a lapse of eighty-six years, were the first to open 
the war on the soil of Maryland. The deep movement of the popular 
passions was manifest in many ways. The National flag, which had 
gone down before the guns of the enemy, became at once the emblem 
of patriotism and of decided purpose. It fluttered from every builds 




78 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOX. 

inc 
to 

Baltimore " became a rallying-cry. 
immediately took measures to open the communication on that side. 
The news had no sooner reacljed him than he issued a general .order, 
adding ^Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania to the military depart- 
ment "^of Washington, and placing Mnjor-General Patterson, of the 
Pennsylvania volunteers, in command, with orders to post Pennsyl- 
vania troops all along the line, from Wilmington, Delaware, to Wash- 
ington City. 

The enthusiasm in New York was very demonstrative, showing a 
great contrast to the apparent apathy that had prevailed, since its long- 
continued efforts to effect some compromise had ceased to be of any 
avail. The ])oliticnl sentiment as well as the material interests of New 
York were ever eminently conservative. Her geographical position 
had made her the commercial centre of the Union, and her acquired 
■wealth had made her its financial head. The capital of the whole coun- 
try came to her for investment. Her own vast capital moved the crops 
of the West, and the exchanges, based on Southern productions, were 
negotiated in her market. She was the factor for every producer, the 
banker for every merchant ; she was, so to speak, the negotiator be- 
tweeti every section of the Union and foreign nations. She had debt- 
ors in every town and hamlet of the country, and every producer, even 
of the most remote region, was directly or indirectly her customer. In 
every harbor her shipping was to be found, and her capital insured the 
merchandise on every lake and river. She could not, therefore, but re- 
gard the approach of hostilities with dissatisfaction and dread. She 
knew that she held the purse-strings of the Nation ; that, whatever Con- 
gress might ])lan, or President execute, nothing could be effected with- 
out her aid, and that the first burden of every' strufrgle must fdl upon 
her, _ She therefore strove earnestly to avoid the diiSiculty ; but when 
once it burst upon the country, she offered her vast means upon the 
altar of the Nation, and frankly accepted the situation. Her troops at 
once assembled in im])Osing force. Every armory and drill-room was 
busy with active ofticers, mustering, organizing, and preparing for the 
march. The Seventh militia reginient, long the pride of the city, was 
the first ready, and its departure was a day of triumT)h long to be re- 
membered. 

It marched at four r. m. of the 19th, amidst mipar.alleled demon- 
strations of enthusiasm from the dense multitudes w^ho thronged the 
streets; and on the same day the Rhode Island artillery, Colonel 
Tompkms, and tlic Massachusetts Eighth, Colonel Monroe, with Gen- 
eral B. F. liutler, went through New York. The troops now be^^an to 
move m crowds from all quarters. "Through Baltimore," was the 
rallpng-cry, and the hurrying tread of departing regiments of deter- 
mmed men was drowned amid the cheers and acclamations of the 
throngs, which peopled house-to]., street, and wharf, .alive with flags 
and banners, and vocal Avith patriotic strains. Every Northern State 
and cvory condition of life sent its enthusiastic patriots to meet the 
*iatiQnal foes, and defend the old Stars and Stripes, that, bornof inde- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 79 

pendence, lias so often been flung to the breeze in the strife of liberty. 
Massachusetts, in six days from the date of the President's call, had 
six regiments on the way, including a battalion of riflemen and a bat- 
tery of artillery. Rhode Island had sent two under Governor Sprague, 
New York had sent seven. This Northern " avant-garde," as they 
passed on, were joined by the troops of Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 
Indiana, six regiments were raised and mustered into service in a week 
after the call was made. All the other States were prompt and efiect-' 
ive in their aid. The living stream poured on by rail and flood, and 
Baltimore, which had, under the bad impulse of the moment, attempted 
to stay its course, only caused by its resistance an accumulation of 
force that threatened to sweep the city from existence. 
' The New York Seventh arrived in Philadelphia at four o'clock a. m. 
of the 20th. The universal desire of the regiment was to push 
through, and emulate the gallant Massachusetts men, if it did not 
avenge them. The difficulties that presented themselves were, how- 
ever, very grave. The bridges were burned in many places, the rails 
torn up forty miles from Baltimore, and the road \vas commanded by 
the mob, to quell which was no part of the business in hand. The 
great object was to throw a force into Washington, which should pro- 
tect the Government ; that, once safe, the riot Avould bo taken in hand 
in its turn. To effect that object, it was necessary to go round Balti- 
more, and accordingly the regiment proceeded by water to Annapolis, 
where it arrived on the afternoon of the 22d, in company with the 
Eighth Massachusetts, under General Butler. The regiment was 
quartered in the Naval School. On the 23d, General Butler took mili- 
tary possession of the Annapolis and Elkridge Railroad ; and on the 
Barae day, the Seventy-first New York arrived. On the morning of 
the 24th, the troops began their march to Washington. 

The track had been torn up between Annapolis and the junction 
with the Baltimore and Washington Railroad, and here it Avas that the 
wonderful qualities of the Massachusetts Eighth regiment came out. 
The locomotives had been taken to pieces by the inhabitants, in order 
to prevent the march. A Massachusetts volunteer stepped up, and 
looking at a piecemeal engine, remarked, " I helped make this engine, 
and I can put it together again." Engineers were wanted when the 
engine ^^•as ready ; nineteen stepped out of the ranks. The rails were 
torn up; practical railroad-makers out of the regiment laid them again; 
and all this without care or food. These brave men were nearly starv- 
ing while they were doing this good work. As they marched along 
the track that they had laid, they greeted the New York Seventh with 
ranks of smiling but hungry faces. One boy said, with a laugh on his 
young lips, "that he had not eaten any thing for thirty hours." There 
Avas not a haversack in the Seventh regiment that was not emptied into 
the hands of these ill-treated heroes, nor a flask that was not at their 
disposal. 

The march continued until the next morning, with a short halt here 
and there. There were two roads to Washington ; one by the rail- 
track, and the other the common country road. The commander had 
information that the latter was beset by parties of cavalry, intending 



80 niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 

to cut off the march, -which -was therefore directed by the railroad. 
The sleepers made the march terribly fatiguing, and as the road required 
to be explored inch by inch, exceedingly slow. But the troops finally 
reached Washington on tlie 25th5 and succeeding regiments following 
by the same route, soon insured the safety of the capital. 

The position of Maryland had been from the first very critical. She 
had sympathized strongly with the Southern States, yet she had a large 
conservative element, which was manifested in her vote at the Presi- 
dential election. The total vote cast in the State was ninety-two thou- 
sand five hundred and tAvo. Of these, forty-two thousand four himdred 
and eighty-two were cast for ]5reckenridge, forty-one thousand seven 
hundred and sixty for Bell, and five thousand nine hundred and sixty- 
six for Douglas. Of the remainder, Mr. Lincoln received two thousand 
two hundred and ninety-four. When the difficulties thickened, it be- 
came evident that, in case of a conflict, Maryland, with her small re- 
sources and exposed situation, would suffer greatly. Her Governor, 
Hicks, strongly opposed secession in an address to the people, in 
January. He refused to convene the legislature, saying : — 

" I firmly believe that a division of this Government would inevitably produco civil 
war. Tlie secession leaders in South Carolina, and the fanatical demagogues of the 
North, have alike proclaimed that such would be the result, and no man of sense, in 
my opinion, can question it. What could the legislature do in this crisis, if convened, 
to remove the present troubles which beset the Union ? 

************* 

"That Maryland is a conservative Southern State, all know who know any thing of 
her people or her history. The business and agricultural classes, planters, merchants, 
mechanics, and laboring men ; those who have a real stake in the community, who 
would be forced to pay the taxes and do the fighting, are the persons who should be 
heard m preference to excited politicians, many of whom, having nothing to lose from 
the destr\iction of the Government, may hope to derive some gain from the ruin of the 
St-Jte. Such men will naturally urge you to pull down the pillars of this ' accursed 
Union,' Avhich their allies at the North have denominated a 'covenant with hell.' The 
people of Maryland, if left to themselves, would decide, with scarcely an exception, that 
there is nothing in tlie present causes of complaint to justify immediate secession." 

Notwithstanding that the legislature did not meet, the excitement in 
the State, particularly in Baltimore, continued very great. Upon the 
recpipt of the first call for troops, the Governor wrote to the Secretary 
of War to be informed if the troops were to be used solely in the limits 
of the State, and for the protection of the National cnpital. He was in- 
formed that the troops were only for the defence of the capital. The 
Secretary of War, also, April 18th, notified him that fears were enter- 
tamed that the passage of the troops through Baltimore would be 
obstructed, and hoped the State autliorities would prevent it. The 
Governor on the 20th replied, tliat the mob had control, tliat the mili- 
tary fraternized with them, therefore he declined sendino- troops, and 
insisted that no more should be sent throngli Maryland. 'The Govern- 
ment replied, that the troops would be sent round Baltimore. On the 
22(1, the Governor repeated his request in respect to troops, and sug- 
gested tl.i.t Lord Lyons " should be requested to act as mediator between 
the contendmg parties of our country." The Secretary of State replied, 
decluimg foreign mediation, and affirmed the right to send troops through 




I ILIA] 



idL ii)M< \/'v;\. 



82 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]Sr. 

Maryland. The Governor repeatedly protested against landing troops 
at Annapolis, the capital of the State, and tlie military occupation of 
the railroad which connects that city with Washington, inasmach as he 
had convened the legislature to meet, and the occupancy of the road 
would prevent the members from arriving. On the 25 ih of April a 
new military department was formed, called the Department of Annap- 
ohs, with head-quarters in that city. It included twenty miles on each 
side of the milroad to Washington, as far as Bladensburgh ; Brigadier- 
General Benjamin F. Butler in command. Tiie General replied to the 
protest of the Governor, tiiat his troops were in Maryland to maintain 
the laws and ])reserve peace ; and that he had taken possession of the road 
because threats had been made to destroy it, in case troops passed over 
it. He said, also, that there were rumored a])prehension3 of a negro 
insurrection, and offered his services to suppress it. The Governor re- 
plied, that the citizens could take care of themselves. The occujiation 
of Annapolis by the troops induced the legislature to meet at Fred- 
erick, on the 2Gth of April. The Governor, in his message, advised 
neutrality, so that Maryland might not be the scene of war. The action 
of the legislatui-e was less moderate, however ; although it decided 
by a unanimous vote in the Senate, and by fifty-three to thirteen in 
the House, not to secede, A bill was introduced in the Senate in- 
vesting the m'litary power of the State in a board of public safety, of 
which the majority were in favor of secession. This movement not 
being entirely popular, the bill was recommitted. A committee of the 
legislature was also appointed to visit the President, and a series of 
resolutions was adopted by the House of Delegates, protesting against 
the war onbehalf of the State, imploring the President to make peace with 
the seceded States, and alarming that the " State of Maryland desires 
the peaceful and immediate recognition of the Confederate States." To 
cap the climax of their folly, thelegislature sent a committee to Jeffer- 
son Davis to assure him of the sympathy of the people of Maryland 
with the Confederate States. The Federal Government, scarcely able 
to look after its o^vn security, was for the present powerless to repress 
these treasonable demonstrations. 

Events, hovrever, made rapid progress, and as sober second thoughts 
began to replace the recent mad excitement, the tone of Baltimore grew 
more conservative, Avhile at Frederick, Hagerstown, and elsewhere the 
Union element became decidedly uppermost. Meanwhile troops from 
all quarters continued to accunuilato at Annapolis, under General Butler. 
On the 5tli of 31ay, he advanced and occupied the Relay House, nine 
miles Irom Baltimore, planting eight howitzers on the viaduct, and in- 
vesting the entire neighboriiocKl. This being the point of junction of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad with the Washington branch, it com- 
mands the road to the West. On the 9th transports arrived at Locust 
i'omt fiom Perryville with Sherman's batterv, six pieces, and twelve 
Imnwred men, Avho were placed in the cars, and went off without dis- 




i5uuer. Uruer was now so far restored, that travel was resumed 



HISTORY or THE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 83 

through Baltimore. On Monday, May 13lh, a train from Philadelphia 
passed through with the National flag displayed, and numbers were 
hung out from stores and dwellings. On the following day, tlie First 
Pennsylvania regiment passed through Baltimore fully equipped. In 
the afternoon of the same day, a train from the Relay House ai^ 
rived with the Sixth Massnchussetts, and the Eighth Xew York 
^regiments, with a battery. They marched through South Baltimore 
and took possession of Federal Ilill, a high point commanding both 
the city and Fort McHenry, Avhich is cast of it, one mile distant. 
Here General Builer fixed his head-quarters, and issued a proclamation 
intended to soothe the conquered citizens of Baltimore. He also de- 
manded the delivery of a quantity of arms stored in the city, wliich w\a3 
acce<led to, and the Federal authority became fully established. On 
the l'5th of May, the Star-spangled banner was raised once more o\cr 
the post-ofiice and custom-house. 



CHAPTER V. 

Confederate Congress. — Davis's Message. — Virginia. — Beauregard's Proclamation. — 
Border States' Couveation. — Western Virginia. — State Re-orgaizatiou. 

According to the proclamation of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate 
Congress met at Montgomery, Alabama, .\pril 29th, and 3Ir. Davis 
delivered a message, which opened with assurances that the constitution 
framed forthe establishment of a permanent government f<jr the Con- 
federate States had been ratified by conventions in each of those States 
to which it was referred. To inangur.ate the Government in its full 
proportions and upon its own substantial basis of the popular will, it 
only remained that elections should be held for the designation of the 
officers to administer it. 

He stated that the declaration of war against the Confederacy 
by the President of the United States, in his proclamation of April 
15th, made it necessary to convene the Congress at the earliest possible 
moment. He reviewed the events that, from the formation of the Gov- 
ernment, had been gradually producing the present state of affairs, and 
recounted the circumstances that attended the mission of commission- 
ers to Washington. The reply of the Fdleial Government, rendered 
only on April 8th, although dated March 15th, had, he saitl, been 
withheld, while assurances calculated to inspire hope in the success of 
the mission had been made. 

" That these assurances were given, has been virtually confes.sed by the Government 
of the United States by its sending a messenger to Charleston to give notice of its 
purpose to use force, if opposed in its intention of sup[)lying Fort Sumter. No more 
striking proof of the absence of good faith in the conduct of the Government of the 
United States towards this Confederacy can be required, than is contained in the cir- 
cumstances which accompanied this notice. According to the usual course of na\igation, 
the vessels composing the expedition designed for the relief of Fort Sumter, might b« 



84 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 

expected to reach Charleston Harbor on the 9th of April; yet with our commissioners 
actually in Washington, detained under assurances tliat notice should be given of any 
military movement, the notice was not addressed to them, but a messenger was sent to 
Charleston, to give notice to the Governor of South Carolina, and the notice was so 
given at a late hour on the 8th of April, the eve of the very day on wliich the fleet 
might be expected to arrive. That this manoeuvre failed in its purpose was not the 
fault of those who contrived it. A heavy tempest delayed the arrival of the expedition, 
and gave time to the commander of our forces at Charleston to ask and receive the 
instructions of this Government. Even then, under all the provocation incident to the * 
contemptuous refusal to listen to our commissioners, and the tortuous course of the 
Government of the United States, I was sincerely anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, 
and directed a proposal to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter, who had avowed 
himself to be nearly out of provisions, that we would abstain from directing our fire 
on Fort Sumter, if he would promise not to fire upon our forces unless first attacked. 
This proposal he refused, and the conclusion was reached that the design of the United 
States was to place the besieging force of Charleston between the simultaneous fire of 
the fleet and the fort. There remained, therefore, no alternative but to direct that the 
fort should at once be reduced." 

Mr. Davis then proceeded to recount the contents of the proclamation 
of President Lincoln, and the mandates of that document were re- 
ceived with "shouts of laughter." 

" Apparently contradictory," said Mr. Davis, "as are the terms of this singular docu- 
ment, one point was unmistakably evident. The President of the United States called 
for an army of seventy-live thousand men, wliose first service was to be the capture of 
our forts. It was a pfiin declaration of war which I w^as not at liberty to disregard, 
because of my knowledge that imder the Constitution of the United States, the Presi- 
dent was usurping a power granted exclusively to Congress." 

He advised the immediate passage of a law authorizing the accept- 
ance of proposals for privateers. lie denounced the proclamation of 
the United States in relation to Southern ports, as a mere paper block- 
ade, lie stated, that under the law authorizing a loan of five million 
dollars, a call was promptly ansAveredby offers of more than eight mil- 
lion dollars at par, and the whole was accepted. Mr. Davis said that 
a much larger amount was now become necessary to defray the ex- 
penses of the war. 

" There are now in the field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts l^forgan, Jackson, St. 
Philip, and Pulaski, nineteen thousand men. and sixteen thousand are now en rout$ 
for Virginia. It is proposed to organize and hold in readiness for instant action, in view 
of the present exigenciesof the country, an army of one hundred thousand men." 

In the Confederate army there was but one grade of*general — that 
of brigadier-general, but in the State organization there were major- 
generals, and Mr. Davis advised the equalizing the rank. He concluded • 

"We feel that our cause is just and holy; we protest solemnly in the face of mankind 
that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of honor and independence; we seek no 
conquest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any kind fromtl.e States with which we 
were lately confederated ; all we ask is to be left alone; that those who never held 
power over us shall not now attempt oiu- subjugation by arms. This we will, this we 
must resist to the direst extremity. The moment that this pretension is abandoned, the 
sword will drop from our grasp, and we shall be ready to enter into treaties of amity 
and commerce that cannot but bo mutually beneficial. So long as this pretension is 
maintained, with a firm reliance on that Divine Power which covers with its protection 
the just cau?e, we will continue to struggle for our inherent right to freedom, inde- 
pendence, and self-government." 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLIOJ^". 85 

The military resources of the Confederacy Avere mostly those which 
had been derived from the Federal Government. Each State had seized 
the forts, arsenals, and munitions of war that were within its limits. 
The forts situated within the limits of the slave States were as follows : 

War 
Garrison, No. of 
Whore located. Cost. No. of Men. Guns. 

*Fort McHcnry, Baltimore $ 146,000 350 74 

*Fort Carroll, Baltimore 135,000 800 159 

*Fort Delaware, Dtlaware River, Del 539.000 750 151 

*Fort Madison, Annapolis, Md 15,000 150 31 

*Fort Severn, Maryland 6,000 60 14 

*Fort Wasliinfrton,' Potomac River, Md 575,000 400 88 

*Fortross Monroe. Old Point Comfort, Va 2,400,000 2,450 371 

Fort Callioun, Hampton Road.s, Norfolk, Ya l,6t;4,000 1,120 224 

Fort Macon, Beaufort, X. C 460,000 300 61 

Fort Johnson, Capo Fear, Wilmington, X. C 5,000 60 10 

Fort Caswell, Oak Island, N. C 571,000 400 81 

Fort Sumter, Charleston, S. C 677,000 650 146 

Castlo Piiickney, Charleston, S. C .- 43,0(i0 100 25 

Fort Moultrie, Charleston, S. C 75,000 « 300 54 

Fort Pulaski, Savannah, Ga 92;^,,000 800 150 

Fort Jackson, Savannah, Ga 80,000 70 14 

Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Fla 51,000 100 25 

*Fort Taylor, Key West 1,000 185 

*Fort Jcft'erson, Tortugas 1,500 29S 

Fort Barrancas, Pensaeola '. 315,000 250 49 

Redoubt, Pensacola 109,000 26 

*Fort Pickens. Pensaeola 759,000 1,260 212 

Fort Mcllae, Pensacola 384,000 650 151 

Fort Morgan, Mobile 1,212,000 700 132 

Fort St. Philip, Mississippi River .... 143,000 600 124 

Fort Jackson, Mississippi River 817,000 600 150 

Fort Pike, Rigolets, La 472,000 300 40 

Fort Macomb, Clief Mentour, La. 447,000 300 49 

Port Livingston, Barataria Bay, La 342,000 300 62 

In addition to these were incomplete works at Shij) Island, Missis- 
sippi Sound; Geor<xeto\vn, South Carolina; Port Royal Roads, South 
Carolina; Tybee Island, Savannah; Galveston, Brazos Santiago, and 
Matagorda Bay, Texas. 

Hampton Roads is the great naval dopcH station and rendezrv'ous of 
the Southern coasts, and the only good roadstead on the Atlantic, 
south of the Delaware. 

Pensacola i^ very strong, and the only good harbor for vessels of 
war, and the only naval depot, on the gulf. 

The fortresses at Key West and Tortugas, on the southern point of 
Florida, are nmong the most powerful in the world ; and every vessel 
that crosses the gulf passes in sight of both. 

With the exception of Fort McIIenry, Fort Pickens, and others 
marked, (*)_all these had passed into the possession of the Confederates. 
Each State in succession, by ordinance, turned over to the Confederate 
Government the fortifications within its limits. The Confederale Gov- 
ernment had thus at its disposal all that in those States had beloncred 
to the United States. After the proclamation of President Lincoln, 
calling for troops, an effort was made to force the Border States into 



86 HISTORY OF TIEE GREAT REBELLI01S-. 

secession, and the rebel leaders began to send troops into those States. 
Ou the Gth of May an act was passed by the Confederate Congress, 
recosrnizing the existence of war with tlie United States, and authoriz- 
ing tiie Presi(U-nt of tlie Confederate States to use the whole land and 
n:v\'al ibrees, and to issue letters of marque, and prescribing regulations 
for tlie conduct of privateers. Another act prohil)ited the export of 
cotton or cotton yarn from any of the Confederate States except through 
their seaports, under i)enalty of a forfeiture of the cotton, a fine of 
$5,000, and six months' imprisonment. This did not apply to exports 
throutrh ^Mexico. The act was to continue in force as long as the 
blockade should last. This Congress also proposed that the planters 
Bhould be invited to put their crops into the hands of the Government, 
receiving bonds for tiieir value. Meantime the Confederate troops 
continued to pour into Virginia, until in May considerably more than 
50,000 had been collected at various points. Of these General Robert 
E. Lee* Avas on May 10th placed in command. 

On the other hand, the Federal troops were not idle, and an advance 
into Virginia, which took place on the 23d of May, caused an immense 
excitenieiit at the South. In Virginia, particularly, the influx of troops 
was hastened in consequence, and fi-om all quarters they began to con- 
centrata to defend Manassas Junction and the other approaches to 
Richmond. Brigadier-General Beauregard assumed command in the 
Department of Alexandria, and on the 1st of June issued the following 
remarkable proclamation : 

A PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTIES OF LOUDON, 
FAIRFAX, AND PRINCE WILLIAM. 

" Head-Quarters, Department op Alexandria, ) 
" Camp Pickens, June \st, 1861. ) 

" A reckless and unprincipled tyrant has invaded your soil. Abraham Lincoln, re» 
gardloss of all moral, leg-al, and constitutional restraints, has thrown his abolition hosta 
ainoni^ you, who arc murdering and imprisoning your citizens, confiscating and destroy- 
ing your property, and committing other acts oV violence and outrage too shocking and 
revolting to luimanity to be enumerated. 

"All rules of civilized warfare are abandoned, and they proclaim by their acts, if not 
on their banners, that their war-cry is ' Beauty and Booty.' All that is dear to man — 
your honor, and that of your wives and daughters— your fortunes and your lives, are 
involved in this momentous contest. 

" Ju the name.. therefore, of the constituted authorities of the Confedorato States— in 
the sacred cause of constitutional hberty and self-goverument, for which we are contend- 
ing—in bclialf of civilization itself, I, G. T. Beauregard, Brigadier-General of the Con- 
federate States, commanding at Camp Pickens, Manassas Junction, do make this my 
proclamation, and invito and enjoin you by every consideration dear to the hearts of 
freemen and patriots, by the name and memory of your revolutionary fiithers, and by 
the purity and sanctity df your domestic firesides, to rally to the standard of your State 



• HulxTt Kilmnnd Leo is tho son of General 
llnm- Lfe, of rovoliUinnarv fame, and was tiorn 
TO ^'■■'■''"'•'S about 180S. ll<. was piartiiutcd at 
Wi'i>t Point, socoml in liis elass. In JS-29, entorea 
the KncinciT Corps, bocaiiio captain in 1S:3S, ami 
•crvirl Imtlic Mexican war as chief engineer; was 
l.revv.-tte<l iii.ijor, lliiitenant-coloncl and colonel 
iZ '■"j*'""^ condurt at Cerro Gordo. Contrcras. 
C hurirtjusco, and CliapulUpec; superintendent of 



April 25, 13C1, and joined the Southern Confedera- 
cy ; was made senenil, and after holdins; commands 

In 'TO' .let. ...n t:....;^^., 1 ,._ .1.- i x^A 



in Western Vir^rinia, and on the coast, succeede.d 
General Johnson in command of the rebel army 
in lUehtiiond. June, ]sC2; led the invasion into 
Maryland, and was defeated at Antietain. Septem- 
ber, 1&03; commander-in-chief in the campaiRns 
of Krederick.sliMr?, Oiancellorsville, Gettysburg, 
Sv.r.i i'r.r;;\""„"i:""'';'^Xi''r^' f "l"-""'^euoein, oi Petersbur?, and liiclunond, lS62-Go; appointed 
..fs'c'nT -Iv.^ tV J'l*^-h"' ,»e"t^^"j'"t-'--'>l"n<'l i crencral-in-chiof of the rebl-l army, January 81. 
idrV U^ch iV.hVc>f'""''/°'?\'' "^^'"^^^ '^'^^; capitulated to General Grant April 9, 1SC5. 



ilry, .March lCth,lSCl; resigned his commission 



HISTORY OF TUB GEEAT EEBELLION". 87 

and country, and by every means in your power compatible witli honorable -n-arfare, to 
drive back and expel the invaders from _your land. 

" I conjure you to be true and loyal to your country and her legal and constitutional 
authorities, and especially to be vigilant of the movements and acts of the enemy, so aa 
to enable you to give the earliest authentic information at these head-quarters, or to the 
officers under this command. 

" I desire to assure you that the utmost protection in my power will be given to you 
all. " G-. T. Beauregard, 

" Brigadier- General Commanding. 

" Thomas Jordan, Acting AssH Adft- GeneraV 

This mendacious and vindictive proclamation found ready believers 
and hearty sympathizers in the misguided masses, who were then gath- 
ering at Manassas Junction. 

The course adopted by Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Ten- 
nessee, after the President's call for troops, has been elsewhere related. 
In all these Slates the leaders of the rebellion showed a determination 
to hurry the people out of the Union, without regai'd to a fair expression 
of opinion at the polls. A Border States' convention was summoned at 
Frankfort, Kentucky, but Virginia, ^Torth Carolina, and Arkaus^as, 
having joined the Confederacy, did not send delegates, neither did 
Maryland. One appeared from Tennessee and four from Missouri, to 
meet those of Kentucky. The convention met on May 27th, and Senator 
Crittenden was chosen president. Two addresses were adopted — one 
to the people of the United States, and the other to the people of Ken- 
tucky. The first proposed such amendments to the Constitution as 
Bhould. secure the rights of slaveholders, or on the f lilure of that, to 
call a convention of all the States to devise means of peaceable adjust- 
ment. The other address defended the course of the Executive in re- 
fusing troops to the United States, professed strong attachment to the 
Union, but urged the necessity of neutrality. It condemned the course 
of the Southern States in withdrawing from the Union, and expressed 
the determination of Kentucky to adhere to it. Notwithstanding this 
"conditional loyalty," as it was called, Kentucky, thanks to her prox- 
imity to the Free States, was sound to the core, and in her election for 
members of Congress, hehl in June, returned nine Unionists to one seces- 
sionist, by a vote of 92,365 to 30,995 ; showing a majority of 55,370 for 
the Union. In Missouri, Governor Jackson and the legislature en- 
deavored to take the State out of the Union ; but the State Convention 
called to promote secession proved loyal, and deposed both the Gov- 
ernor and the legislature. 

The Soutlieru Confederacy now began to concentrate its power, and 
the new machinery of its Government came daily more decidedly into 
action in ])lace of the Federal authority. The Congress, having made 
all necessary provisions, adjourned on the 20th of May, to meet at 
Richmond, the proposed future seat of Government, on the 20th of 
July. The finances and military forces had been provided for as far as 
possible, and the new Postmaster-General, John II. Reagan, took 
charge of thet ransmission of mails on June 1st, the Postmaster-General 
of the United States, having announced that on that day postal com- 
munication Avould close with tlie seceding States, with the exceptioH 
of some coimties in Westein Virs^inia. 



gS HISTORY OF TIIE GKEAT EEBELLION. 

The action of Western Virginia forms a remarkable episode in tlie 
coarse of events. On the vole upon secession, the western counties 
<rave a majority against it. In the northwestern part of the btate, or 
"panhandle," a narrow strip which runs up between I ennsylvania 
ami Ohio, tlie vote was largely for the Union. A coin-ention ot these 
western counties, thirty-five ia number, was held at Wheehng on the 
13th of May at which resolutions were passed pronouncmg the ordi- 
nance of secession null and voi<l, and a provisional convention sum- 
moned to meet June 1 Uh. When it assembled on that day, Arthur J. 
Boreman was chosen permanent chairman, and a resolution, declaring- 
a division of the State of Virginia, and the organization of the counties 
represented into a new State, to be a p iramount object, was carried 
by a vote of tifty-seveu to seventeen. There was subsequently i)assed 
a declaration and ordinance for reorganizing the government of the 
State. The declaration set forth that the llichmond Con vent ion_ was 
unconstitutional, and its proceedings void. The ordinance provided 
that the delegates elected in May, which was the regular time of election 
of such officers in Virginia, and the senators who should appear and 
qualify, should constitute the legislature of the State. An oath of alle- 
giance to the United States Avas prescribed, and all offices held by 
persons who failed to take that oath wiTe declared vacant. Francis 
11. Pierpont was elected Governor, and Daniel Paisley Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor. Governor Pierpont, on taking the oath of office, delivered a 
speech, in which he thus defined the position of the western counties : 

" We have been driven into the position we occupy to-day by the usurpers at tho 
Soutli, who have inaugurated this war upon tlie soil of Virginia, and have made it the 
great Crimea of this contest. We, repiesenting the loyal citizens of Virginia, have 
been bound to assume the position we have assumed to-day, for the protection of 
ourselves, our v^'ives, our children, and our property. "We, I repeat, liave been driven 
to assume this position, and now wo are but recurring to the great fundamental prin- 
ciple of our fathers, that to tlie loyal people of a State belongs the law-making power 
of that State. The loyal people are entitled to the government and governmental 
authority of the State. And, fellow-citizens, it is the assumption of that authority 
upon which wo are now about to enter." 

To this speech, and the action of the western counties, the rebel 
Governor, Letcher, replied in a proclamation under date of June 
14th, 18G1, in which he urged the inherent rightof the Commonwealth 
of Virginia to separate itself from the United States, institute a new 
government, and ally itself to the Confederate States. The people 
of Western Virginia, he contended, had united in the vote on the 
question of secession, and being overborne by the majority in the 
other counties, it was their duty to su'omit to the Avill of the majority 
without factious opposition, lie announced his intention of main- 
taining the position of Virginia as a member of the Confederacy by 
force of arms, and then proceeded to adduce as reasons why the 
western counties should unite with the eastern in fighting against the 
Union, the intermixture of the blood of the east and the west, and 
the friendships hallowed by a thousand cherished recollections and 
memories of the past, and of the great men of other days. He ap- 
peale<l also to their pecuniary interests, reunnding them that the 
uucqual taxation from which they had so long sulfered had been 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 89 

modified in their favor, and that this magnanimity on the part of the 
eastern counties ought to awaken their gratitude and secure their 
attachment. 

The appeals, threats, and blandishments of Governor Letcher proved 
alike unavailing. The western counties remained loyal, and at the 
extra session of Congress two senators, Messrs. Carlile and Willey, 
appointed by their legislature, were admitted to seats in the Senate 
of the United States. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Troops concentrated at Washington. — Popular Impatience. — Occupation of Alexandria. 
— Operations in Virginia. 

"While the Southern States had been thus mustering forces and 
consolidating their Government, the North had displayed the most 
extiaordinary vigor; and troops from all quarters concentrated at 
Washington and other designated points, where they were to be 
formed into separate armies, each to take a part in the extensive plan 
of operations projected by Lieutenant-General Scott. 

The old cadets bred in the army, who had in prosperous times 
sought peaceful pursuits, now crowded back to organize, drill, fortify, 
instruct, and lead against the enemy, whose ofiicers were also of 
high scientific attainments and great skill, and one of whom was now 
organizing rebellion, almost within sight of the Federal Capital. 

The troops directed upon Washington continued to arrive in great 
numbers, until by the first of June upward of forty thousand men, 
including volunteers, militia of the District of Columbia, and regulars, 
had concentrated for the defence of the Capital. These troops were for 
the most part well armed and well provided, although the military re- 
sources of the Government at the time were of the most meagre de- 
scription. The arms purchased in England by Massachusetts and N cav 
York had not arrived, and the Government was compelled to use 
extraordinary efforts as well to procure arms as to conceal its great 
"weakness in that respect. Great numbers of contracts were given out 
for the manufiicture of arms, and agents were sent to Europe to purchase. 
Nevertheless, the arming went on very slowly amidst impatient clamors 
for a forward movement. The men were confessedly the best mate- 
rial in the world for troops, but they were destitute of the habits or 
instruction of the soldier. To drill and organize them was a work 
of time, to say nothing of inuring them to the hardships of the camp. 
The public mind was, how^ever, far too excited to make allowance for 
such difiiculties. The desire for action, though the troops were as yet 
uudiscipHned, was intense, and the pressure exerted ou the Govern- 
ment caused some hasty and ill-considered movements. 

A sufficient force being now concentrated in Washington, it became 
possibleto make an advance into Virginia. The City of Alexandria, 
which was strongly secession, was at this time occupied by the Confed- 
erates, and with a view of driving these out, as also of occupying the 
heights that command the Capital, at midnight, oa the 23d of May, a 



90 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 



small force was pushed across the long bridge which connects Wash- 
ington with Virginia. Various bodies of infintry, cavalry, and artillery 
followed, some cf which held the tttc da jyont on the Virginia side, 
while others occupied Arlington Heights, opj^osite the city, or marched 
to Alexandria, six miles distant. 

Meantime the New York Fire Zouaves, under Colonel Ephraim E. 
Ellsworth, had left their camp, on two steamers, and landed at Alexan- 
dria at four A. M. of the 24th, at the same moment that a Michigan 
regiment, coming from the Long Bridge, entered the place. The town 
was occupied Avith scarcely any resistance ; the depot of the Orange 
and xMi'xandria railroad, with the rolling stock, seized, and a company 
(thirty-live men) of rebel cavalry captured. 

During the night, Sherman's and Kicketts's batteries of regular artil- 
lery crossed the bridge, with a working force to throw up fortifications 
on Arlington Heights, and by noon of the 24th the territory west of 
the Potomac, which had formerly formed part of the District of Colum- 
bia, but which had been retroceded to Virginia, was without loss occu- 
pied by Federal f )rces. 

One melancholy catastrophe marred the complete success of these 
operations. Colonel Ellsworth, with a raslmess characteristic of a 
brave and enthusiastic, but inexperienced officer, ascertaining that a , 
rebel flag was flying conspicuously from the Marshall House, a hotel 
kept by one Jackson, a violent secessionist, proceeded with the chap- 
lain of his regitn(!nt and a single private, to the roof of the house, 
hauled down the flag, and Avhile descending the stairs to regain the 
street, was shot dead by Jackson. The latter was instantly killed by 
the ])rivate accompanying Ellsworth. The event caused much regret, 
Ellsworth being considered a young officer of unusual promise, and of 
approved loyalty. Had he remained by his regiment, as he should have 
done, and d<'puted another to perform what was, after all, a duty too 
trivial to devolve upon an officer of rank, he might have lived to render 
im))Ortant services to his country. 

The Federal troops being in possession of the western bank of the 
Potomac, it was erected into a department, and Major-General Sandford, 
of the New York jMilitia, was placed in command. His head-quarters 
were the elegant mansion of General Lee, on Arlhigton Heights. On the 
28th he was succeeded by General McDowell* of the regular army, 
recently appointed a brigadier, while General Mansfieldf was placed in 
counnan<l of the troops at Washington. 

The strengthening of the positions in Virginia, and the organization 



♦ Irvin McT)<wcll wns liorn in Ohio, in ISIS, 
prailiialiMl nt West Point. ISJS, and brevcttod cap- 
tiin fur irallant conduct at the battle of IJuena Vis- 
ta, 1S4T; major, ISSli. anil brigadiiT-s;enoral in the 
r.-irular army. May 14th, ISCl ; coniniaii(ii;d at tlie 
first buttle of Bull llun; inajor-ceneral of vohin- 
teiTS, March. lsC2, and appointed to command of 
8i-conil .\riny Corps, DepBrlmont of thi- Ilappahaii- 
noclc; took lart in eocond Bull Itiin cainpaipn; 
tried bv I'.inrt of Inquiry for his conduct and ac- 
quitted. ImW ; iir.-3i.l,Ml'of ntirinRbo.-ird 1S().?-'G4; 
•oinmandor of U.-p.-irimint of Pacific, 18r)4-"6r>. 

t JoBi-vh King Knno Mansfield was burn In New 



ITaven, Oonn., in 1S03, graduated at West Point 
in 1822, second in his class, and v.-as 'for several 
years actively enfraged in engineer duties; cap- 
tain, lb3S; hrevetted major, lieutenant-colonel and 
colonel tor distinguished services in the Mexican 
war, 1S46; Inspector-General, with ranlc of colonel, 
'[^iii\ brigadier-general of tlie regular army. May 
14th, 1S61, and commander of Department of 
Washinirton ; sul)sequently stationed at Newport 
News and Suffolk, Va. ; commanded Banks's corps 
at Antietain, and mortally wounded, September. 
18G3. "11-1 



HISTORY! 01? THE GREAT EEBELLIOI^'. 91 

of the troops as they continued daily to arrive, were prosecuted with 
great vi<;or by General McDowell. The enemy in front were not very 
enterprising, although the threats and evident desire to capture Wasliing- 
ton by no means abated. On June 1st, the Federal steamers Freeborn 
and Anacostia engaged the rebel batteries at Acquia Creek, emptying 
into the Potomac tifty-five miles below Washington, and the terminus of 
the Richmond and Potomac Railroad. After two hours' firing the bat- 
teries were silenced, with the loss of one man. On the same night Com- 
pany B, Second Cavalry, seventy-live men, under Lieutenant Tompkins, 
made a dash into the villnge of Fairfax Court-IIouse, where they encoun- 
tered a large cavalry force of the enemy, Afier a sharp skirmish, in 
which the Union loss Avas one killed and four wounded, the Federal 
cavalry retired. A number of the enemy were ki'leil, and five taken 
prisoners. On the following day detafhnients of Ellsworth's Zouaves 
and Wilcox's Michigan Regiment skirmished with the enemy in the 
vicinity of Alexandria. 

On the 17th of Jime, General McDowell, learning that a. force of the 
enemy from Centreville were at Vienna, a few miles from Washington, 
ordered Brigadier-General R. C. Schenck, a newly appointed olKcer, 
to dislodge them. He took the First Ohio Volunteers, Colonel 
McCook, and proceeded by the Alexandria Railroad slowly towards 
Vienna. When within a quarter of a mile of the place, on turning tho 
curve, in a deep cut, the train received a discharge of shells and grape 
from a battery of three guns, which killed and wounded several men. 
The party then left the cars and retired into the woods right and left. 
The enemy's force appeared to be about fifteen htmdred South Caro- 
linian troops. General Schenck withdrew his men slowly along the 
track, about fotir miles, until they met the First and Second Connecticut 
Regiments coming to their support. The engineer had meantime gone 
back with all speed to Alexandria. The loss was five killed and six 
wounded. 



- CHAPTER VII. 

Occupation of Fortress Monroe. — Engagement at Big Bethel. — Increase of Army. 
— Army Organization. — Want of Arms. — Advance to Centreville. — Bull Run. 

The occupation of Fortress Monroe was rendered complete by the 
arrival of the Massachusetts Fourth, on the 20th of April, and subse- 
quently the force was gradually increased, without attracting much 
attention. On the 22d of May, General Butler, who had been appointed 
major-general of volunteers on the 16th, took command of tlie Depart- 
ment of the South, with head-quarters at Fortress 31onroe, and pro- 
ceeded to organize the troops there. 

The question of what to do with the slaves in this department was 
becoming every day one of more serious magnitude. Considerable 
numbei-s of blacks, escaping from or abandoned by their masters, 



92 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLI01S-, 

Bought the Federal lines, and had to be provided for. General Bntler, 
therefore, on May 27th, issued an order declaring them "contraband 
of war," and ordered the able-bodied to be employed at a fixed rate of 
pay, against which was to be charged the expense of keeping them. 
Hencelirose the f uniliar phrase by which the colored population of the 
South were designated daring the war, and which will in all probability 
cling to them for many years to come. 

The Federal forces at this time were concentrated to the number of 
about ten thousand in and about Fortress Monroe. All the adjoining 
region of the peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers was con- 
trolled by the Confederates, who had strong works at Yorktown, and 
outlying posts at Big Bethel, Little Bethel, and other places. Finding 
his position uncomfortably cramped, General Butler soon after his 
arrival sent a force to oecnpy Newport News, a point of land on the 
left bank of the James River, near its mouth; and on the 9th of June 
ordered a reconnoissance in force towards Little Bethel, about six miles 
distant from Fortress Monroe, where the enemy were stipposed to be 
fortifying. The expedition was put in command of General Pierce, 
■a Massachusetts brigadier of militia, and comprised three regiments 
and one battalion of infontry and a detachment of light artillery, under- 
Lieutenant. Greble of the regular army. General Pierce was ordered 
to ^end Duryea's New York Zouaves, at one o'clock A. m. of the 10th, 
to the rear of the enemy, or between Little and Big Bethel, to be 
followed an hour later by Townsend's Third New York Regiment, 
with two mounted howitzers. Colonel Phelps, at Newport News, was 
directed to send forward a battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Wash- 
burn, aided by Lieutenant Greble with two howitzers, to make a 
demonstration at Little Bethel, with Bendix's Seventh New York 
Regiment and two field-pieces as a reserve. The two supi^orting regi- 
ments coming from Fortress Monroe and Newport News, were to efiect 
a junction at the cross-roads near Little Bethel. The attack was th be 
made at daybreak, and if the enemy retreated, Duryea was to follow 
and attack the works at Big Bethel. For a while all worked well. 
Duryea's Zouaves reached the appointed position in rear of Little 
Bethel, and Colonel Washburn was in position in front, while Bendix 
was posted at the cross-roads to hold it. At daybreak Townsend's 
regnnent, with General Pierce and staff at its head, approached to form 
the appointed junction, when Bendix, supposing the troops to be rebels, 
opened on them with artillery and musketrv, by which Townsend's 
men were thrown into temporary confusion, and a number of them 
killed and wounded. Colonel Washburn, in advance, hearing the firing, 
and supposmg his communication thieatened, fell back, as did also 
Duryea; and General Pierce, supposing he had been attacked by the 
enemy, sent to General Butler for re-enforcements. All hope of a sur- 
prise at Little Bethel was destroyed bv this mishap, and when the ad- 
vance was resumed it was found that the rebels had fiillen back upon 
the works at Big Bethel, which were attacked bv General Pierce at 
Halt-past nme o'clock. Notwithstanding his force had been strength- 
eneil by the arrival of two more regiments, the commanding general 
bandied his troops with little skill. The men, though displaying no 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOX 93 

lack of bravery, were for the most part deficient in discipline; while 
their officers, bewildered by being brought for the first time mider fire, 
committed all kinds of blunders. Finally, after an en<>:agement of 
several hours, in which, although the infantry had partial shelter, the 
artillery were posted in an open field to batter harmlessly at the rebel 
earthworks, a retreat was ordered, and the force brought ofi;' in good 
condition. 

This was the first battle of the war, and for that reason excited a 
degree of interest throughout the country far beyond its actual impor- 
tance. The enemy had ten guns and about eighteen hundred men in posi- 
tion, under Colonel Magruder,* who was attended by Colonel de Russy 
and other late officers of the United. States Army, and sustained but a 
trivial loss. That of the Federal troops amounted to about a hundred, 
including the casualties resulting from the unfortunate collision between 
the two New York regiments. Among the killed were Lieutenant 
Greble and Major Winthropf of General Butler's staff. The latter, in 
the act of leading a body of troops to the charge, mounted a log, 
waved his sword, and shouted to his men to come on, wlien a North 
Carolina drummer-boy leaped upon the battery and shot him in the 
breast. The body was recovered by a flag sent from Fortress Monroe. 

The water communication between Washington and Fortress Mon- 
roe was now more or less threatened by the enemy, who had lined the 
Virginia side of the Potomac with batteries, Avhich the Federal gun- 
boats sought frequent opportunities of attacking. On the 27th of 
June, an engagement took place at Mathias Point, Virginia, between 
the gunboats Paw^nee and Freeborn, and a number of rebels on shore. 
The loss of the enemy was not known, but the Union force had to 
deplore the death of Captain James H. WardJ, United States Navy, in 
command of the Freeborn. Several sailors belonging to the Freeborn 
were wounded. 

It was very soon manifest that the militia, called out under the proc- 
lamation of April the 15th, could not be efificiently armed and organ- 
ized before their time of service would expire, and that, consequently, 
other and more permanent measures must be adopted. Accordingly, 
on the 3d of May, a second proclamation called for forty-two thousand 
additional volunteers, to serve during the war, besides providing for an 
increase of the regular army. This was to consist of a regiment of 



* John Bankhead Masruder was born in Vir' 
grinia, about ISU, iiraduated at West Puint in 1S30> 
and was brevettcd major and lieutenant-colonel 
for gallantry at Oerro Gordo and Chapultepec; re- 
signed his commission and entered ttie rebel army 
April, 1S61; commanded at York town, 1861-62; 
major general, 1S62: comm.anded rebel troops at 
battle of Malvern Hills, July, 1862, and subse- 
quently transferred to the Department of Texas, 
where he held command until superseded by Gen- 
eral Kirby Smith. At the surrender of the latter 
to General Canby in May, 1S65, General Magruder 
commanded the Pepartmcnt of Arkansas. 

t Theodore Winthrop was born in New Haven, 
Conn., in 1823, and graduated at Yale CoUesre in 
livtS. After several years of travel and adventure 



time of his death he was military secretary to 
General Butler, with the rai'k of major. Several 
novels and magazine tiles by him of great literary 
promise were published posthumously. 

X He was the eldest son of the late Colonel 
James Ward, a prominent citizen of Hartford, 
Connecticut, and was born in that city in the year 
1S05. He entered the navy March 4th. lS23.'and 
made his first cruise as a midshipman in IheCon- 
stitution, under Commodore WcDonough, with 
whom he sailed for four years in succession. Ho 
was one of the best educated men in the navy. 
Before his appointment as a midshipman, he was 
for two years a student in the Norwich. Vermont, 
University (Captain Partridge's Military School), 
and after he entered the navy, he ])assed a year 



he settled in New York, and at the outbreak of of leave in Washington (now Trinity) C<dlege. 
the rebellion, accompanied the Seventh New He was an indefatisrablo student all his life, and 
York militia regiment to Washington. At the | a most exemplary otHcer, 



94 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION". 

cavalry, twelve companies, numbering eleven hundred and eijjLty-seven 
officers and men ; one regiment of artillery of twelve batteries, six 
pieces each, numbering nineteen hundred and nine officers and men ; 
nine regiments of inflnitry, each regiment to contain three battalions 
of eight companies each, numbering two thousand four hundred and 
fifty-iwo officers and men — making a total increase of twenty-two thou- 
sand and sixty-eight infantry, officers and men ; and an addition to the 
strength of the regular army of twenty-five thousand one hundred and 
sixty-four men, infantry, artillery, and cavalry. 

The small army of the United States hitherto liad borne in numbers 
no proportion to the officers who graduate annually from West Point, 
and it required A'ery few general officers. The exigencies of the Gov- 
ernment now demanded an army on the scale of those of Europe, and 
a new system of organization was deemed advisable. On the organi- 
zation of an array depends much of its efficiency in the field; and such 
has been the progress of modern military science, that a well-organized, 
drilled, and eqnii)ped army is, at the present day, a machine of im- 
mense power, and withal of the most costly description. 

The company is generally considered the unit of military organiza- 
tion, and is su'pposed to average, on the Avar basis, one hundred men, 
officers included. The ordinary rule for the organization of such a 
coijipany gives to it one captain, two lieutenants, from four to six 
sergeants, as many corporals, and eiglity-five men. The first sergeant 
is called the orderly sergeant, and has c'h;irge of the books of the com- 
pany, and the calling of the roll morning and evening. The company 
is formed, when in line, into two i)latoons and four sections, each pla- 
toon comiuandod by a lieutenant, and each section by a sergeant. 

A regiment is composed of several battalions, each containing from 
four to ten companies, the battalion beino; the tactical unity. In the 
United States service, ten companies, divided into two battalions, have 
usually constituted a regiment. 

The otiiccrs of a regiment, independent of company officers, are a 
colonel, heutenant-colonel, one major, adjutant, quartermaster, and 
coniimssary. Each separate body of troops must have a commissary 
and quartermaster, but m a large armv thev are appointed to regiments 
or brigades. A full regiment will be formed thus: one colonel, one 
lieutenant-colonel, one adjutant, one quartermaster, one comraissarv, 
one major, ten captains, ten first and ten second lieutenants, fiftv ser- 
geants, forty corpora s, and eight hundred and fifty private men ; 'mak- 
mg nine lumdred and seventy-six, but in reality there are some others; 
each company has regularly a drummer and fifer, which make a regi- 
mental band of twenty besides the drum-major. Thus the regiment, 
when full, IS made up regularly to one thousand men. When the 
volunteer force was called out by the President, a new organization 
f .r the regiments to be added to the regular armv was sncrrjested. 
Ibis question was fully considered by officers of the'army, anttit was 
deternaned to adopt the French regimental system of three battalions, 
of eight companies each, to a regiment. Each battalion is commanded 
m.n.r''/'Ti '' "" <-oIonel a,,d lieutenant-colonel for the general com- 
mand ot the regiment. Ihis, it is believed, is the best organization 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOj^-. 95 

now existing. The number of field officers is less for tlie same number 
of men than nnder the old plan, and, therefore, the expense is greatly- 
red ucecl. This change of organization, however, did not apply to the 
old regiments of the regular army, nor to the volunteers, 

A brigade should be comj^osed of two or three regiments of infantry, 
several squadrons of cavalry, and one or two batteries of field artillery. 
If these were all full, a complete brigade, operating alone, would in the 
American service number about three thousand five hundred men. 

A division is composed of two or more brigades, with a proportional 
addition of cavalry and artilk'ry, making, with the whole staff and 
music, about seven thousand men. During the first year of the rebellion 
this was the highest element of organization in the service. 

The corps is composed of two or more divisions, frequently of four 
or five, and is, in the French service, pi-operly commanded by a field 
marshal — an ofHcer unknown to our country ; and the corps is properly 
a complete army in itself In the American service, a major-general 
commands such an organization. 

In the field, all orders and operations are carried on through the 
Staif of the army, which consists of the aides, the adjutant-general, 
the engineer, the quartermaster and commissary-generals, and some 
other officers, varying in size and in its component pai'ts with the im- 
portance of the organization to which it is attached. 

Through the adjutant-general orders are conveyed to each particular 
post. By the quartermaster-general all transportations, and vehicles, 
and horses, are furnished ; by the commissary, all supplies ; by the 
engineer the topography of the country is examined, the practicability 
of passes determined, and fortifications built or attacked. 

The warlike ardor of the people manifested itself so promptly in 
response to the call for troops, that by the 1st of July more than two 
hundred regiments had been accepted. All of these were infantry and 
riflemen, with the exception of two battalions of artillery and ibur 
regiments of cavalry. Of the whole number, upwards of one hundred 
and fifty regiments were in active service on the 1st of July, by which 
time it was estimated that seventy-three thousand men weie collected 
in Washington and its vicinity principally from the Eastern and Middle 
States, and the remainder were in readiness before the close of the 
month. The troops moved rapidly forward to the various depots and 
camps. 

The Government was sufficiently rich in men, but in a very distressed 
condition for arms to give them. An old law of Congress required the 
Secretary of War to deliver to each Stale, on the requisition of the 
Governor, its quota of arms in proportion to its militia. These requi- 
sitions had long been neglected, but while preparations for secession 
were making, each Southern State drew its arms, and gi-eat numbers 
were transi'erred from the North to the South, by the order of Mr. 
Floyd, Secretary of War, thus stripping the Northern arsenals for the 
benefit of the South. In addition, great numbers of ai'ms had been 
purchased on account of the Southern States. Some of them were 
seized on their way thither, but, as already stated, wero^in many in- 
stances restored to their owners. 



96 mSTOEl OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 

Previous to the early part of 1860, the Government had a supply of 
arms and mimitions of Avar sufficient for any emergency ; but, in the 
words of Secretary Cameron, "through the bad faith of those intrusted 
Avith their guardianship, they were taken from their proper depositories 
and <listributed through portions of the country expected to take part 
in the contemplated rebellion." In consequence of the serious loss 
thus sustained, there was available, at the commencement of the out- 
break, a much smaller supply than usual of all kinds. 

Some ])atriotic American citizens, resident in Europe, fearing that 
the country might not have a sufficient supply, purchased on their own 
responsibility, through co-operation with the United States ministera 
to England and France, a number of improved cannon and muskets, 
and the War Department accepted the drafts drawn to defray the out- 
lay thus assumed. A complete battery of six Whitworth twelve-pounder 
rifled cannon, with three thousand rounds of ammunition, the munifi- 
cent donation of sympathizing friends in Europe, was also received 
from England. 

The chief dependence had been upon the Springfield Armory, the 
capacity of which was, at the outbreak of the rebellion, twenty-five 
thousand muskets per armura. The Northern armories had, to a con- 
siderable extent, been stri])ped to supply the Southern States. Tlie pri- 
vate armories were able to furnish only a few thousand annually, and 
Harper's Ferry had been captured with a loss of fifteen thousand 
muskets. Ileuce, until arms could be procured from Euro]>e, many 
regiments were detained in camp. Tlie Springfield Armory was worked 
to its fullest extent, and with the help of outside machine-shops, before 
the dose of the year, could produce eight thousand per month, and 
can now sup[)ly twenty-five thousand per month. 

On the morning of the 27th of June, the report of General Mansfield, 
commanding at Washington, gave tlie number of troops in the city at 
twenty-two thousand eight hundred and forty-six men j^esent for 
duty. Tiie force of General Patterson,* commanding on the Potomac, 
at Williamsport and Martinsburg, above "Washington, was seventeen 
thousand one hundred and eighty-eight, of whom five hundred and 
forty-two were sick. The force in "Virginia, beyond the Potomac, 
under McDoAvell, was fifteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-six 
men, with the colors. 

The left of McDowell occupied Alexandria, while his right was 
pushed some distance up tlie Potomac, mostly on the Maryland side, 
towards Patterson's left. The Confederate general having adopted, for 
the present, a defensive policy, had so disposed his troops as lo prevent 
an advance of the Federal force into Virginia. This had finally been 
determined upon. Popular impatience could no longer endure the idea 
of a large army lying apparently idle about Washington, and from aU 
parts of the country came the demand for an aggressive movement, 



ln^^9-°I■.!JI"l!^,T^^;?^^'^\"'^•^■">^^^<^^ --"mman.Uho Pennsylvania three ynonUis' volun- 

l^rv •f|":,an olWrin^hf u,. '"Ul,""';,' ^""'"V '"'''' ^?'^'- ""'' ^vas -stationed on the Upper Poto- 
^/Jl t."^'"""'"^'^"''^'-- »f'*'r»'a''is niMc; discharged from the Bcrviro .Julv 2;tb- 

i:r:V: nr—irT*".'"';'''"'.'"''''';^ "•" ^-•^■•^•y "itieisM ivrnj^k^tinrto p 

vl,l!^l^ t. ■''■"'' .v'*'^^^'"'""''^^''''* '" the vent the rebel General Johnston In. m re-en- 
Mcxlcau war; appomud by Governor Curtln to 1 forcing Beauregard at tho battle of Bull iTuu!; 



HISTOET or THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 97 

wtich should end the Avar in a single campaign. The utter lack of dis- 
cipline in the troops; the brief period, now almost expired, for which 
most of them had enlisted; the inexperience of the officers, and the 
general ignorance which prevailed respecting the numbers or positions 
of the enemy, Avere all overlooked ; and the Government was urged at 
once to order an advance upon Richmond. At the commencement of 
all great Avars the opposing parties acquire experience at a bitter cost, 
an(f it Avill be seen that the Federal troops paid dearly for theirs ; 
although, viewed by the liglit of subsequent events, what seemed mis- 
fortunes at the time, were of unmistakable benefit in effecting the final 
overthroAV of the rebellion. 

The physical formation of Virginia is such that there are but few 
practicable routes for an invading force coming from the North. A line 
drawn from GeorgetoAvn, through Fredericksburg, Richmond, and 
Petersburg to Weldon, North Carolina, Avould mark the Avestern limit 
of Avhat is called the lower country or tide-water section. It is a low 
plain, Avilhout any considerable elevation, but scooped out by the action 
of water into deep ravines, through Avhich flow broad, sluggish rivers. 
To the Avest of this line is the middle country, an undulating district 
extending to the Blue Ridge, Avhich forms a continuous chain, except 
Avhere pierced by the Potoniac, James, and Staunton Rivers, of about 
tAVo hundred and fifty miles, running north-east and south-Avest. To the 
west of this lies the great ridge, Avhich is a prolongation of the Penn- 
sylvania Kittatinny Mountain, and Avhicb, running parallel Avith the 
Blue Ridge, rises two thousand oiie hundred to tAvo thousand five 
hundred feet in height. The Shenandoah River floAVS northerly into 
the Potomac through the great valley that lies betAveen the two i-idges, 
and gives its name to it. West of the great ridge runs the line of 
AUeghanies, separating Western Virginia from the eastern part of the 
State. This region is somcAvhat hilly, but contains no considerable 
elevation. Such being the configuration of the country, an invading 
force, destined to operate against Richmond, Avould choose one of four 
routes: from Alexandria via Culpepper and Gordonsville, OA'erland ; 
from A quin^ Creek t' /a Fredericksburg; froui the Chesapeake ri'c? the 
York River and the Peninsula; or from Harper's Ferry or the Point of 
Rocks, down the Valley of the Shi-uandoah, uu:? Staunton, Charlottes- 
ville, and Lynchburg. From Harper's Ferry to Richmond, by the last 
route, the distance is about two hundred and fifty miles, the road lying 
through a fertile and beautiful valley for the first half of the way. It 
was from this valley that Morgan derived a large portion of his famous 
riflemen in the Revolution ; and its chief county, Augusta — " Old Fed- 
eral Augusta" — is still celebrated for the proficiency of her citizens in 
this important arm of military service. The counties of Rockingham, 
Shenandoah, and Page, Avhich also border it, are inhabited by a sturdy 
race of farmers, descendants of German emigrants from Pennsylvania. 

Of these several routes. General McDowell proposed to take the first. 
To oppose this movement, General Beauregard was in force at Manas- 
sas Junction, a station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, tAventy- 
five miles south-Avest of Washington, whence diverges the Manassas 
Gap Railroad, connecting the upper middle region of Virginia Avith the 
7 



98 



mSTOKT OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOW. 



Valley. Being in easy communication with Gordonsville, Richmond, 
Lynchbui-o;, and tlie Valley, it was particularly adapted for purposes of 
conceulratiou ; wliile its natural strength, greatly increased by a series 
of elaborate earthworks, together with the rugged and wooded country 
Burroundino- it, rendered it a formidable obstacle in the path of an 
army ailvaiicing on Richmond. General Johnston,* with about eighteen 
thousand men, was at Winchester, in the Shenandoah Valley, watching 
General Patterson. 

There were also troops in Richmond, Gordonsville, and elsewhere, 
within easy supporting distance of both Beauregard and Johnston; 
and the increasing force of the rebels and their threatening attitude, 
combined with, perhaps, an undue confidence in the skill and bravery 
of the Federal troops, notwithstanding the latter had never been exer- 
cised in movements in brigade, and few of them knew their superior 
oflScers by sight, caused the 8th of July to be finally fixed upon for a 
forward movement by McDowell. The plan of operations, and the 
estimate of force required, were made with the imderstanding that 
Johnston should be held in check by Patterson. It was impossible, 
however, to get the horses for the wagons and trains of artillery for 
more than a week after the appointed time, and the 15th still found the 
expeditionary army incomplete, notwithstanding the most strenuous 
exertions. The movement was, nevertheless, ordered to take place, 
and numbers of Congressmen and civilians accompanied the march as 
spectators. 

On Tuesday, July IGth, McDowell broke up his camp and marched 
for Manassas, with an army of about thirty-five thousand men, all of 
whom, with the exception of less than a thousand regulars of the old 
army, weie raw troops, who not only had never smelt powder, but 
were scarcely grounded, in the simplest exercises of the manual. Of 
tactical evolutions they knew next to nothing. The best of them were 
militia regiments, whose term of service would expire within four or 
five- days, but who were nevertheless launched into the campaign, 
under a sort of vague idea that they "had long enough to serve for the 
purpose of the expedition." This undisciplined and unstable mass was 
divided into five divisions, each consisting of two or more brigades, 
and was commanded by the following ofiicers: 

First Division— Brigadier-General D. Tyler, Connecticut Militia. 
Second " Colonel David Hunter, Third U. S. Cavalry. 

Third " Colonel S. P. Heintzelman, Seventeenth IJ. S. Infantry. 

Fourth " Brigadier-General T. Runyon, New Jersey Militia. 

Fifth " Colonel Dizou S. Mills, Second U. S. Infantry. 



♦ Joseph EccU'ston Johnston -was horn in Vir- 
ginia, alioiit ISIO; prartunUil at Wrst Point in 
1829; breveted captain for pnllant cond ct in 
the Florida war, lb4'^ and nppointrd lieutenant- 
colonel of Voltigcurs in 1S4T; brevetted colonel 
^r pallantry in Mexico; lieutenant-colonel of 
First Cavalry, IKW; quartcrinaster-penenil. ISfiO; 
rcsipnod April, ISCl, and appointed general in the 
Confederate army. His Urst command was <in 
the Upper rotoniac^ whence he brought off tlio 
greater part of his troops to Kull linn in time to 
turn the scale against the Federals. Ue eubsc- 



quently commanded at Kichmond in the early 
part of the Peninsular eaiiipaifrn, and was severely 
Wounded at Fair Oaks, after which he was assigned 
to the Traus-Mississ)i)pi Department. He con- 
ducted the campaifin of 1S64, against Gcueral 
Sherman, with great skill; but after his retreat 
across the Chattahoochee, was superseded by 
General Hood, in obedience to a popular clamor 
against what was called his " Fabian policy of re- 
treat." In the early part of 1SC5 he was reas- 
signed to the command of the troops operating 
against Sherman, to whom he capitulated In May. 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 99 

Accompanying the army were fifty-five pieces of artillery, and an un- 
necessarily large train. Owing to the inexperience of* the troops in 
marching, and the obstructions placed in the way by the retiring rebels, 
the progress of the army was slow, and it was not until noon of the 
18th that the division of General Tyler, forming the advance, entered 
Centreville, a small village about seven miles north-east from Manassas 
Junction, and separated from it by Bull Run, which is a fordable 
stream flowing in a south-easterly direction into the Potomac. From 
Centreville two roads diverge towards Bull Run, of which the more 
easterly and direct strikes the stream at Blackburn's Ford, not far from 
the Junction ; while the other, known as the Warrenton Turnpike, fol- 
lows a westerly course and crosses Bull Run at the Stone Bridge, four 
miles higher up. The village itself lies on the west side of an elevated 
ridge, and is fcapable of being strongly fortified. 

Without waiting for the main body to come up, General Tyler im- 
mediately pushed forward a reconnoissance to Blackburn's Ford, where, 
rather unexpectedly, the rebels were found in large force. A heavy 
skirmish ensued, with considerable artillery firing ; but the enemy's 
position, sheltered by dense woods, being considered too strong to be 
carried without developing a general engagpment, the Federal troops 
were ordered back to Centreville, having experienced a loss of about one 
hundred. That of the enemy was somewhat less. During the 18th and 
19th, McDowell's army, with the exception of Runyon's division, Avhich 
was left at Fairfax Court-House, seven miles in the rear, to protect the 
Federal communications, was concentrated in and around Centreville, 
with a view of attacking the rebels along Bull Run, and between the 
stream and Manassas Junction, on Saturday, the 20th. Here again the 
dilatoriness, which seemed to be inseparable from the movements of 
this army, manifested itself The subsistence, which should have been 
ready on the evening of the 18th, did not arrive until twenty-four hours 
later, so that the forward movement was postponed to Sunday, the 21st. 
The intervening time was occupied in reconnoitring Bull Run above 
and below the Stone Bridge. By the evening of the 20th McDowell 
had arranged his plan of battle, which in general terms contemplated 
a flanking movement in force against the enemy's left wing, with feints 
on his right and centre. As it was found impracticable to cross the 
stream at Blackburn's Ford or the Stone Bridge, on account of the steep- 
ness of the opposite bank and the obstructions accumulated by the ene- 
my, he decided that Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions should make 
the passage at Sudley Spring, two miles above the Stone Bridge, while 
Tyler demonstrated at the latter place and Blackburn's Ford, in readiness 
to cross and support the main attacking column when occasion should 
offer. Miles's division was to be stationed as a reserve at Centreville. 
The rebel forces, on the 20th, were distributed along the right bank of Bull 
Run from Union Hill, two miles below Blackburn's Ford, to the Stone 
Bridge, and on that day comprised probably not far from twenty-five 
thousand men, under the command of General Beauregard. By the cul- 
pable, if not criminal, negligence of General Patterson, Johnston's troops 
had been permitted to slip away from Winchester i^ the Valley, and a 
considerable portion of them had already arrived with their commander. 



100 EISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLI01S-. 

Althougli tliQ latter ranked Beauregard, he waived his privilege of 
assuming the chief direction of the rebel array, upon seeing the dispo- 
sitions made by his associate. As an illustration of the wide-spread 
treachery then pervading the Federal War Department, it may be 
stated that the rebel generals were not only thoroughly informed of the 
strength of McDowelFs army and of his plan of attack, but had even 
obtained possession of a map of the region west of Washington, which 
was completed only two days before the advance reached Centreville. 
This sort of thing was of frequent occurrence during the first year of 
the war ; but notorious as it was, no clue to the perpetrators of the 
acts has ever been discovered, or at least made public. 

Every thing being now prepared for an advance, the Fesleral troops, 
sui^plied with three days' rations, were ordered to move at 2 a. m. of 
the 21st. But neither officeis nor men seemed aware of tTie importance 
of adhering to the strict letter of their orders, and so much valuable 
time was wasted in getting ready to march, and in the march itself, 
that it was Bearly 10 o'clock before the head of the flanking column 
reached Sudley Spring, a distance of not above nine miles, whereas it 
should have been there, according to General McDowell's calculation, 
three or four houis earlier. Arriving at the stream, the men halted to 
fill their canteens, which caused another delay ; so that when the lead- 
ing brigade of Hunter's division, commanded by Colonel Burnside, 
marching down the right bank of Bull Run towards the Stone Bridge, 
debouched from the shelter of the woods into a rolling plain, which 
skirted the Warrenton Turnpike, it was well upon noon. The slowness 
with which the flanking movement was executed afforded an excellent 
opportunity to Beauregard to bring up to the neighborhood of the 
Stone Bridge that portion of his forces which was stationed below 
Blackburn's Ford. lie judged wisely that the Federal troops left in 
front of both places Avere not intended to make a serious attack, and 
the heavy clouds of dust arising in the direction of Sudley Spring 
seemed to indicate beyond doubt that thither the main body of the 
opposing army Avas marching. He even projected a flank movement 
of his own from Blackburn's Ford against Centreville, which failed 
through a miscarriage of the order. Since the preceding day further 
instalments of Johnston's troops had arrived, so that more than 
thirty thousand rebels Avere noAV concentrated near the Junction. 

Shortly before noon the action commenced by an attack of the rebel 
batteries, well i)rotected by Avoods, ujion Burnside's brigade, which for 
a fcAV minutes was subjected to a severe fire. But Porter's brigade, 
with Grifiin's battery and the battalion of regulars, coming up to its 
support, the rebels were i^ushed back beyond the Warrenton Turnpike, 
thus enablmg Sherman's and Keyes's brigades of Tyler's division to 
cross Bull Run a short distance above the Stone Bridge and take part 
m the engagement. This division, in accordance Avith the plan of the 
battle, had been demonstrating during the morning against the Stone 
Bridge, and one of its brigades, Schenk's, still remained in position on 
t^le lett l,ank of the stream. The remaining hr\<rade, under Colonel 
Kichardson, conducted the feint at Blackburn's Ford. Heintzelman's 
*ivisiou, which crossed at Sudley Spring in the rear of Hunter's, now 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT BEBELLIOIST. 101 

came up, and the united Federal force on the right bank of Bull Kun, 
amounting to about eighteen thousand men, pressed the rebels fiercely up 
the slopes of a hill beyond the Warrenton Turnpike, whence some well- 
posted batteries played with eifect upon the advancing columns. The 
contest for the possession of this hill soon waxed exceedingly hot, and 
the raw Federal troops, though fighting on unknown ground against 
an enemy for the most part jirotected by woods and other natural cover, 
showed unquestionable jDluck, and considerable steadiness, notwith- 
standing some regiments failed to keep their order under heavy firing. 
Colonel Hunter, who led the flanking column, having been severely 
woimdcd early in the action, the command devolved upon Colonel 
Heintzelman, Inch by inch the enemy was j>ushed back, making 
many gallant attempts to rally, and aiming particularly to disable or 
capture Ricketts's and GrifiBn's batteries of the regular army, which 
had boldly advanced to within a few hundred yards of his line of 
battle. Three desperate charges were made uj^on the former, the 
horses of which had been killed or disabled, and as often repelled, and 
at their third repulse the rebels were driven completely out of sight 
within tlie shelter of the adjoining woods. The brigade of Keyes had 
meanwhile made a detour of the hill to take the enemy on his right 
jflank, and operations had commenced to clear the obstructions in front 
of the Stone Bridge, so as to allow the remaining brigade of Tyler's 
division to cross and co-operate with the main body. 

It was now three p. m., and victory had thus far attended the Federal 
arms. The enemy had been driven upwards of a mile and a half from 
his original position, and his final disappearance gave his opponents 
a few moments of much needed rest. But the latter were scarcely in 
a condition to reap the fruits of victory, and considering that for 
twelve hours they had been on the march or in line of battle, it is not 
to be wondered that they were exhausted. "They had been up," says 
General McDowell in his official report, " since two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and had made, what to those unused to such tilings, seemed a long 
march, before coming into action, though the longest distance gone 
over was not more than nine and a half miles ; and though they had 
three days' provisions served out to them the day before, many, no 
doiTbt, either did not eat them or threw them away on the march or 
during the battle, and were therefore Avithout food. They had done 
much severe fighting. Some of the regiments which had been driven 
from the hill in the first tAvo attempts of the enemy to regain posses- 
sion of it, had become shaken, Avere unsteady, and had many men out 
of the ranks." On the other hand, the rebels had marched a com- 
paratively short distance, and were still tolerably steady, although, as 
was the case with the Federals, such of their troops as had been under 
hot fire were considerably shaken. But they fought under the ad- 
vantage of knowing that every hour Avovdd add to their strength, and 
would correspondingly weaken their enemy. With every train from 
the Valley came, by regiments or brigades, portions of Johnston's 
array, while no re-enforcemcnts had been sent by McDowell to his 
weary troops, and none seemed likely to be sent. Hence the posi- 
tion of the rebels, even after they had been driven into the Avoods, 



102 HISTOKY OF TnE GEEAT EEBELLIOK". 

was really less critical than tliat of the Federals, for relief was at 

lianJ. 

Their line of battle, in fact, had scarcely disappeared trora the open 
field, when dense clouds of dust, rising from the direction of the rail- 
road, indicated the arrival of fresh troops, and from their position 
on the liill the exhausted Union soldiers could perceive long and well- 
ordered infontry columns hurr}ing up in the rebel rear. Instantly it 
was surmised that Patterson had come to their assistance, and as the 
word passed from mouth to mouth, the men gave vent to cheering. 
Their surprise and consternation can be imagined, when they heard 
still lou.ler cheers breaking out along the Avhole rebel front, followed 
by a sharp fire from the woods on their right, which rapidly extended 
to their rear. So far from Patterson coming to aid them, that General 
had never budged from his position, and the troops, whose appearance 
had called forth such demonstrations of enthusiasm, were the remain- 
ing brigade of Johnston, under General Kirby Smith, which arrived in 
time to turn the scale of battle in favor of the Confederates. 

The effect upon the Federal troops was disastrous in the extreme. 
The first line recoiled before the fire of the enemy, and, confused by the 
shots and shouts issuing from the woods, and by vague apprehensions 
of untold numbers environing tliem and cutting ofi" escape, became 
panic-stricken, and fell into disorder. The example was contagious, 
llegiment after regiment broke and retired in confusion down the hill, 
the panic momentarily increasmg, until the greater part of the but 
recently victorious army had become a mass of fugitives, rushing pell- 
mell across the Warrenton Turnpike to the fords at which they had 
crossed in the morning, and deaf or indifferent to the commands of 
their oflacers. The battalion of regulars, of all the organizations on 
the field, alone retreated in good order. Tlie best of the militia or 
volunteer regiments showed more or less confusion, though not all of 
them exhibited the same unseemly haste in getting away. As the 
fugitives approached Bull Run, the miscellaneous crowd of teamsters 
and civilians on the other side, who had not crossed the stream, caught 
the infection and started in the direction of Washington, notwith- 
standing the enemy Avas several miles distant, and full ten thousand 
fresh Federal troops, Avho had not participated in the battle, were in 
readiness to withstand his attack. But the enemy, whether too much 
exhausted himself, or intimidated by what General Johnston called the 
"appaieut firmness" of the Federal reserves, made no attempt to 
pursue his advantage, and beyond the sending of a few squadrons of 
cavalry to harass the retreat, contented himself with driving the 
Federal trooi)S from the field. By nightfall the latter had all regained 
their encampments at Centreville, although a steady sti-eam of fugi- 
tives poured onward during the night through Fairfax Com-t-IIouse"to 
the l*otomac. After a few hours' rest, the retreat Avas continued, and 
on the evening of the 23d the beaten army had regained the shelter of 
the fortifications of Washington. Such Avas the lax discipline then 
prevalent, that for several days afterwards the city Avas filled with 
stragglers, Avho Avere only by degrees gathered up and sent to their 
commands. 



inSTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOX. 103 

The Federal loss, according to the official reports, was four hundred 
and eighty-one killed, one thousand and eleven wounded, and twelve 
hundred and sixteen missing ; the casualties being almost exclusively 
confined to the troops wliich crossed Bull Run. Twenty-thi-ee 
pieces of artillery were abandoned daring the retreat, incliidiug the 
batteries of Ricketts and Griffin, which, through loss of horses, fell 
into the enemy's hands at the commencement of the panic. But so 
inefficient Avas the pursuit, that several pieces abandoned on the north 
side of Bull Run Avere on the succeeding day brought safely off th.e 
field. Avast amount of material of war was also left on the field. It is 
worthy of notice, as an exceptional occurrence during the Avar, that the 
Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment of volunteers, and a battery attached to 
the Eighth New York mihtia, demanded their discharge, to Avhich they 
were entitled, on the eve of the battle, and moved aAvay, in the scorn- 
ful language of General McDowell, " to the sound of the enemy's 
cannon." Other regiments, Avhose terms of service had also expired, 
cheerfully volunteered to remain until the issue of the battle should 
be determined. The rebel loss, as stated by General Johnston, was 
three hundred and seventy-eight killed, fourteen hundred and eighty- 
nine wounded, and thirty missing. On the Federal side, Colonel 
Cameron, of the SeA^enty-ninth New York Volunteers, a brother of 
the Secretary of War, was killed, Colonels Hunter and Ileintzelman 
wounded, and Colonels Corcoran and Wilcox, and Captain Ricketts, 
of Ricketts's battery, were taken prisoners. The rebel Generals Bee 
and Bartow were killed, and Kirby Smith Avounded. Having re- 
covered from the exhaustion of the conflict, the rebels followed the 
retreating army at a respectful distance, and thenceforth, for many 
months, practically invested the southern side of the National Capital, 

Such was the famous battle of Bull Run, of which more absurd 
misstatements have been circulated than of almost any other conflict 
of modern times, and the result of which filled the rebels Avith an idea 
of their invincibility and a contempt for their enemy, for Avhich they 
were subsequently destined to pay dear. Abroad it was considered 
to haA'e settled the superiority of Southern over Northern soldiers, 
and at once the Confederacy acquired a prestige of no little value, 
besides gaining hosts of aiistocratic admirers. That the defeat Avas 
more the result of an untOAvard and disgraceful accident than of any 
special skill or bravery of the enemy, must have been sufficiently 
apparent from our description. The P^ederal troops, fighting under 
many disadvantages, were uniformly succes>ful until demoralized by 
their sudden panic; and the vigor Avith Avhich they pushed the enemy 
may be seen in the rebel lists of killed and AVOunded, and in the utter 
failure of the latter to pursue the beaten army. Too many instances 
are on record of causeless panics among veteran troops to single out 
this occurrence for special opprobrium, and criticism may better deal 
with those causes which paA'ed the Avay for a disastrous defeat of our 
arms. Tavo of these only need be mentioned here : the numerous 
delays experienced from the inception of the campaign to its close, and 
the failure of Patterson to prevent Johnston fi'om going to the assist- 
ance of Beauregard. Had the battle been fought a day or cA^en a few 



104 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

lionrs earlier, it miijlit have had a very different issue, and the war, 
which was protracted through four years, have been ended practically 
in a single campaign. Or, on the other hand, the Federals, elated by 
a first success, luii^ht have precipitated themselves upon Richmond, and 
been overwhelmed by superior forces, too far from tlieir Capital to 
receive succor. The lessons derived from the defeat were salutary, 
thougl) bitter. It was ])crccived that short terms of enlistment, im- 
perfect organization or discipline, and hastily formed and ill-digested 
plans of campaign were sources of weakness rather than of strength, 
and from that hour commenced that systematic organization of the 
army which has recently brought the American Union before the world 
as a military power of the first importance. This may be claimed as 
the legitimate result of the defeat of Bull Run, the completeness and 
unexp'ectedness of which created a degree of cousternatioa never to 
be forgotten by those who witnessed its effects. 



CHAPTER ym. 

Mi?souri.— Capture of State Troops. — Booneville. — Carthage. — Shenandoah Vallej. — 
Patterson Crosses tlie Potomac. — Bunker Hill. — Campaign in Western Virginia. — 
Philijipi. — Laurel Hill. — Rich Mountain. — Beverly. — Western Virginia cleared of 
Rebels. — McClellan transferred to the Potomac. 

The reply of Governor Jackson, of Missouri, to the requisition of 
the Secretary of War upon the States for troops, was, that the " requisi- 
tion is illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and 
cannot he complied with." The Governer, however, assembled, April 
25th, a force of eight hundred men, under General Frost, at Camp 
Jackson, on the outskirts of St. Louis, ostensibly to preserve order in 
the State. Under these circumstances, the arsenal at St. Louis was 
conceived to be in danger; and, with a view of saving the public 
property, Governor Yates, of Illinois, who held a requisition from 
the Secretary of War for ten thousand stand of arms which it was 
difficult to serve, put it in the hands of Captain John H. Stokes, of the 
army, who, by a daring operation, carried off the arms described in 
the order, and a large stock besides, and landed them at Springfield, 
Illinois. On the 10th of May, Captain Lyon, in command of the Union 
forces, AvithF. P. Blair, Jr., Colonel of the First Missouri Volunteers, 
and a member of Congress, marched to attack Frost's force with six 
tlnousund men. Captain Lyon summoned General Frost to surrender 
his force, " as hostile to the 'Government of the United States." Find- 
ing himself overpowered, Frost surrendered, and, having refused a 
release on the terms offered them, on the ground that theyhad already 
taken the oath of allegiance, and to repeat it would be to admit that 
tliey had been in rebellion, the whole force, consistmg of fifty officers 
and si.v hundred and thirty-nine privates, were marched as prisoners to 
the arsenal. On their way, a mob pressed upon the guard, who were 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI?'. 105 

mostly Germans, using the most opprobrious epithets, striking them, 
attacking them with stones, and finally firing at them. A few of the 
soldiers returned the fire, at first without injuring any one ; but the 
provocations being increased, the captain of one of the companies gave 
the order to fire, and twenty-five of the by-standers were killed or 
wounded, some of them women and children. The next day, a large 
body of the German Home Guard passing ixp Walnut Street, were 
hooted and fired upon, and one soldier was killed. The head of the 
column turned and fired among the crowd, killing six men and wound- 
ing several others. Several of the killed were members of the regi- 
ment. These events caused an intense excitement in St. Louis, as well 
as at the capital of the State, where the legislature, which was in 
session, inmiediately passed a bill creating a military fund, by seizing 
all the money in the State treasury, including the educational funds, 
making a forced loan from the banks of five hundi'cd thousand dollars, 
and issuing one million dollars in bonds, payable in one, two, and three 
years. The militia of the State, embracing every able-bodied man, 
were placed under the command of the Governor, and were required 
to take an oath to obey him alone. General Harney, who had been 
appointed commander of the Western Department, issued a proclama- 
tion the next day, declaring this bill a nullity. The General was, how- 
ever, soon after, induced by Sterling Price, then ifi command of the 
State (rebel) forces, to enter into a delusive agreement for the mainte- 
nance of peace in the State, On the 30th of May, General Harney was 
relieved of his command, and Captain Lyon, who for his efficiency on 
the 10th had been commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, 
appointed his successor. On the 12th of June, Governor Jackson 
issued a proclamation, violently denouncing the United States Govern- 
ment, and calh'ng for fifty thousand men to "repel invasion, and jDro- 
tect the lives, liberty, and property of the citizens of Missouri." On 
the 13th, General Lyon left St. Louis, on a steamer, with fifteen hun- 
dred men, for Jefferson City. Governor Jackson fled, burning the 
bridges behind him to obstruct pursuit. General Lyon took posses- 
sion of the capital and of the Government, and on the 17th issued a 
proclamation to the people of the State, assuring them of his intention 
to protect their liberties, persons, and property, to arrest and punish 
those who were traitors, and to uphold the United States Government 
in that State. Leaving Colonel Henry Boernstein in command, he 
departed for Booncville, in pursuit of Jackson. 

The troops in Illinois and Missouri had gradually increased in num- 
bers to about twenty thousand men, of whom, at this time, about eight 
thousand were stationed at Cairo, under the command of Brigadier- 
General B. M. Prentiss, and the remainder were at St. Louis and other 
points in Northern and Central Missouri. Of these troops, General 
Lyon took Colonel Blair's regiment (First Missouri Volunteers), two 
sections of Totten's battery (regulars), and a detaclnnent of pioneers, 
in all about fifteen hundred men, and the necessary camp equipage, 
provisions, &c., for a long march. The I'ebels, under Governor Jackson 
and General Price, were at Booncville, where they had organized 
resistance. General Lyon landed four miles below the town, and 



106 HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. 

openctl a cannonade i;pon the rebels, A^lio, under coTer of tlie wood, 
kept up a brisk fire upon tlie Federal troops. In order to draw them 
out, General Lyon ordered a hasty retreat. The ru.se succeeded The 
rebels ran out into a Avheat-field, when General Lyon halted, faced 
about, and poured in such a fire of grape and musketry, that they 
dropped their arms and fled in all directions. A large number of 
prisoner*^, besides arms, ammunition, &c., were taken. It does not 
appear that the rebels had any conmiander. Price, being sick, left 
before the arrival of the Federal troops, and Governor Jackson was 

not in the field. , , ,. , . -n • • i 

Colonel Boernstein issued a proclamation establishmg a rroyisional 
Government in Missouri, and called upon Union men to assist him. 
General Lyon, from his camp in Booneville, June 19th, also issued a 
proclamation for the people to return to their duty. 

The enemy now concentrated in South-western Missouri, xmder 
Governor Jackson and Generals Rains and Price, to the number of 
several thousands ; and on July 3d, at Brier Forks, seven miles from 
Carthai;e, they were met by Colonel Sigel with fifteen hundred men, 
who intmcdiately gave them battle. The first onset resulted in the 
State troops being driven back some distance, and the ofiicers ordered 
a retreat. The centre gave way, but, the order not being heard on the 
flanks, the advancing United States troops were in danger of being 
surrounded themselves, and fell back. They retreated slowly, keeping 
up the fight, and making fearful havoc with their artillery among the 
enemy's ranks. 

At the crossing of Dry Fork our lines were very near being broken, 
when, by the timely arrival of two hundred Union men, they crossed, 
with a loss of but five killed and two mortally wounded. The battle 
contiimed, the United States troops alternately fighting and retreating 
until dark, when they reacheil Carthage, having crossed Buck Branch 
and Spring River. On the way, the fighting was all done with the artil- 
lery. Colonel Sigel retreating as soon as the enemy got into ])Osition, 
and playing on his advancing ranks. The retreat of the Federal 
forces, which were outnumbered about three to one, was conducted 
in a style worthy of veteran troops, and with as much coolness as if 
on a parade-ground, instead of a field of battle. 

The loss of the Federal troops was thirteen killed and thirty-one 
wounded ; that of the Confederates was estimated at two hundred 
killed and wounded. Colonel Sigel retreated in the direction of Spiing- 
field, where he met re-enforcements under Lyon, who assumed command. 
Meanwhile, by the following order, General Fremont had been assigned 
to an extensive command, of which Missouri formed a part : — 

"War Depaktment, Adjutant-General's Office, 
" WASHIN6T0N, July 3d, 1861. 

" Tlie State of Illinois, and the States and Territories -west of the Mississippi River, 
and on this side of the Rocky Mountains, including New Mexico, will in future consti- 
tute a separate military command, to be known as the ' Western Department,' under 
the command of Major-General Fremont, of the United States Army. Head-quarters 
at St. Louis. By order. 

"L. Thomas, Adjutant- GeneraV* 



108 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIf. 

The operations in Maryland were, meantime, progressing. On the 
IGth of May, General Banks was appointed major-general of volun- 
teers, and ou the 10th of June assumed command at Annapolis, in 
place of General Butler, transferred to Fortress Monroe. The seces- 
Bionists continued busy in this department with various schemes of 
resistance, but did not escape the vigilance of the commanding officer, 
wlio, on the 27th of June, issued a proclamation announcing the arrest 
and confmemcnt in Fort McIIeury of George P. Kane, chief of police, 
and appouiiing Colonel Kenly provost-marshal. On the 1st of July, 
iu pursuance of the policy of Aveeding out treason in his district. Gen- 
eral Banks caused the members of the board of police to be arrested 
and confined in Fort McIIenry. The strength of the department at 
this time Vv\as about ten thousand men. On the 19th of July, Major- 
Genoral Dix was appomted to the Annapolis Department, thenceforth 
called that of Maryland, head-quarters Baltimore; and General Banks, 
transferred to the Valley of Virginia, vice Patterson, whose term of 
service expired July 27th. 

While the troops from the East had been pouring into Washington 
to defend the capital, and had gradually developed the advance move- 
ment into Virginia, the Pennsylvania troops were assembling at Cham- 
bersburg, to operate in the Valley of Virginia, near Harper's Ferry, 
and at the close of May numbered some twenty thousand men, under 
the command of General Patterson. In addition to these, there were 
between Washington and Harper's Ferry about six thousand troops, 
under Major-General Cadwalader. 

Much impatience manifested itself on the part of the public for Pat- 
terson to make a demonstration, which was by no means appeased by 
the excuse that it required time to perfect the necessary preparations. 
Finally, on June 17th, Colonel Thomas, in command of his first bri- 
gade, crossed the Potomac at Williarasport, but returned into Maryland 
on the succeeding day, and for two weeks longer Patterson remained 
inactive at Hagerstown. The enemy, under General J. E. Johnston, 
held Harper's Ferry, and the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Pailroad 
to Cumberland, until the 14th, and was also in force at the Point of 
Kocks on the Potomac. Influenced by rumors of the approach of Patter-, 
son, the rebels then burned the costly railroad-bridge at Harper's Ferry, 
and having destroyed whatever public property they could, retreated 
to Winchester and Leesburg. On the 29th they made another dash at 
the place, and inflicted additional damage. On the 1st of July orders 
were issued to cross the Potomac at two points under cover of the 
night, the main body directly under the command of General Patter- 
son, at a ford a mile and a half above Shepardstown, and about three 
miles from Sharpsburg; while five regiments, under the command of 
General Cadwalader, were to cross at the ford opposite Williamsport. 
The troops were to march Avithout knapsacks, taking five days' rations 
m their haversacks, and with forty rounds of cartridges. The baggage- 
wagons were to follow on as quickly as possible. 

. '-^'"^ enemy, in greatly inferior force, posted on a large bend of the 
river, opposite Williamsport, were encamped mainly in the vicinity of 
1 allmg Waters. By Cadwalader's advance in front, it was hoped to 



inSTOET OP THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 109 

occupy the attention of the enemy, while by the flank attack he would 
be cut oif in the rear and thus captured. The attempt to cross at the 
lower ford was, however, frustrated by unusual depth of water, and 
the original plan, having thus failed, it was ordered that the troops 
should cross at Williamsport. 

The crossing was safely accomplished on the 2d of July. The ad- 
vance pushed boldly into the stream, but the remaining regiments took 
the matter less impetuously. They marched leisurely into a field on 
the margin of the river, removed their boots, stockings, trowsers, and 
drawers, wound these articles around their necks, and thus, with the 
whole lower portion of their bodies nude, and their white muslin shirts 
flying in the wind, preceded by a full band in similar undress, they 
plunged into the stream and reached the opposite shore. Here they 
readjusted their dress, thus avoiding the wet garments and soaking 
shoes of their predecessors. Such acts were. of not unfrequent oo- 
currence in the early stages of 4he war on both sides, 

A small force of the enemy was encountered, which, after a sharp 
skirmish, retreated three miles to Ilainesville, and again fell back 
before the vigorous attack of the advancing column. The rebels were 
stated to be three thousand five himdred Virginians, under Colonel 
Jackson. The Union loss was three killed and fifteen wounded. 
The enemy left eight dead on the field, and it was reported there were 
sixty killed. 

On the 8th of July, General Patterson was established in Martins- 
burg, and had before him the enemy's force under General Johnston. 
That day Avas the one fixed for the advance of General McDowell 
upon Manassas; but as we have seen, in describing his operations, he 
was delayed, and had bis forces diminished also by sending re-enforce- 
ments to Patterson. The latter was also at this time joined by Colonel 
Stone's command, under General Sandford, of the New York militia, 
who left Washington July 7th with his staff", and a complete military 
equipment of howitzers, grape and canister, &c. 

On July 13th, General Patterson's column left Martinsburg for 
Winchester. At Bunker Ilill, on the 15th, his advance encountered 
an advance-guard of six hundred rebel cavalry, belonging to John- 
ston's command, who were speedily routed. On the same day John- 
ston fell back to Winchester. On the 1 8th he was five miles beyond 
Winchester, and near Strasburg, the terminus of the railroad leading 
to Manassas. After the fight at Bunker Hill, Patterson, most un- 
accountably, as it seemed, retrograded to Charleston, where he Avas on 
the 17th, the day he was telegraphed by General Scott to follow John- 
ston closely ; but Johnston was then beyond his reach, and on his way 
to re-enforce Beauregard at Manassas, which he reached by rail in 
time to turn the tide of battle at Bull Run. 

Patterson, in reply to the strictures on his remissness in not follow- 
ing up Johnston, in a private letter, dated Harper's Ferry, 22dof July, 
said: — 

" General Johnston retreated to "Winchester, where he had thrown up extensive in- 
trenchments, and had a large number of heavy guns. I could have turned his position 
and attacked him in the rear, but he had received large re-enforcemeats from Missia- 



110 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

sippi, Alabama, and Georgia, a total force of over thirty-five thousand rebel ti'oops, and 
five thousand Virginia militia. My force is less than twenty thousand men. Nineteen 
regiments, whose term of service was up, or would be within a week, all refused to 
stay an hour over their time but four, viz. : two Indiana regiments, Frank Jarrett's 
(the Eleventh Pennsylvania), and Owens's (tlie Twenty-fourth Pennsylvania). Five 
regiments have gone home. Two more go to-day, and three more to-morrow. To 
avoid being cut off with the remainder, I fell back and occupied this place." 

The excuse is utterly inadmissible. There is no evidence that such 
re-eiiforcemeuts as he alhi^es to ever reached Johnston ; but on the 
contrary, every thing went to show that the latter was only too 
anxious to get away from the valley. He also admits that he had his 
command unbroken by departures of three months' regiments at the 
very time he should have been pushing Johnston. The question of 
how long his troops had to serve, he had nothing to do with. Had he 
performed his allotted duty and obeyed the particular instructions 
given to him, his troops would have rendered invaluable services down 
to the hour of their discharge. As it was, they proved to be worse 
than useless. 

These events closed the operations of the army in the Valley of 
Virginia. The movements in the Department of the Ohio come next 
in order. 

On the 10th of May, by general order, the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois were constituted a Fourth Military Department, under the 
command of Major-General G. B. McCIellan, of the Ohio Volunteers, 
head-quarters Cincinnati. The army of this department was immO' 
diately organized and disposed for active service, and at the close of 
May the force in the department numbered over twenty thousand 
men, who were intended to operate against the rebels in Western 
Virginia. 

On the morning of the 2d of June a movement was made by the 
troops under General Morris, forming a part of the force of this de- 
partment, to dislodge the rebels under Colonel Porterfield, who held 
Philippi in Barbour County, Virginia, with fifteen hundred to two thou- 
sand troops. The command was divided into two divisions under Colo- 
nels Kelley and Lander, and the plan was to attack the place at four 
o'clock in the morning ; Colonel Kelley in the rear, and Colonel Lander 
in front. Storm and darkness, however, caused the combination to fxil. 
As Lander ai)proached Philippi a woman fired twice, and sent her little 
boy across the mountains to give Porterfield notice. Kelley missed his 
point, and instead of coming in on the Beverly road above the town to 
cut off the rebel retreat, did so below the town, and much behind time. 
Thus the oneniy were apprised of the movement, and were enabled to 
escape with slight loss, leaving their camp equipage and a number of 
Binall arms behind. While leading a charge. Colonel Kelley received 
a shot aiui fell. He was carried to the rear, and received prompt atten- 
tion. The enemy retired to Leedsville, two miles distant, where they 
wore agim vigorously attacked and repulsed. In acknowledgment of 
Ins bravury on this occasion, Colonel Kelley was appointed brigadier- 
general of the Western Virginia troops. 

The rebels, falling back upon Beverly, received large re-enforcementa, 



HLSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 



Ill 



and again advanced towards Pbilippi, taking post under General Gar- 
nett, at Laurel Hill. 

On the ]]th of June, Colonel Wallace, -with the Eleventh Indiana 
Zouaves, left Cumberland, Maryland, for llomney, Hampshire County, 
Virginia, twenty miles distant, where were stationed i\vii hundred seces- 
sion troops. After a sharp conflict he completely routed them, seized 
a quantity of stores and ammunition, and returned to Cumberland. The 
rebels retreated towards Winchester. 

The rebels were now concentrated in considerable numbers in West- 
ern Virginia. The Alleghany Mountains, rimning in a south-westerly 
course i'rom Cumberland to Covington, Viri^inia, present a wall through 
which the rebel forces could escape into Eastern Virginia only at the 
Cheat Mountain Pass. This was held, at the close of June, by a con- 
siderable force under General Jackson. From Cheat Mountain the 
road proceeds northerly, and parallel to the mountain range, through 
Iluttonville to Rich Mountain, which was held by the rebel Colonel 
Pegram with three thousand men and some five or six guns, and was 
strongly intrenched. Yrom Rich Mountain the road passes through 
Beverly to Laurel ITiU, held by Brigadier-General Garnett. Thus 
the onemy held three strong positions, and had, in all, probably fourteen 
thousand men. 

On the Cth of July, General Morris received orders to move his 
whole force to within a mile of the enemy's fortifications at Laurel 
Hill. On the 10th sharp skirmishes took place between his advance, 
composed of the Ninth Indiana, Milroy, and the Fourteenth Ohio, Steed- 
man, and some Georgia troops belonging to Garnett's force. The ene- 
my's cavalry attacked, and were repulsed w^ith a few rounds of shell, 
and General Morris so disposed liis troops as to guard every outlet 
from Laurel Hill, except that which leads to Beverly. In the mean 
time the column under McClellan pursued a route more to the west, and 
arrived near Rich Mountain on the 10th of July. On the 11th Briga- 
dier-General Rosecrans,* who had been promoted from the colonelcy 
of the Twenty-third Ohio, advanced with his column, composed of the 
Eighth, Tenth, and Tliirtecnth Indiana, and Nineteenth Ohio, and by a 
forced march of eight miles through the mountain reached the turnpike, 
three miles in the rear of the enemy at Rich Mountain, defeated his 
advance-guard, and captured two guns. General McClellan, advancing 
in front, completed the defeat of the enjmy, who lost all his guns, 
wagons, &c. Rosecrans immediately pushed on to Beverly, following 



* William S. Rosecrans was born In Ohio in 
1B19, grftdualcd at West Point in 1842 as seooml 
lieutenant of cnfjinecrs, was suiting assistant profes- 
Bor of enjfinccTS at West I'oiiit until 1^44, and of 
Ti.'itura] and experimental i>hiloso]>l)y to 1S47. He 
received a commission as first lieutenant In March, 
1S53, andrelired to civil lif.- in i S.>1. On the Ijrealc- 
' Ineoutof therchellion he waBnindebrisadier-tren- 
eral in the regular army anil ajipointed to a com- 
mand under General MeClellan. lie served with 
distinction in Western Virginia, ami succeeded Mc- 
Clellan in the chief command there, of which he 
was relieved by General Fremont in 1S62. Ho 
succeeded General I'ope in command of a corps In 
tile army under General Grant, June, lb02, a few 



months later assumed command of the Army of 
the Mississippi, and on Oetober3d and 4th IntlJcted 
a signal defeat on Van Dorn and Price at C/orinth. 
In November of the same year he took charge of 
the Department of the Cuinbeiland, and at the close 
of the year gained the hard-fought battle of Mur- 
freesboro', over liiagg. In the succeeding summer 
he drove Bragg into Nortlicrn Georgia and oc- 
cupied Chattanooga: but Jiaving been routed by 
Bragg at Chickamauga, September 20, he was re- 
lieved from his cotnmand. In the early part of 
lSfi4 ho was assigned to the Department of Mis- 
souri, which he commanded until the close of the 
year, without however, participating actively in 
military operations. 



112 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

the flvirii^ enemy. The loss on the Union side was twenty killed and 
forty "wo'iuided. On the 12th Colonel Pegram, with six hundred rebel 
soldiers, surrendered unconditionally to General McClellan. 

While these events were taking place, General Garnett at Laurel Hill, 
hearing of the approach of McClellan to Beverly, left Laurel Hill in 
great haste for Cheat ^lountain Pass, in hopes to pass Beverly before 
McClellan should reach it. On the morning of the 12th, the evacuation 
was discovered, and the Ninth Indiana of Morris's division immediately 
advanced in pursuit. The rebels, when within three miles of Beverly, 
met fugitives from Rich Mountain, and returned toward Laurel Hill, 
whence INIorris's force was approaching, thus putting thera between two 
fires. They therefore took the road to the right, which goes through 
Leedsville to the Cheat River. General Morris, who had been in front 
of Laurel Ilill, pursued a mile or two beyond Leedsville, and then, 11 
o'clock, r. M., halted until 3 o'clock, A. M., when the pursuit was re- 
sumed, amid incessant rain. The enemy, meantime, struck the Cheat 
River, and pursued the mountain road down the valley. Our advance, 
composed of the Fourteenth Oliio, and the Seventh and Ninth Indiana 
regiments, about two tliousand men, pushed on, guided through the 
mountain gullies by the tents, camp-furniture, provisions, and knapsacks 
thrown from the wagons of the rebels to facilitate their flight. Our 
troops foriled Cheat River four times, and finally, about one o'clock, 
came up with the enemy's rear-guard. The Fourteenth Ohio advanced 
rapidly to the ford in which the enemy's wagons were standing, when, 
suddenly, the rebels, about four thousand strong, opened a furious fire 
on them with small arms and two rifled cannon from the bluff on the 
opposite side of the river, about two hundi'ed yards distant, where 
they had been concealed. 

The firing was too high, cutting the trees above the heads of the 
men. The Fourteenth returned it with spirit. Meanwhile, two pieces 
of the Federal artillery came up and opened on the rebels. The Ninth 
Indiana then advanced to support the Fourteenth Ohio's left, while the 
Seventh Indiana crossed the river between the two fires, and came iu 
on the enemy's right flank. The latter soon fled in great disorder, 
leaving their finest piece of artillery. 

On the 13th of July, at the next ford (Carricksford), a quarter of a 
mile further on. General Garnett attempted to rally his forces, when 
the Seventh Indiana came «p in hot pursuit, and another brisk engage- 
ment ensued. General Garnett was finally shot dead, when his army 
fled in confusion towards St. George, to escape into Northern Virginia. 

The Seventh Indiana regiment pursued them a mile or two, but as 
the men were much exhausted with their forced march of twenty 
miles, with but little rest from the march of the previous day, General 
Morris refused to let them })ursue further. Among the fruits of the 
victory was the capture of the rebel camp at Laurel Hill, with a large 
amo>mt of tents, camp equipage, baggage-wagons, a field camp-chest, 
6U])pos(.(I to contain all their money, two regimental flags, and a large 
nunilHT of rebel prisoners. The losses in these four engagements were 
as follows : 





liAJ. GEIL GEORGE B-li?CIELLAN 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOl^. 



113 





CONTEDERATK. 


Killed. 


■Wounded. 


Prisoners. 


25 


40 


15 


60 


100 


110 


— 




600 


60 


140 


300 


135 


280 


1,025 



TTNION. 

Killed. Wounded. 

Laurel Hill 4 7 

Rich Mountain 20 40 

Beverly — — • 

St. George 13 40 

Total 37 87 



These energetic and able movements cleared Western Virginia of 
Confederate forces, and exposed Johnston, who was then in front of 
Patterson. They closed General McClellan's career in the Department 
of the Ohio, within a few days of the disastrous events which dis- 
organized the Army of the Potomac, and the prestige which he thus 
acquired seeming to indicate his ability to reorganize and consolidate 
the Army of the North, he was transferred to the command of the Army 
of the Potomac. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Effect of the Battle of Bull Run. — Confederate Congress. — Davis's Message. — Pri- 
vateering. — Aflairs in Missouri. — Commissioners to Europe. — Southern Armies and 
Finances. 



We have now brought our history to the close of its first period, 
when the impatience of the people, and tlie imperfect preparation and 
training of the troops, hitherto unskilled in the art of war, led to the 
disastrous battle of Bull Run. From the humiliation which followed 
that defeat, the North emerged with a purer patriotism, a courage and 
zeal which rose above defeat, and a determination to put forth all her 
energies to crush out the rebellion. The work of enlistment went on 
with great rapidity, and before the Confederate forces had recovered 
from the terrible havoc made in their ranks, the danger which for a 
few days after the battle had threatened the Federal capital was past, 
and new regiments were stretching their lines of defence in every di- 
rection around it. At the South the effect was different; it seemed to 
sustain the views there held, that the Northern troops could not with- 
stand the shock of arms when opposed to tlie South. This impres- 
sion, it has been alleged, was of great detrunent to the Southern cause, 
since it prevented that persevering and energetic preparation which 
was indis])eusable even to a defensive policy, and which the North un- 
dertook with vigorous determination and patient perseverance. 

The Confederate Congress, which had adjourned May 20th, at Mont- 
gomery, to meet in Richmond, assembled July 20th, in the haU of 
the House of Delegates. The names of the executive, cabinet, and 
members of Congress of all the States except Tennessee, Texas, and 
Arkansas, are embraced in the following list : 
8 



114 



HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



President 

Yice-rresident . 



THE EXECUTIVE. 

Jeiferson Davis, of Mississippi.* 

Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia.) 



THK CABINET. 

Secretary of State Robert Toombs, of Georgia^ 

Secretary of the Treasury C. G. IMeniminger, ot ^Sonth Carolma. 

Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker, of Alabania. 

Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory, ol Florida. 

Postmaster-General J- H. Reagan, of Texas. 

Attorney-General ' J"dah P. Benjatiun, ot Louisiana. 

MEMBERS OF OONGUESS. 

Vir,qin in. —James A. Seddon, Wm. Ballard Preston, R. M. T. Hun- 
ter, John Tyler, Wm. H. Maciarland, Roger A. Pryor, Thomas S. Bo- 
cockc, Wm. S. Rives, Robert E. Scott, James M. Mason, J. W. Brock- 
enbrough, Chas. W. Russell, Robert Johnson, Walter R. Staples, 
AValter Preston. 

AWt/i Carolina.— Geo. Davis, W. W. Avery, W. N". II. Smith, 
Thomas Ruthn, T. D. McDowell, A. W. Venable, J. M. Morehcad, R. 
C. Purvear, Burton Craige, E. A. Davidson. 

Alabama.— U. W. Walker, R. H. Smith, J. L. M. Curry, W. P. 
Chilton, S. F. Hale, Colin J, McRae, John Gill Shorter, David P. Lewis, 
Thomas Fearn. 

Florida. — Jackson Morton, J. P. Anderson, J. Powers. 



•Joffersoii Bnvis wns born Juno 8d, ISOS, in 
Christian County, ICentucky, but removed with 
his family in ctiildliood to Mississippi. He en- 
tered Traiisvlvaniii Univeisity, Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, in 1822 or lS2;i, and in 1824 U-i't tlie Uni- 
versity to enter the Military Academy at West 
Point, where he frraduated in 1S'2S. He remained 
in the army sever, years, was promoted to a 
llrst-lieatenancy, served in the Black Hawk 
■war, and in IS^to resigned his commission and 
retired to a plantation in Mississippi. In 1S44 
he was one of the Democratic Presidential elec- 
tors. In 1S40 he was elected a Representative 
Jn Conpress, and in July, lS4fi, resigned his seat, 
and took command of the First Kegiment of 
Mississippi Volunteers in the Mexican war, dis- 
tinpuished himself at Monterey and at Buena 
Vlsla, and in the latter battle was severely 
■wounded. Ho was appointed brifradier-i;eneral 
•f volunteers by President Polk, but declined on 
State Ki:;ht8 grounds. He was elected to the 
United States Senate in January, 1S4S, to fill an 
unexpired time, and in IS.* re-elected. He 
reslcned In IS,*)!, to run as candidate for Governor 
of Mississippi, but was defeated by Henry S. 
Foote, the Union candidate. In iS53 ho was 
called into President Pierce's cabinet as Secre- 
tary of War, and in 1S5T returned atrain to the 
Senate. He resigned his scat in the Senate on 
the 2l9lof January. ISCl, on the occasion of tho 
secession of Mississippi, and in February was 
ejected provisii.mil President of the Confederate 
bUtes. In the sncceedins November he was 
•lected first permanent President under the rec- 
«l«r constitution, and retained that oDice until 
•ptured at Irwinsville, Oeorpia, in Mav, 1SG5, 
and wiiveyua to Fortress Monroe, On Miiy 26th, 



he was indicted for treason by the grand jury of 
the District of Columbia. 

t Alexander H. Stephens was born in Georgia 
on the 11th of February, 1812. Assisted Dy 
friends, he entered the University of Georgia in 
1828, and in 1S.32 graduated ot the he.nd of hia 
class. In 1S.34 ho commenced the study of tho 
law, and soon entered upon a lucrative practice. 
From 1837 to 1840 he was a member of the Geor- 
gia Legislature. In 1842 he was electc<l to tho 
State Senate, and in 1^3 was elected to Con- 
gress as a Whig, retaining his - seat until 
1859. In 1854 he was Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Territories, and etteetcd tlio pas- 
sage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill through tlio 
House, lie was at first a strenuous ol)l>onent of 
secession, but nevertheless was elected provisional 
Vice-President of the Confederate States in Feb- 
ruary, 1S(>1, and in November permanent Vice- 
President. In May, 1865, he was arrested in 
Georgia, and imprisoned in Fort Warren, Boston 
harbor. 

X Robert Toombs was born in 'Washington, 
Wilkes County, Georgia, July 2d, ISIO, graduated 
at Union College, Schenectady, New York, In 
1S28, and studied'law at the University of Vir- 
ginia. In ls.'!6 ho served as captain of volunteers 
under General Scott, in the Creek war. He was 
elected to the State Legislature in 183", to Con- 
gress in 1845, to the United States Senate in 1853, 
and re-elected in 1859. He withdrew from the 
Senate January 23d, 18G1, on the secession of 
Georgia, was appointed Secretary of State of the 
Confederate States, February 21st, and in July 
resigned, and was soon after appointed a briga- 
dier-general in tho Confederat6 army. In tills 
capacity ho never rose.ibovo mediocrity. 



HISTOBT OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 115 

Georgia. — Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Pres't, Francis S. Bar- 
tow, Martin J. Crawford, Eugenius A. Nisbett, Benjamin H. Hill, A. 
B. Wright, Thomas R. R. Cobb, Augustus H. Keenan, Alex. H. 
Stef)hens. 

Louisiana. — John Perkins, Jr., A. Declouet, Charles M. Conrad, D. 
F. Kenner, Edward Sparrow, Henry Marshall. 

Mississi2^2^i. — Willie P. Harris, Walker Brooke, W. S. Wilson, A. 
M. Clayton, W. S. Barry, James T. Harrison, J. A. P. Campbell. 

So^ith Carolina. — R. B. Rhett, Sr., R. W. Barnwell, L. M. Keitt, 
James Chesnut, Jr., C. G. Memminger, W. Porcher Miles, Thomas J. 
Withers, W. W. Boyce. 

Mr. Davis sent in a message, in which he congratulated the Con- 
gress on the accession of new members from North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, and Arkansas. He criticised with great severity the message 
of Piesidcnt Lincoln recently communicated to Congress, and charged 
that the acts of the Federal authorities implied a recognition of the 
Confederate Government ; also that the war was waged with a savage 
ferocity unknown in modern civilization ; that grain crops and private 
houses, deserted by peaceable citizens flying from the outrages of a bru- 
tal soldiery, were consumed by the torch ; and that property respected 
by British and Hessians in 1781, was pillaged and destroyed by people 
pretending to be fellow-citizens. " Mankind," he said, " will shudder 
at the tales of outrages committed on defenceless families by soldiers 
of the United States ;" and he complained that special war was made 
upon the sicik women and children by seeking to deprive them of med- 
icines. He referred to the Border States and their sympathies with 
the South ; to the suspension of the habeas corpus by the Federal ex- 
ecutive, and other measures. 

""We may woU rejoice," said he, "that we have forever severed our connection vi'ith 
a Government that thus tramples on all principles of constitutional liberty, and with a 
people in whose presence such avowals could be hazarded." 

He alluded to the additional force required; to the abundance of the 
crops ; and stated that fifty miliions had been subscribed in cotton. 

The proceedings of the Congress were mostly conducted, in secret 
session, and among its first acts was the ratification of the convention 
of Paris in 1856 in respect to maritime law. The interpolations of 
the Paris convention into maritime law had been a subject of discus- 
sion between the foreign powers and Mr. Pierce's cabinet. The prop- 
osition had been made that enemies' goods should be respected in neu- 
tral ships, and that neutral ships and goods should be free from the 
"belligerent right of search. To this was added the abolition of pri- 
vateering in time of war. Mr. Marcy, then Secretary of State, replied 
that the United States Government would accept the proposition in 
all respects except in relation to privateers. He stated that it was not 
the policy of the United States to maintain large standing armies or 
navies, which were opposed to the genius of our institutions ; that the 
United States depended in time of war upon militia for protection ; 
that merchant vessels or privateers were our "militia of the seas," and 
■we could not be expected to deprive ourselves of that arm. Never- 



IIG HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

thelcss, if the governments would consent that all private property 
should be exeiupt from capture in time of war, he would consent to abolish 
privateering. W lien men-of-war are empowered to capture and destroy 
merchant vessels, they only do what privateers are commissioned for, and 
there was no justice in doing away with the latter, imless the former 
were restricted to public ships in their operations. To this proposition 
Great Britain and France refused their assent, and the matter re- 
mained in abeyance. Soon after Mr. Seward entered upon his duties 
as Secretary of State, he reiicAved the proposition, but it was again re- 
jected, lie then proposed to accede to the principles laid down by the 
Paris convention, including privateering. Earl Russell signified his 
willingness to sign tlie convention when the Emperor of the French 
had consented to it ; but on the 29th of July, he stated to Mr. Adams, 
the American minister, that "on the part of Great Britain the en- 
gagement would be ])rospective, and wovild not invalidate any thing al- 
ready done." An explanation of this statement being sought, he gave 
it in the form of a declaration, that her majesty did not intend there- 
by to undertake any engagement which should have a bearing, direct 
or indirect, on the internal differences now prevailing in the United 
States. As this left Southern privateering untouched, Mr. Seward re- 
fused to assent to the convention. ' 

In Blissouri, Governor Jackson demanded that no United States 
troops should be quartered in or marched through the State ; but 
General Lyon asserted the right of the Government to send troops 
into any part of the State, and his forces continued to gather strength. 
On the 13th of June, Jackson fled from the capital, and gathered 
what secession force he could in the south-west part of the State. The 
State convention reassembled at the capital on the 25th of July, and 
on the ;30th, by a vote of fifty-six to twenty-five, passed a resolution 
vacating the State oflices, and aj^pointed a new election to be held in 
November. Hamilton R. Gamble was appointed Provisional Gov- 
ernor. He issued a proclamation enjoining all citizens to enroll them- 
selves for the defence of the State, and ordering Confederate troops 
to quit it. 

The Confederate Congress now passed a law to admit Missouri into 
the Confederacy, on condition that she should duly ratify the constitu- 
tion of the Southern Confederacy through her legally constituted 
authority, which authority was declared to be the government of Gov- 
■crnor Jackson, who was deposedby the State convention. Mr. Davis 
was also authorized to muster into the Confederate service, in Mis- 
souri, such troops as should volunteer to serve in the Southern army. 
The bill likewise empowered the President of the Confederate States, 
at his discretion, at any time prior to the admission of Missouri as a 
member of theConfederacy, to perfect and proclaim an alliance, offen- 
sive and defensive, with the said government, limited to the period of 
the existmg war between the Confederacy and the United States; the 
said treaty or alliance to be in force from the date thereof, and until 
the same should be disaflirmed or rejected by the Congress. 

p:arly in the year there had been appointed two Commissioners to 
kurope, Mr. Rest and Mr. Yancey, to negotiate a recognition of the 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^. 117 

Southern Confederacy, and also, if practicable, treaties' oi commerce. 
As tliese persons did not meet with the desired success, the Confed- 
erate Congress empowered the President to appoint two more, M'ith 
full powers. The arrest at a subsequent period of these agents upon the 
Mi,di seas gave rise to very serious complications. 

The Confederate Congress now passed another act of great impor- 
tance, ordering all citizens of the United States to depart the country 
■within forty days. The essential part of it was as follows : 

" Sec. 3. Immediately after the passage of this act, the President of the Confederate 
States shall, by proclamation, require all citizens of the United States, being males of 
fourteen years and upward, within the Confederate States, and adhering to the Govern- 
ment of the United States, to depart from the Confederate States, within forty hours 
from the date of such proclamation; and such persons remaining within the Confeder- 
ate States after that time shall become liable to be treated as alien enemies." 

This law fell with particular hardship upon many Northerners, and 
such of them as had ventured into the Confederate States to secure 
property were arrested. It was of the same nature as the alien and 
sedition law enacted by the Adams Administration in 1798, which had 
excited the ire of the State-rights men of that time, and it invested 
the executive with discretionary power to order aliens whom he might 
deem dangerous out of the country. With the same scope and intent 
as this act was the " Sequestration Act," passed August 30th, of which 
the title was as follows : " A Bill to he entitled an Act for the seques- 
tration of the estate^ property, and effects of alien enemies, and for 
indemnity of citizens of the Confederate States, and persons aiding 
the same in the existing tear tcith the United States^ 

The bill recited in its preamble the departure of the Government 
and the people of the United States from the usages of civilized v.ar- 
fare, in confiscating and destroying the property of the people of the 
Confederate States, of all kinds, whether used for military purposes 
or not ; and the necessity of retaliation to restrain the wanton excesses 
of the enemy, and proceeded as follows : 

" Be it enacted by the Congress of the Confederate States, that all lands, goods, 
rights, and credits within these Confederate States, owned by any alien enemy since 
the 21st day of May, 1861, be sequestrated by the Confederate States of America, 
and shall be held for the full indemnity of any citizen and a resident of tiiese Con- 
federate States, or other person aiding said Confederate States in the prosecution of 
the present war, and for which he may suffer any loss or injury under the act of the 
United States to which this act is retaliatory, authorizing the seizure or confiscation of 
the property of citizens or residents of the Confederate States, and the same shall be 
seized and disposed of as provided for in this act." 

This law was meant to indemnify such persons as suffered through 
the confiscations made by the United States under the law of August 
6th. 

The military legislation was actively pushed. The Secretary of 
"War had reported that the number of troops raised amounted to 
ninety-four regiments and thirty-four battalions, with some additional 
cavalry troops, and he advised the further raising of the number to 
three hundred regiments. The Southern forces consisted of two dis- 
tinct armies — the provisional and the regular Confederate armies. 



lis HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

The provisionals were enlisted for tlie space of twelve months, to go 
wherever oraered. Most of the forces belonged to this class, which 
was ixenerally made up of volunteer State militia. Their uniform varied 
like that of the Northern State militia, and their pay was eleven dollars 
per month. The sei-vices of all volunteers who offered themselves 
were accepted, if they passed inspection. The regulars were enlisted 
for three years. These were composed of the lowest class of ihe white 
population, gathered up from the levees of New Orleans, Mobile, and 
other seaports. Placards, announcing large bounties in advance, were 
extensively circulated in the different cities throughout the whole 
Southern coimtry, and recruiting offices were established in Mobile, 
Montgomery, New Orleans, and other towns in the South-west. Their 
pay was only seven dollars per month. 

Tlie number of men raised was very large for the population. This 
was the more practicable because, the blacks being employed in all 
domestic labor, tlie whites were left free to enlist, and the excitement 
was so great that almost all the able-bodied white population was 
drawn off to the army in the Border States. The projected increase 
ve(iuired a proportionately large number of generals, Mr. Toombs 
resigned as Secretary of State, and received the appointment of briga- 
dier-general, retaining his seat in the Congress. This was permitted 
by the constitution, which allowed members to hold appointments 
from the Confederate Government. In this the provisional constitu- 
tion differed from the old United States Constitution, which forbids 
members to hold offices of emolument. From the month of September, 
1801, tlie favorable aspect of affairs in the Confederate States began 
to decline. Their currency rapidly depreciated, and it became difficult 
to supply their soldiers with the necessary equipments and rations. 
Extrnordinary exertions were made, and, in many instances, as re- 
markable sacrifices, to furnish what Avas needed ; but under the dis- 
comforts which were the lot of the private soldier, volunteers were 
not readily procured, and the Confederate leaders began to talk of 
drafting early in the autumn. The army in the field did not at any 
time before January, 1862, exceed two hunded and ninety thousand 
men. 

The Confederate Senate confinned General Beauregard full general, 
the highest grade in the Confederate service, with commission dating 
from July 21st, 1861, the date of the Bull Run victory. Brigadier- 
General Robert E. Lee, formerly of the United States army, was 
about the same time commissioned a general, and B. F. Cheatham, of 
Nashville, and Felix R. ZoUicoffer, of Nashville, formerly member of 
Congress, brigadier-generals in the Confederate army. 

The finances of the Confederate Congress were by no means in a 
flourishing condition. The seceding States had, for many years past, 
exjiorted by for the greater part of their agricultural products, their 
exports of cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco amounting, annually, on an 
averngeof the five years ending June 30th, 1860, to about $213,000,000, 
out of a total export from the United States of about §400,000,000. 
The greater part of this amount Avas expended either in the Northern 
cities, for manufactured goods, or iu travel at the North or in Europe. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 119 

The goods bougut at the Xortli were usually purchased on a year's 
credit, so that the pi'oceeds of the produce exported were anticipated. 
The blockade, by preventing the shipment of the cotton, rice, sugar, 
&c., rendered these products almost vabieless, and speedily induced a 
financial panic. The banks of the seceded States held, on the 1st of 
January, 1861, $25,821,993 in specie, and had an outstanding circula- 
tion of $55,223,960. This amount of specie was considerably increased 
during the next five montlis by their drawing whatever balances stood 
to their credit from the Xew York banks, and by a passage of an act 
of the Confederate Congress, May 21st, 1861, prohibiting all debtors 
owing money to Xorthern creditors from paying them, and requiring 
the payment of the amount into the Coniiederate treasury either iu 
specie or treasury notes, for which they were to receive a certificate 
of the payment, bearing interest, and redeemable at the close of the 
war. The payment of the interest on the bonds of the several States 
was also ordered to be made only in the Confederate States, and the 
strictest scrutiny was instituted to prevent the payment of such in- 
terest to any person or the agent of any person who was not a citizen 
of the Southern Confederacy, or if an'alien, at least a well-wisher to 
that Confederacy. The banks of the seceding States held a convention 
at Atlanta, Georgia, on the 3d of June, 1861, at which they resolved to 
issue their notes to the Confederate Government on the deposit of its 
eight per cent, twenty-year bonds, of which the issue of ^100,000,000 
had been authorized, and recommended the taking of Confederate 
treasury notes by railroad companies, tax collectors, &c. The banks 
had been authorized to suspend specie payments, by the several States, 
iu the w inter previous, and the treasury notes, which were payable six 
months after the ratification of a treaty of j)eace with the United 
States, as well as the bank notes, soon began to depreciate seriously. 
In August, gold and silver were at fifteen per cent, premium, and 
before January 1st, 1862, two paper dollars would only buy one iu 
specie, while the tendency of the currency was still downward. la 
some of the States the Confederate scrip stood very far below the 
bank notes, and was regarded as almost valueless; but the stringent 
laws passed by the Confederate Government, punishing the refusal to 
receive it with imprisonment, and if persisted in, with death, led to its 
general reception, but occasioned an enormous inflation of the prices 
of every article of merchandise. Boots, shoes, clothing of all kinds, 
thread, needles, cotton and woollen goods, tea, cofi"ee, sugar, molasses, 
salt, tfcc, were held at from ten to fifty times their ordinary value. 

The Government had formed several plans of finance ; the first by 
taxation. The Secretary of the Treasury issued the following circular 
to the States' ofiicers': 

"Confederate States op America, Treasury Department, 
"Richmond, June 26th, ISGl. 
"Hon. E. W. Cave, Treasurer of State of Texas, Austin, Texas: 

"Sir: I have as yet been unable to obtain from your State the information required 
by Congress, with a view to its legislation at the eusuLng session. Permit me to sohcit 
any information in your possession upon the following points as to your State : 
'' 1. The assessed value of real estate, and whether assessed at the market value. 



120 mSTOEY OF TIIE GEE AT EEBELLIOS". 

" 2. The samo information as to personal estate, and wliat general items constitute 
the personal estate. 

" ?,. The amount of money at interest. 

"4. Tho amoimt of banking and railroad and other stock. 

"5. Tho number of slaves, and tlie value per head. 

" 6. Tlie amount and rate of tho last tax in your State. 

" 7. The population. „ 

" Very respectfully, " C. G. Memminger, 

" Secretary of the Treasury." 

A -war tax ^vas then levied upon real estate, including all lands and 
estates therein, with ferries, bridges, and mines ; slaves of all ages ; 
mert-handise of all kinds for sale, except agricultural products of the 
country; bank stock, except such as may be retained by the banks ; 
railroad and other stock ; money at interest, including bills, and all 
notes and securities bearing interest, except Confeder.ate bonds ; cash 
on hand or deposit, in bank or elsewhere; cattle, horses, mules, raised 
or held for sale; gold watches; gold and silver plate, pianos, and 
pleasure carriages. 

The plan of a produce loan was projected, and met with some 
sncccps. The mode seemed complicated, but was, in fact, simply a 
loan of money to the Government. It was called a produce loan, 
because the sales of produce form the only means of the planter. 
When he sent his produce to his factor for sale, he sent an order with 
it to pay over to the Government, in exchange for its bonds, bearing 
eight per cent, interest in specie, a certain portion of it, such as he 
might deem expedient. The difficulty of selling the crop cramped 
both parties, the Government as well as the planters, and produced 
great distress. The treasury notes of the Government that had become 
the general currency were greatly depreciated, although receivable for 
the Avar taxes. They were also fundable in eight per cent, bonds. 

There was also paper money issued, not only by the Confederate 
Government, but by the States, cities, and individuals. The merchants 
and otliers, e.arly foreseeing the difficulties, sold their goods for coin, 
and hoarded it. Hence the whole metallic currency speedily disap- 
peared. Its price, therefore, rose in the double ratio of the Hood of 
pajjcr money and the disappearance of gold. The currency was 
Pjieedily ruined, and the most frightful evils followed 'in its train. 
Ihe supplies of produce and food were large because the crops were 
fair, and a much greater breadth of land than usual was put into 
crops. The difficulties suffered by the South' in this emergency were 
very similar to those encountered by the colonies in the Revolut ionary 
war, and also by the United States in 1812, from a deficiency of home 
manufactures. Tlie great distress of the Northern States from 1809 
to 1814 had been productive of great good, however, since it called 
into Ix'iug manufactures, which took root and subsequently flourished, 
but Avhicli miglit not, perhaps, in many years have been undertaken, 
ha.l_ the capital of the country continued peacefully employed in 
agriculture and in commerce. The South had hitherto employed all 
Its capital m the production of tobacco, sugar, and raw materials. 
ihc blockade compelled attention to other pursuits, and the Slave 
btatcs began to develop a manufacturing industry. The production 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 121 

of cotton, however, has probably been but momentarily checked, 
even if the dream which has occupied the English imagination for 
sixty years, of raising cotton in India, should prove true, since the 
■wants of the civilized world in that particular far outrun the capacity 
of the South to supply. The development of manufactures in the 
Southern States will serve to keep at home an immense capital, to 
reproduce itself through the labor of that portion of the white race 
which has hitherto not added much to the Southern wealth. 



CHAPTER X. 

ITeeting of Congress. — President's Message. — Naval and Military Affairs. — Estimates 
for Year. — Senators Expelled. — Acts passed. — Confiscation. — Operations of the 
Treasury. — The Different Loans authorized. — Difficulties of the Government. — 
Habeas Corpus. — The Press. — Newspapers Suppressed. 

The Thirty-seventh Federal Congress assembled at Washington in 
extra session, July 4th, pursuant to the call of the President. There 
were present forty-three senators at the opening of the session ; of 
whom nine represented Border States : Delaware, Messrs. Bayard and 
Saiilsbury; Kentucky, Messrs. Breckinridge and Powell; Maryland, 
Messrs. Kennedy and Pearce; Missouri, Messrs. Polk and Johnson ; 
Tennessee, Mr, Johnson. 

The senators from Kansas also appeared: Mr. Pomeroy, for the long 
term, and Lane, for the short term ; from California, Mr, McDougall ; 
and from Illinois, Mr. Browning, in place of Senator Douglas, deceased. 
In the course of the session appeared also Messrs. W. S. Willey and 
J. S. Carlile, from the loyal legislature of Virginia, and were admitted 
to seats as senators. 

In the House of Representatives, there were present one hundred 
and fifty-nine members, including five Avho were elected from Western 
Virginia, and were admitted as members. The clerk of the House 
called the roll for all the States, including the Southern seceded States, 
but of course from them none were present. Mr. G. A. Grow, of 
Pennsylvania, was elected speaker, and Hon. Emerson Etheridge, late 
member from Tennessee, was elected clerk. The message of the 
President was brief, and confined mostly to the public exigency for 
the consideration of which Congress was assembled. The President 
restated the position of aifairs on his accession to the Government, the 
functions of which had been suspended in six States, Mhere a new 
government had been organized, which was seeking foreign recogni- 
tion. It was incumbent upon the new Administration to prevent a 
dissolution. The inaugural address had indicated the policy to be 
pursued. The proceedings relating to Fort Sumter Avere alluded to, 
and the desire of the Government to maintain possession of it. The 
ejection of the United States troops left no recourse but to call out the 
war power of the Government. He thought that he had done nothing 



122 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

whidi it was beyond the power of Congress to sanction ; and he an- 
ticii>ated a full endorsement of his acts. He then asked for four hun- 
dred thousand nicu, and four hundred raiUion dollars m money, to 
*'make the contest a short and decisive one." The message also 
argued against the light of a State to secede, and stated what was to 
be the course of the Government towards the Southern States after 
the rebellion shall have been suppressed. 

The message met Avith approbation from the loyal citizens of the 
Union, who saw in it evidence of the determination of the President 
to take care, as his oath had bound him to do, "that the laws were 
faithfully executed," and that the Republic suffered no detriment from 
any hesitation or half-measures on his part. The exigencies of his 
position were without a precedent in the history of the country, and 
while he had called Congress together for an extra session at as early 
a date as it could be convened, owing to the fact that in some of the 
States the election of members of Congress did not take place till 
June, he had in the mean time been compelled to take upon himself 
great responsibilities, which his message, as well as his own character 
lor integrity, demonstrated that he had used wisely and well. The 
people felt that his acts, committed under such necessity, should be 
cordially sanctioned by Congress, wherever there was any doubt as to 
their validity, which only existed in regard to the enrolling of volim- 
teers for the Avar, since the militia act of 1795 fully authorized his 
course m calling out the militia. 

The Secretary of War in his report recountea the seizures of pub- 
lic property that had taken place on the part of the Confederates pre- 
vious to the inauguration of Mr. Lincohi, and stated the "esults of 
the proclamation calling for troops, as follows : 

Regulars and volunteers for three months, and for the war 235,000' 

Fifiy-Iive regiments of volunteers for the war, accepted 60,000 

Now regular regiments 25,000 

TS.OOO 

Total force called out by Government to July 4tli 31 0,000 

Deduct three-mouths men. 80,000 

Authorized force 230,000 

For the maintenance of this force, and supplying of the necessary 
ordinance, arms, and reserve stores, in addition to the ordinary appro- 
priation, *1 85,290,397 was requii-ed. The Secretary stated that the 
new regular regiments would be officered one-half from the regula* 
army, and one-hali" from civil life. The civilians appointed to regimental 
commands were all either West Point graduates, or had before served 
with distinction in the field, and many of the second-lieutenants were 
created by the promotion of meritorious sergeants from the regular 
service, lie alluded, also, to the large disatVection of army officers 
with Avlioin State allegiance was paramount to Federal duty. 

'1 hi! report of the Secretary of the Navy furnished a complete abstract 
of the condition of the navy. On the 4th of March, the total immber 
of vessels of all classes was ninety, designed to carry two thousand 
four hundred and fifteen guns. Of these, the available force was sixty-t 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIf. 123 

nine vessels, with one thousand three hundred and forty-six guns, of 
which forty-two, carrying five hundred and fifty-six guns, were in 
commission. Of the sixty-nine avaihible vessels, the .Levant was lost 
in the Pacific, the steamer Fulton was seized at Pensacola, and one 
frigate, two sloops, and a brig were burned at Norfolk. The other 
vessels destroyed there were considered worthless. There remained 
sixty-three, of which fifty-nine were put in commission. In addition to 
which, nine steamers were chartered, and twelve steamers and three sailing 
vessels were purchased, making an entire force of eighty-two vessels 
and eleven hundred guns. On the Atlantic coast, the blockading 
squadron, twenty-two vessels, with two hundred and ninety guns and 
three thousand three hundred men, was under the command of flag- 
officer Stringham. The Gulf squadron, consisting of twenty-one vessels, 
with two hundred and eighty-two guns and three thousand fivd 
hundred men, was under flag-ofiicer Mervine. The East Indian, 
Mediterranean, Brazil, and African squadrons were recalled, adding 
two hundred guns and two thousand five hundred men for home 
service. Since the accession of Mr. Lincoln, two hundred and fifty-nine 
naval officers had resigned. The department, he added, had contracted 
for the building of twenty-three steam gunboats of five hu.ndred tons 
each, to be followed by larger and fleeter vessels. Tlie eight vessels 
ordered by the preceding Congress were being rapidly pushed to 
corppletion. 

The Secretary of the Treasury put forth a statement of the financial 
wants of the Government. He stated that the estimates of the year 
required $319,000,000; that $80,000,000 of this, or the amount required 
for the ordinary expenses, should be raised by taxation, and that 
$240,000,000 must be borrowed. He proposed an increase of the 
duties, which he estunated would raise the customs to $57,000,000, 
and he estimated that the public lands would give 83,000,000. He 
advised a tax on real and personal estate, to make up the remaining 
$20,000,000 ; also a reduction of forty per cent, on all salaries. To 
raise the 1240,000,000 which must be borrowed, he proposed a national 
loan of $100,000,000, in small bonds, bearing 7.30 per cent, interest 
per annum, and redeem.able after three years; a loan of $100,000,000, 
at seven per cent, in stock, payable after thirty years, in London; and 
the issue of $50,000,000 iu $10 and $20 notes, bearing 3.65 per cent, 
interest, payable in one year, or without interest payable in coin on 
demand. 

u Through tnese reports the military and financial condition of the 
comUry was laid before Congress. The leading measures of the 
session were promptly brought forward. In the Senate, the chairman 
of the mihtary committee introduced six bills. The first was designed 
to ratify what the President had done on. his own resiwnsibility; the 
second, " to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing 
the laws;" the third, to "increase the present military establishment of 
the United States; the fourth, "for the better organization of the mili- 
tary establishment of the United States ; the fifth, " for the organization 
of a volunteer militia force, to be called the National Guard of the 
United States ;" and the sixth to promote the efficiency of the army. 



124 mSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIST. 

These bills vrere discussed at considerable length in both houses. 
The opposition to them in the Senate came principally from Messrs. 
Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Polk, of Missouri, both of whom, in the 
autumn of 1861, went over to the rebels, and accej^ted military com- 
mands under tliem ; and in the House from Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, 
■who also seceded to the rebels a short time after the close of the 
session, and his friend, Mr. Vallandigham, of Ohio. 

The approval of the action of the President, which it was first 
proposed to make in the form of a resolution, was finally passed as a 
clause of one of the military bills, and Congress showed its hearty 
concurrence in his views in regard to the prosecution of the war by 
voting almost unanimously 500,000, instead of 400,000 men. 
f On the 22d of July, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, in the House, 
and, on the 2Gth, Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, in the Senate, move^ 
the following resolution: 

'Hesolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country 
by the disunionists of the Southern States, now in revolt against the constitutional 
GoveruMient, and in arms around tlie capital; that iu this national emergency, Congress, 
banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the 
■whole country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or 
for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering 
with t^e rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain 
the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, 
equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired ; and that as soon as these objects 
are accomplished, the war ought to cease." 

Tliis resolution passed the Senate by yeas thirty, nays five, and the 
Ilouse by yeas one hundred and seventeen, nays two. This declaration 
of the objects /or which the war wjis prosecuted, offered by loyal 
citizens of the Border States, was cheerfully accorded by Congress, the 
gi-eat body of the members of which still clung to the idea that within 
a few months the people of the seceded States would gladly return to 
their allegiance. The duration of the war beyond the close of the year 
was not deemed possible. 

The Senate, on the 11th of July, expelled the senators James M. 
Mason and R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia ; Thomas L. Clingnjan and 
Thomas Bragg, of North Carolina ; Louis T. Wigfall and J. W. 
Hemphill, of Texas ; Charles B. Mitchell and William K. Sebastian, of 
Arkansas ; and A. O. P. Nicholson, of Tennessee, all of Avhom were 
absent, having Avithdrawn on the secession of their respective States. 

The pi'opriety of this course Avas so obvious that there was but very 
Blight opposition to it. Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, and Mr. Latham, of 
California, urged the substitution of a resolution declaring their scats 
vacant, instead of expelling them, on the ground that they ought not 
personally to suffer for Avhat was the result of the action of their 
States. But the fact of their full symjiathy with and co-operation in 
the work of secession was so patent, that this view met with little sup- 
Jjort from the other senators. Messrs. Breckinridge and Polk voted 
agamst the resolution. The vote stood ayes tliirty-two, noes ten. On 
Vm 1 3th of July, Uv. Johnson, of Teimessee, presented the credentials 
«f Messrs. W. T. Willey and J. S. CarUle, elected senators of Vir- 



HISTOET OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOlSr. 125 

ginia by the loyal legislature of that State, then in session at "Wheeling. 
Their admission was objected to by Messrs. Bayard, of Delaware, and 
Powell, of Kentucky, but was defended by Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, 
and others, and they were admitted by a vote of thirty-five yeas to 
five nays. 

Congress atljoui*ned on the 6th of August, having been in session 
thirty-three days. In that period it passed sixty-one public acts, of 
which the most important were : 

' 1st. To borroAV $250,000,000 by the issue of bonds bearing interest 
at a rate not exceeding seven per cent., and irredeemable for twenty 
years ; to issue seven and three-tenths per cent, treasury notes, payable 
in three years, and United States notes, without interest, payable on 
demand, whence they were called demand notes, to the amount of 
$50,000,000; to levy a direct tax of $20,000,000; a tax upon incomes 
over $800 ; to inci-ease the duties. 

2d. To provide for collecting duties in disafiected States, and author- 
izing an embargo. 

3d. To authorize the enlistment of five hundred thousand volun- 
teers. 

4th. To increase the pay of volunteers to $13 per month for privates ; 
in lieu of clothing, $3 50 per month ; rations, $9 per month. A 
bounty of $30 to soldiers who re-enlist for the war. If a company re- 
enlist, $50 each ; if a whole regiment, $75. 

6th. To increase the regular army for the entire war ; and within a 
year after. the restoration of peace the number of men to be reduced 
to twenty-five thousand men, unless otherwise ordered by Congress. 

6th. To authorize the President to call out the militia to execute the 
laws, when necessary. 

Yth. Appropriating $180,000,000 for the army, for the year 1862; 
$30,000,000 for the service of the navy ; $3,000,000 to hire and pur- 
chase vessels. 

8th. To define and punish conspiracies. If two or more persons in 
any State or Territory combine to overthrow the Government, or ob- 
struct the execution of its laws, they shall be punished with fine and 
imprisonment. 

There was also passed at this session of Congress an act to confis- 
cate property used for insurrectionary purposes, which provided that, 
in the present or any future insurrection, any property given to aid 
such insurrection, or used for that purpose with the knowledge and 
consent of the owner, should be subject to seizure and confiscation ; 
that actions for the condemnation of such property might be brought 
in circuit, district, or admiralty courts having jurisdiction of the 
amount, and that the Attorney-General or any district attorney might 
institute proceedings, which in such case should be wholly for the ben- 
efit of the United States; or any person might file an information with 
such attorney, in which case he should receive an equal share of the 
proceeds with the United States. In regard to slaves held by persons 
engaged in aiding the rebellion, the provisions of the bill were as fol- 
lows : " That whenever hereafter^ during the present insurrection 
agaiost the Government of the TTnited StateSv any person claimed to be 



126 mSTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 

held to labor or service, under the laws of any State, shall be required 
or permitted by the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to 
be due, or by the la^vfuI agent of such person, to take up arms against 
the United States, or shall be required or permitted by the person to 
whom such service or labor is due, or by his lawful agent, to work or to 
be employed in or upon any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, or in- 
trenchment, or in any military or naval service whatever, against the 
Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in 
every such case, the person to whom such service is claimed to be 
due, shall forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the State or of the 
United States to the contrary notwithstanding ; and whenever there- 
after the person claiming such labor or service shall seek to enforce his 
claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such claim, that the 
person whose service or labor is claimed had been employed in hostile 
senice against the Government of the United States, contrary to the 
provisions of this act." This bill passed both branches of Congress, 
In the House the vote was — ayes, sixty ; noes, forty-eight. 
; The bill, it will be seen, limited within narrow bounds the confis- 
cation of rebel property ; it would have been more comprehensive 
(though probably not so sweeping as the confiscation law of 1862, for 
neither Congress nor the people were then ripe for that measure), but 
for the scruples which were entertained by some of the members in 
regard to the constitutionality of the confiscation of property for trea- 
son, without a previous trial and conviction of the traitor. These 
Bcruples, though honestly entertained, arose from the error of con- 
founding the action against persons with the action against pro])erty, 
as was very clearly shown some months later by Hon. Henry Winter 
Davis, of Maryland, in a very elaborate published opinion on the sub- 
ject. 

The action of Congress in making provision for a vigorous prosecu- 
tion of the war, had greatly encouraged the people, and the enlist- 
ments were made with rapidity, and resulted in securing a very supe- 
rior class of soldiers. There was, howevei', a pressing necessity for a 
large amount of financial resources to meet the heavy drain which the 
•war was making on the national treasury. Fortunately for the na- 
tion, an accomplished and skilful financier was at the head of the treas- 
ury, a man capable of comprehending and providing for the emer- 
gency. 

In December, 18G0, when very few supposed war probable, Hon. 
Howell Cobb, Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, had offered 
$5,000,000 of United States treasury notes, payable one year from 
date, and had only received bids for '$500,000 at twelve per cent, in- 
terest, and this when New York seven per cent, stocks were selling at 
101. Secretary Chase needed to borrow by hundreds of millions, and 
that in the beginning of a great war of uncertain duration ; but the 
caiiitalists had confidence in him and in the Government for which he 
actfd, and though he had been bound very closely by Congress in re- 
gard to the terms on which the loans were to be made, and the 
amount to be derived from taxation did not promise to yield enough 
to pay the interest on the loans, he succeeded in negotiating for all the 



HISTOET OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



127 



money lie needed at an interest not exceeding an average of seven per 
cent. 

The loans at this time authorized by Congress were : 



Payable. 

1. Bonds, Coupons, or Ri'gistered*. .After 20 years, sold not less than par. 

2. Bonds, Coupons, or Registered . . . After 20 years, sold in Europe, do 

8. Bonds, Coupons, or Registered. . .After 20 years, equal to 7 per cent. . . 

4. Bonds, Coupons, or Registered.. .Within 1 year 

5. Treasury Notes At 3 years 

6. Treasury Notes At 1 year 

1. Treasury Notes In coin on demand, not less than $5. . 



Interest 
per cent 

7 

7 

6 

6 

7.30 

8.65 
None. 



Limit. 

$100,000,000 
20,000,000 

50,000,000 



'No eiFort was made to negotiate a loan abroad, as the English cap- 
italists were not inclined to invest in American securities. At a later 
date they purchased the bonds and treasury notes eagerly, and at a 
premium. Until he could make arrangements for the issue of his 
treasury notes at seven and three-tenths per cent., the Secretary ob- 
tained a loan for sixty days, on his twenty-year bonds as collateral, of 
$5,000,000. This sura was taken up in a single half-day in New York. 
Having visited Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, he succeeded in 
effecting an arrangement with the banks of the three cities, by which 
they took $50,000,000 of the seven-thirty notes at par. New York tak- 
ing $35,000,000, Boston, $10,000,000, and Philadelphia, $5,000,000, 
the paynaents to be made about ten per cent, weekly, w'hile interest 
was payable from the date of issue. The Secretary meantime was to 
open agencies throughout the country for subscriptions to the loan, and 
the money so received was to be paid over to the banks, for whose 
account these sales were made. The banks were to have the option 
of taking on similar terms two subsequent issues of the treasury notes, 
each of $50,000,000. The amount of subscriptions on the first issue, 
bearing date August 19th, 1861, was $38,000,000, leaving but $12,- 
000,000 on the hands of the banks when they had paid in full for the 
first issue. They then took the second $50,000,000, w^hich bore date 
October 1st, 1861 ; but the circulation of demand notes, and the great 
number of State loans in the market, causing for the time a falling off 
in the subscriptions for investment, they declined taking the third 
issue, and took in preference the twenty-year six per cent, stock at 
89.322, which was equivalent to a seven per cent, stock at par. The 
whole subscription outside of banks and moneyed institutions for the 
seven-thirty treasury notes up to January 1st, 1862, somewhat ex- 
ceeded $50,000,000. About $24,000,000 of demand notes had been 
issued up to that time, and $50,000,000 of twenty-year stock, from 
which there was realized $45,795,478 48. There had also been issued 
two-year notes (six per cents.) to the amount of $14,019,034 66, and 
borrowed on sixty-day six per cent, notes $12,877,750, making an ag- 
gregate of $197,242,588 14. Of the subsequent financial measures of 



*The diiference between a registered stock and 
n coupon bond is, that the former is inscribed up- 
on the books of the Government, in the name of 
the owner, and is transferred on the books i>y the 
owner to the party to whom he sells. The inter- 
est is paid to him in whose name the stock stands. 
The bond is net inscribed, but is transferred by 



delivery, like a bank note. It has attached to it 
small bonds, one for each six months' interest un- 
til the maturity of the bond itself. The holder 
cutsoff the one due, and presents it for payment. 
These are called " coupons," from the Frenck 
couper, to cut. 



128 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

the Government, the new loans, and the tax and tariff bills prescribed 
at the second (first regular) session of the thirty-seventli Congress, 
and the steady rise in the value of Government securities, notwith- 
Btanding the large amounts issued, we shall have more to say further 
on. The tax of $20,000,000 on real and personal estate was appor- 
tioned to tlie several States ; that portion due from the seceded States 
was only collectable by means of a law subsequently passed, authoriz- 
ing the seizure of real estate to liquidate those taxes. That due from 
loyal States was assumed by them, they accounting for it, less fifteen 
per cent, discount for cost of collection ; and as nearly all of them had 
advanced smns for the equipment of their troops, which the Govern- 
ment liad agreed to refund, the tax was generally set off against these 
sums, and thus, while the money did not come into the United States 
treasury, the Government debts were liquidated by it. 

The energy, determination, and resources of the people of the 
North, which for a little time had seemed paralyzed at the idea of 
such a war, were now developed in all their grandeur, and showed that 
so soon as they realized the magnitude of the struggle they were ready 
for it. The shock of war had disturbed the usual flow of capital, and 
deprived tlie North of more than $200,000,000 due to it from the 
Southern merchants. Had tins large sum been recovered, it would 
have been subscribed to the Federal loan ; on the other hand, the Con- 
federacy took prompt measures to turn it into its own coffers by the 
act of May 21st already alluded to, directing that money due Northern 
citizens be paid into the Confederate treasury, and bonds bearing 
eight per cent, interest be issued therefor. This, in point of fact, com- 
pelled Northern creditors to subscribe to the Southern loans. 

The rebel States were now beginning to appreciate the financial 
difficulties and personal hardships which beset the path to independ- 
ence. Stringent laws punished by banishment and confiscation of 
property all who did not give in their adhesion to the new govern- 
ment. Those who remained, as well as the Southern citizens, were 
not exempt from severe assessments in support of the armies in the 
field. The contributions levied were very onerous in most districts, 
and the mode of their assessment is indicated in the following notice 
of General Beauregard's course : — 

" All classes of citizens of Virginia are called upon to contribute their quota of 
forage for- Beauregard's army, and with those who are forgetful of their obligations, 
the general says that ' constraint must be employed.' " 

The ranks of the rebel army were filled by means quite as peremp- 
torv, as may be seen by the following official notice of the Mayor of 
Memphis : — 

"To THE Citizens op MEiipms: — Applications have repeatedly been made to me, 
88 executive oflBcer of the city, for protection against indiscreet parties, who are 
sent out to impress citizens into service against their will on steamboats. Many of 
these men have been dragged from their beds, wives, and children, hut never has there 
been a man taken who had on a dean shirt. I hereby notify anv citizen who may wish 
a pass w-ithin the city of Memphis to call on me, and I will furnish the same, and will 
see ho vnll be protected. One poor man being shot yesterday by one of these outlaws, 
as lliey may be called, causes mo to give the above notice. John Paek, Mayor. 

" August IW/t." 



niSTOPvY OF THE GIIEAT EELELLIOX 129 

The following notice issued in Virginia, is also significant : — 

" All the militia belonging to the Eighty-ninth Regiment Volunteer Militia are ordered 
to meet at Oakland, on Monday next, as early as they can, in order to march to head- 
quarters, "Winchester, forthwith; and I would make a friendly request of those men 
that failed to go before, for them to turn out now, like true-hearted A'irginians, and 
■what they have done will be looked over, but if they do uot regard this call, they 
will work their own ruin. They can never be citizens of Virginia, and their property 
will be confiscated. The General will send a troop of horse to Morgan as soon as we 
leave, and all those men that fail to do their duty will be hunted up, and what tho 
consequence will be I am unable to say. 

" Samuel Joiixston', Col. S9lh Eeijiment, V. M. 

" Jubj 2-Uh, 1861." 

As an indication of the terajier of the times, the following, from a 
Southern paper, expresses a degree of ferocity .somewhat startling : — 

"We unhesitatingly .say that the cause of justice, and the cause of humanity itself, 
demands that the black flag shall be unfurled on every field — that extermination and 
death shall be proclaimed against the hellish miscreants who persist in polluting our 
soil with their crimes. We will stop the effusion of blood, we will arrest the horrors 
of war, by terrific slaughter of the foe, by examples of overwhelming and unsparing 
vengeance. When Oliver Cromwell massacred tlie garrison of Drogheda, sulTering 
not a man to escape, he justified it on the ground that his object was to bring the war 
to a close — to stop the effusion of blood — and that it was, therefore, a merciful act on 
his part. The South can afford no longer to trifle — she must strike the most fearful 
blows — the war-cry of extermination must be raised." 

That this was not mere idle newspaper bluster, numerous occurrences 
in different parts of the country fully demonstrate. An instance may 
suffice. The Nashville (Ten n.) Courier s^ys: — 

"We learn that a squad of twelve men were sent to Franklin yesterday, to arrest 
some Liucolnites. They had collected to the number of twelve or fifteen at tlie house 
of one of their number, one Bell ; and defying the party, fired at them, killing one 
man, said to be Lee, of Louisville, and wounding one or two more. Our men then 
charged the house, and set fire to it, burning it and all of the men in it, it is believed, 
but two, who escaped." 

John Beman, a watchman employed on a Southern steamboat, who 
had a family in Boston, was arrested by a comnnttee, for opinions ex- 
pressed against the Confederacy. The committee proposed to forgive 
him if he would take an oath to support the Southern States. He 
indignantly repelled the proposition, and said he would die first, when 
they immediately hung him. Volumes would not suffice to relate the 
acts of cruelty perpetrated on unoffending men in what was claimed 
to be the interests of Southern independence. 

Such proceedings, vigorously pressed, stifled all open expression of 
opinions opposed to the South, and, as a matter of course, no news- 
papers were tolerated that did not support the Confederate Govern- 
ment. Attempts were made to overawe or purchase the Louisville 
(Kentucky) Journal^ but without success. The Knoxville (Tennessee) 
^^ld(| was edited by W. G. Brownlow, who steadily advocated 
the Union cause. He was forced to suspend its publication, and, in 
his forewell address to his readers, said, that he would neither give a 
bond to keep the peace, nor take an oath to support the Jeff. "Davis 
9 



130 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

Confederacy. He was indicted by the grand jury for treason, because, 
as he said,' he refused to publish garbled accounts of skirmishes in 
Kcntuclvv, and other articles, the insertion of which in his sheet was 
insisted upon by the rebels. This gentleman, known as _ Parson 
Brownlow, after a long imprisonment, was allowed to visit the 
Northern States, where he addressed large audiences, giving an ac- 
count of the cruelties inflicted on Union men, and published a narrative 
of his own suiferings. 

Xot only were Northern citizens deprived of their property and of 
all legal redress, but they were banished from the States, and for- 
bidden to return even to look after their rights, imder penalty of arrest. 
Measures were taken also to prevent any further immigration here- 
after from the North, in order to prevent the growth of anti-secession 
sentiments ; and not only was no diversity of opinion tolerated among 
the Southern people, but their personal liberty and property were all 
at the dis])osal of the Government to carry on the war for disunion. 

The advent of civil war, under the extraordinary circumstances that 
marked tlie accession of Mr. Lincoln to power, involved the Federal 
Executive in proceedings which called up lively discussions in relation 
to his jDower, under the Constitution. No Government ever before 
occupied so singular and trying a position as was forced u)>on that 
which came into power March 4th, 1861. The process of breaking up 
the Union had been going on for many years, and had culminated 
under the Administration of Mr. Buchanan, whose cabinet contained 
at least three members who were only waiting the signal to leave the 
Government of the Union and join the ranks of the Southern Con- 
federacy. Mr. Thompson, Secretaiy of the Interior, v.^as known to 
have acted as a secession envoy to North Carolina, even while he held 
a seat as a member of the Federal Cabinet. Mr. Cobb, Secretary of 
the Treasury, resigned to assume his seat as a member of the Southern 
Convention ; and Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, followed in the same 
direction, after having iilundered the Northern armies and arsenals to 
furnish arras to the South for the anticipated strife. Under the 
gradual development of the plan of secession, the whole Federal 
patronage had been designedly so bestowed as to fill the important 
subordinate offices with men who favored the Southern movement, 
and who had nothing to expect from the incoming Administration. 
A large number of the officers of the army and navy were waiting to 
resign at the signal of secession, and range themselves in opposition 
to the Government. The patronage of the Government under such 
an Administration, it was evident, had been used in furthering the 
views of the leading and active members. The diplomatic corps 
abroad and the incumbents of office at the North were most of them 
inclined to thwart, the action of the new Administration, and in their 
tram was a lai-ge number of active men on whom the Government 
could not depend, if it had no open opposition to encounter. The 
new Administration found itself thus completely in the power of the 
secession party, and all its secrets, from the Cabinet debates to the 
details of orders, were known to the South. The bm-eaus of the 
departments, the judiciary, the army and navy, and the public offices 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 131 

■were filled with persons who were eagerly watching to catch up and 
transmit every item of information that might aid the Confederates, 
or thwart the Government. Under such circumstances, the Executive 
was driven to proceedings very different from those which were rec- 
oo-nized in time of peace. The prompt and vigorous arrest of all 
suspected persons was, under these circumstances, necessary for present 
safety, and as a means of intimidating those disposed to oppose the 
Government. In some of these proceedings it was admitted that he 
had overstepped his authority ; but it was believed that the exigencies 
of the case, and the support of public opinion at the North, fully 
justified such possible infractions of the organic law of the country, as 
necessary to the public safety. 

During the year a number of citizens were arrested and imprisoned, 
by order of the Federal Government, for alleged treasonable conduct, 
without the usual jirocess of law, and whencA^er the bodies of these 
prisoners were demanded under a writ of habeas corpus^ their delivery 
was refused. The writ was suspended by the President, and the 
question was raised, whether, under the Constitution, the power to 
suspend it pertained to the President or to Congress. In the case of 
John Merryman, a citizen of Maryland, arrested on the 25th of Ma^, 
the application for a writ of habeas corpus was made to Roger i5. 
Taney, Chief-Justice of the United States, who issued it. General 
Cadwallader, to whom the writ was directed, refused to obey, alleging 
that the President had authoi-ized him in such cases to susjDcnd the 
writ. The Chief-Justice then ordered an attachment to issue against 
General Cadwallader, but the officer who went to Fort McIIenry to 
serve it was not admitted. The Chief-Justice then prepared and sent 
to the President an opinion, in which he took ground adverse to his 
power to suspend the writ. The President referred the question to 
the Attorney-General, Hon. Edward Bates, as the constitutional adviser 
and law officer of the Government. Mr. Bates, on the 5th of July, 
rendered an elaborate opinion on the questions at issue, which were, 
whether the President had the right to arrest persons on suspicion of 
intercourse Avith the insurgents, and if he was justified in refusing to 
obey a writ of habeas corpyus^ sued out to ascertain whether the 
alleged suspicions were just. The ansAver was in the affirmatiA'^c. The 
opinion of the Attorney-General was : — 

" Unity of power is the great principle recognized in Europe ; but a plan of ' checks 
and balances,' forming separate departments of Government, and giving to each depart- 
ment separate and limited powers,, has been adopted here. These departments are co- 
ordinate and coequal; that is, neither being sovereign, each is independent in its 
sphere, and not subordinate to the others, either of them or both of them together. 
If one of the three is allowed to determine the extent of its own powers, and that of 
the other two, that one can, in fact, control the whole Government, and has become 
sovereign. The same identical question ma}' come up legitimately before each one of 
the three departments, and be determined in three different ways, and each decision 
stand irrevocable, binding upon the parties to each case, for the simple reason that the 
departments are co-ordinate, and there is no ordained legal superior with power to re- 
vise and reverse their decision. To say that the departments of our Government are 
co-ordinate, is to say that the judgment of one of them is not binding upon the other 
two, as to the arguments and principles involved in the judgment. This independence 
of the departments being proved, and the Executive being the active one, bound by 



132 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

oath to perform certain duties, he must be therefore of necessity the sole judge both 
of the exigency which requires him to act, and of the manner m which it is most pru- 
dent for him to employ tlic powers intrusted to liim, to enable him to discharge his 
constitutional and legal duties." 

IIoii. lleverdy Johnson, of Maryland, a constitutional lawyer of 
note, also published an opinion on the stibject, in which he reviewed 
the opinion of Chief-Justice Taucy, and demonstrated its error. The 

Eower of the suspension of the writ he showed to have been intended, 
y tlic very terms in which it was authorized in the Constitution, to 
inhere in the Executive and the Executive only, and that the Chief- 
Justice had himself so decided in the case of Luther and Borden, in 
7 Howard, 1. He also showed that Alexander Hamilton, one of the 
frauiers of the Constitution, had, in his essays on that document, 
expressly assigned tlie power to the President, to which Mr. Madison, 
another of the franiers, in his review of those essays, had tacitly 
assented ; and that President Jackson had exercised it without ob- 
jection. 

The persons thus arrested and imprisoned by the Executive being 
for the most part those who had sought to overthrow the Government, 
little public sympathy was manifested in their behalf; and even if 
mistakes were made in individual cases, it was considered that these 
■wei"e inevitable under such complicated circumstances. 

The Judges of the United States Courts expressed their opinions 
very decidedly in regai'd to these aidei-s and abettors of treason. 
Judge Belts, of the United States District Court at New York, in a 
charge to the Grand Jury, tluis defined treasonable acts, and pointed 
out what constituted misprision of treason : — 

" Giving aid or comfort to the enemies of the country consists in furnishing them 
military supplies, food, clotliing, harbor or concealment, or communicating information 
to them, helpmg their hostiUties against the country and its Government. 

" It is most, probable that complaints will bo laid before you under this branch and 
definition of the crime. "Within it will be included acts of building, manning, or in 
any way lilting out or victualling vessels to aid the hostilitias of our enemies ; send- 
ing provisions, arms, or other supplies to them; raising funds, or obtaining credit for 
their service; indeed, every traitorous purpose manifested by acts, committed in this 
district by persons owing allc^riance to the country, will be acts of treason. It is not 
necessary that the accused should have raised or created war bv his own acts ; he 
levies war by acting with those who have set it on foot, or by seizing or holding ports, 
or like acts of hostile aggression. The kindred crime of misprision of treason is this: 
If any person owing allegiance to the Government, has knowledge of acts of treason, 
committed by others within the jurisdiction of the court, and does not make it known 
to tlio President of the United States, or one of the judges of the United States, or the 
trovernor of the State, or a judge or magistnato thereof, he becomes guilty of misprision 
ot treason and subject to seven j-ears' imprisonment, and a fine of one thousand dollars 
lor the offence; and it is the duty of the Grand Jury to present for trial therefor such 
ouendf r, whatever may bo his individual connection or relationship with the offender." 

In the Circuit Court of the United States for New York, Judge 
J^elson, at a later day, thus defined the overt act of treason :— 

i»condTa,ilTf^'^'p'''"\^-^'°'^'^^''™'"'°« '^'^^^t constitutes the overt act under the 
Sfrt ol^Ln' ^™.^t't"tion-namely, adhering to the enemy, giving him aid and 
S^cu,n^sta^o^.^V™K^"°^'^'^^^ ""^^ depend very mik upon the facts 

Stiir with Z '^ P^i- '^ul'T case. There are some acts of the citizen, in his 

leialioim wuh the enemy, which leave uo room for doubt-such as giving intcUigcuoo 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 133 

with intent to aid liim in his act of hostility ; sending him provisions or money ; fur- 
nishing arms, or troops, or munitions of war ; surrendering a military post, &c., all 
with a like intent. These and kindred facts are overt acts of treason, by adliering to 
the enemy. Words, oral, written, or printed, however treasonable, seditious, or crimi- 
nal of themselves, do not constitute an overt act of treason within the definition of 
the crime. "When spoken, written, or printed in relation to an act or acts which, if 
committed with a treasonable design, might constitute such overt act, they are admis- 
sible as evidence, tending to characterize it, and show the intent with which the aet 
was committed. They may also furnish some evidence of the act itself against the 
accused. Tliis is the extent to wliich such publications may be used, either in finding 
a bill of indictment or on the trial of it." 

The sympathy of the masses of the people with tlie Government, 
and their hostility to those who advocated treason or sought to justify 
the acts of the conspirators against the Union, was manifested in the 
very commencement of the rebellion. In New York City the offices 
of the Herald, Journal of Commerce, Daily Neics, Day Book, and 
Exyress^ were visited, on the 16th and 17th of April, 1861, by excited 
crowds, and compelled to raise the American flag. Some of these 
papers required only this hint to lefid them to change their course, 
which had been opposed to the suppression of rebellion by force of 
arms; others, and among them the journal of Comrneree, the ITeus^ 
the Day Book, and the Freewrai's Journal, continued to attack the 
Government, and Avere at length seized and forbidden to be circulated 
in the mails or by express. The Journal of Commerce changed 
editors, and was then allowed to circulate through the mails. The 
N'e\iys and Day .Booh were stop2)ed, and the FreemcnCs Journal 
appeared under a new name and with moderated tone. In several 
instances grand juries j^resented papers of this description, and this 
generally proved sufficient to lead them to change their course. In 
six instances, the offices Avere assailed and destroyed by mobs, viz. : the 
Democratic Standard of Concord, N. H. ; the Democrat of Bangor, 
Me. ; the Essex County Democrat, at Haverhill, Mass. ; the Bridyeport 
Farmer, at Bridgeport, Conn.; the J<ffcrsonian, at West Chester, 
Penn. ; and the Sentinel, at Easton, Penn. ; and in one instance only, 
that of the Essex County Democrat, the editor was taken from his 
house and subjected to personal indignities. The rioters in this case 
were arrested and pimished. This exercise of mob authority was 
opposed by good citizens, and was speedily repressed. At the same 
time the feeling was very general that the authority of Government 
should be exercised to control, and if needful suppress those public 
prints which thus openly aided the rebellion. In a few instances of 
the most aggravated character, not exceeding ten, the Government did 
interfere for the suppression of such papers; and singularly enough, in 
four instances these were professedly religious jjeriodicals. The papers 
thus suppressed were the Christian Observer of Philadelphia, which 
was principally owned in Richmond, Va. ; the Christian Advocate of 
St. Louis ; the True Presbyterian and the Western Recorder of Louis- 
ville, which were suffered to go on again after a short period on 
promise of better behavior, a promise which was subsequently 
violated; the War Bulletin, llissourian, and Evenijig Netas, of St. 
Louis; the True American, of Trenton, N. J.; the FranJclin Gazet^e^ 



134 niSTOEY OF THE GREAT KEBELLIOIS'. 

of Franklin, X. Y.; and possibly one or two other papers of small 
circulation. 

The repeated and deteruiiiied efforts of the Confederate Government 
to send agents and ministers to the Em-opean courts to advocate their 
cause, a measure difficult of execution in consequence of the blockade; 
as also the frequent arrival of those who had been engaged in political 
or financial negotiations abroad for the benefit of the Southern Con- 
federacy, led tile Government to keep a watchful eye on the movements 
of passengers, and finally to organize a passport system for those who 
desii-ed to visit Europe, as well as for those returning thence to this 
country. This at first occasioned some uneasiness, as it had always 
been our boast that there were no restrictions upon the freedom of 
transit to or from the United States; but the good effect of the measure 
was apparent in the arrest by its means of persons who would other- 
wise have been of great service to the Southern Confederacy. 

The confiscation act of Congress having authorized the seizure of the 
property of tliose who were in rebellion agamst the Government, when 
that property was found Avithin the loyal States, money and other 
personal property, and vessels, belonging to persons identified with the 
rebellion, were seized to a considerable amount. Ultimately, it having 
ap})eared to the Government that in many cases the information on 
which seizures were based was the result of personal hostility or greed, 
and that in some cases the seizures had done injustice to parties really 
loyal, they were discontinued. In no case were money, bonds, or 
promissory notes retained by Government where it was not evident 
that they were intended to be used directly for the rebellion ; a course 
of conduct in marked contrast with that of the Confederate leaders, 
which we have already exhibited. 



CHAPTER XL 

Modern Art of "War.— Great Wars of Europe.— New Principles.— " Strategy. "— 
"Tactics."— Formation of Soldiers.— Education of Officers.— Scientific Aspect of the 
Present War.— McClellan's Order. — Restoration of Discipline. — Army Organization. 
—Inactivity of the Enemy.- His Projects.— Hatteras Occupied.— General Fremont 
in Missouri.— Battle of Dug Springs.— Battle of Wilson's Creek.— Death of Lyon.— 
Retreat ^ of the Army under Sigel.— Martial Law.— Position of Forces.— Colonel 
Blair's Charges.— Fremont's Proclamation.— Manumission.— Capture of Lexington. — 
Advance of Fremont— Retreat of Price.— Major Zagonyi.— Fremont Relieved. 

The modern art of war, as perfected by the great captain of the 
pre.-^ent century, may be said never to have been practised upon this 
continent previous to tlio present contest. The old colonies developed 
tlieir independence after a protracted struagle, under the defensive 
military genius of the father of his conntrv, operating with rare judg- 
ment on the old maxims of the art. The determined valor, endurance, 
ana devotion of the men of the Revolutionary armies were important 
elements ot success, and iu the course of the struggle, much native 



HISTORY OF TKE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 135 

practical military capacity was evoh^ed. Ilapijily for the country, 
with the close of the struggle, peace brought with it other puisuits, 
and the military art fell, if not into disrepute, at least into disuse. The 
United States were too distant from the powers of Europe to be 
involved in tho^e cabals, intrigues, and coalitions, wliich liad tiiere 
prokmged the struggle against itepublican France through twenty 
years of bloodshed, and which were fatal to Poland, and to the inde- 
pendent action of most small powers. So completely isolated was the 
Americnn Union, that, in accordance with the farewell advice of 
Washington, it had no "foreign policy." If the Academy at West 
Point educated a certain number of young men in the theory of war, 
there Avas never any field of action for the fruits of those studies to 
develop themselves. In Europe, on the other hand, during the quarter 
of a century which followed American independence, Avar on a grand 
scale was conducted under the greatest military genius of any age. 
That he was a graduate of a military academy may, in some degree, 
have aided his progress. But he was certainly not indebted to the 
teachings of professors for liis wonderful success. On the contrary, 
they had filled to discover any thing remarkable in the student. The 
general principles then taught may be said to have been by him 
reversed. Thus the broad rule that an army occupying a central 
position between two otL^i's, would necessarily be defeated, because 
exposed to simultaneous attacks on each flank, he demonstrated was 
only relatively true, and that in fxct such a central army occupied the 
strongest position, if properly handled; concentrating a strong force at 
the decisive point, it could meet and assail one army, in time to return 
and overwhelm the other. Following the same principle, Fiance, 
holding a central position in regard to Europe, instead of being weak 
in consequence, was strong, so long as her internal connections were 
open, and her force concentrated. A revolution Avas also produced in 
the old maxims in relation to fortified places. Their value fell 
immensely before the active movements of the French. It was ascer- 
tained that they were of themselves not formidable, unless they Avere 
the key or gatcAvay to some important district. A mere fort that 
commanded no necessary route was found to be of little value, and the 
poAverful combination of columns was much more eifective than spade- 
work, in the hands of an able commander. These ideas were novel, 
and he conquered Europe in illustrating them. When the Austrian 
power held Italy, and he, with forty thousand ill-clad, ill-armed, and 
ill-provided, but veteran troops, turned the Alps and made his attack 
at Montenotte, the chances were very far from being in his favor; but 
genius in conception, power of combination, rapidity of movement, and 
unparalleled vigor in execution soon did their Avork upon the legions of 
Austria, and the veteran marshals, retiring before the blows of the 
"sans culotte," exclaimed in disgust, "Who ever saAV such tactics!" 

Up to that time the difierence betAveen "strategy" and "tactics " 
was ill defined. The latter had been as old as the "art of war itself. 
The former was the consequence of dealing in war on a largo scale. 
The master-mind on the broad field of Europe, Avith numerous armies 
to move, deduced broader principles from more numerous and ex- 



136 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

tended facts. "Tactics" pertains to handling an army in the iield; 
"strategy" projects the cainjiaign, and directs tlie movement of the 
armies. "Tactics" fights tlie battle; "strategy" teaches when and 
■where to fight it, and mider wliat conditions. It remained for the 
master-mind of Napoleon to ajtply the doctrine of "long chances" to 
war; that is, so to arrange and plan his campaign that it often battles 
lie should lose seven, yet the results of the three gained would be 
such as to give him the cam})aign. The campaign ending at Marengo 
is an instance in point. While Napoleon was preparing to cross the 
Alps, JMasscna held Genoa with an obstinate valor that immortalized 
his name, with the view of detaining the Austrians in that corner of 
Italy, until the Grand Army should have gained their rear. This was 
accomplished, and the French troops were so disposed along the only 
route between the Alps and the Apennines by which Melas could 
retreat, that he wotdd require to win six battles to get through, 
whereas the loss of one was ruin. That one he lost at Marengo. 
Therefore, when the English historian, Alison, wrote that the charge 
of Kellermann at Marengo "placed the crown on Napoleon's head," 
he showed a want of appreciation of the military situation, since the 
gain of that battle and four others would not have saved Melas from 
destruction if he had lost the sixth. 

It is a remarkable fact that in the history of the world there have 
been but about fifteen battles which drew after them such consequences 
as decided a war. Such a battle was Austerlitz, which was the result 
of masterly " strategic " mo^•ements which brought the Allies to fight at 
that place, and of consnnunate "tactical" skill which utterly destroyed 
them in the field. When Napoleon sat on his horse that misty morn- 
ing, surrounded by his generals, with his cold gray eyes fixed with 
grim satisfaction on the movements of the Allied generals, as with 
presumptuous fatuity they marched their troops by the flank, from left 




battle; let him complete his movement, and we shall destroy him. 
The result was, that before the glorious "sun of Austerlitz " had set, 
the Allied centre was taken, and the victory won. This was but a 
repetition of what had occurred years before on a smaller scale, on the 
plateau of Rivoh. An Austrian force had there passed to the left and 
rear of the French, who looked uneasily over their shoulders at what 
they thought a danger. "Those people are ours," -said the young 
commander; "we will take them at our leisure." The unerring 
sagacity with which the required blow was discerned, and the celerity 
and vigor with which it was delivered, astounded alike friend and foe. 
When shut up m Mantua, with the immense Austrian armies approach- 
ing, Napoleon did not dig and "work i' the earth," but sallied out, 
chose his battle-field, made the bridge of Arcole famous while the 
world stands, destroyed his enemies, and retuined in triumph. Never- 
theless, the ablest generals said he had no plan, and was fighting by 
liazard. Thus, when the army invaded Spain, and Avas stopped before 
the pass of the Somosierra, a steep acclivity, at the top of which the 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 137 

o-uns of thirteen tliousand Spanish troops were in position, the^ French 
^enenals reported the place impassable. Napoleon i-econnoitred in 
person, ordered the Polish legion to charge up the pass, and take the 
guns. They did so, and the army proceeded. Such a movement was 
out of all rule, and was pronoimced foolhardy. But genius is above all 
rules. The prompt application of common sense to the exigencies of 
the moment is a mark of genius. Thus an obvious want of })rompt 
conveyance for men, where the necessity exists, of combining the 
strongest force on a given point, as well in the " strategy " of a cam- 
paign'' as in the "tactics" of the battle-field, produced continual 
changes. For this end Napoleon organized the voltigeurs, or regi- 
ments of infmtry, acting with regiments of cavalry. When required 
at certain points on the battle-field, the infantry man vaults beliind the 
horseman, and a double force is thus transported with celerity to a 
given point. This innovation produced great discussion among military 
martinets and theoi'ists — as to whether an infantry soldier was any 
better for being taught cavalry exercise. A pamphlet war raged 
fiercely on the sul)ject, while the real motive of the master-mind that 
directed the organization was not at all comprehended. 

The vast strategic abilities of the great captain were not shared by 

his lieutenants, great as they were as "tacticians." The battle once 

arranged, each" fulfilled his duties in a masterly manner. Thus of 

Lannes, the emperor remarked, that he found him a "pigmy, and left 

him a giant," referring to the ability with which, as a tactician, he 

could handle twenty thousand men on the battle-field, Soult, he said, 

was the "only military head" in Spain, under Joseph. He could 

bring his army into the field, and properly place it, but could go no 

further. When Napoleon himself was in Spain, driving the English, 

tmder Sir John Moore, befoi-e him, he heard of the approach of the 

Archduke Charles, the first general of the Allies, upon Ratisbon, with 

two hundred thousand Austrians; he hastened to the spot, and found 

his own immense array so misplaced that he said to Bessieres, "If I 

did not know your friendship, I should think you were betraying me.'* 

He spent the night receiving reports, and issumg his orders to the 

various corps, and thus brought about those marvellous results on the 

following day which caused Wellington to exclaim, "The art of war 

was never perfected imtil now." The same strategic combination 

directed his armies with fatal effect upon the Allies at Lutzen and 

Bautzen, when, after the Russian campaign, he was struggling against 

combined Europe. The several corps fulfilled their orders willi the 

usual vigor, and on the field of Bautzen all that saved the Allies from 

annihilation, was the hesitation of Ney to follow up his advantage, 

from a misunderstanding of the "strategical" combination, although 

Jomini, present with him in the field, advised him to develop his blow. 

The Alhed generals Avere slow to learn, and unable to compete with 

the great captain. When prolonged war had weakened the resources 

of France, and Europe was banded in vast numbeis against him, their 

theory was not to fight, but to elude his grasp. The conquest of 

Europe imder such a leader was effected by lieutenants, each of whom 

in his own person represented the highest order of some species of 



108 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

niilitary talent, and these talents had been drawn out in a lifetime of 
camp duty; but very few, if any, of the lieutenants ever arrived at the 
necessary ability to manage an independent corps of tifty thousand 
men in the field. Without the master-mind, the vast power of France 
ceased to be formidable to the overwlielming numbers brought against 
her. In the early days of the French Revolution, vast numbers of 
men \\-ere sent to the frontiers to defend the coiintry, and these 
gradually became veteran soldiers of the best description. From their 
ranks rose the celebrated marshals who were the instruments of 
Napoleon's glory. But the draft was too great upon the male popula- 
tion of Franco, and as the struggle was prolonged through the life 
of a generation, although the genius of the emperor remained, the 
material of execution began to fail, and disaster closed the wars of the 
empire. 

The United S(ates have now reached a position where not only have 
armies and military ability become necessary to the safety of the na- 
tion in its integrity, but Europe has been brought nearer to us by 
steam, and otlier empires are becoming consolidated to the continent, 
in such a manner as to make a foreign policy necessary, as well in re- 
gard to Canada, Mexico, and South America, as to Europe. The 
great conflict between the North and the South, like the revolution of 
France, has had the eflect of calling over a million of men from peace- 
ful pursuits to the camps, and experienced foreigners agree that no 
nation ever presented finer material for soldiers. The difficulty at the 
outset was not a want of officers who had studied the military theory, 
but of those who had so constantly applied the principles of science to 
actual warfare, as to have them all at command to apply with prompt 
energy at the critical moment. It is evident that a man who, twenty- 
years ago, read medicine for a few months only, and then went into 
some other pursuit, is not a physician to be compared to him who has 
employed his life in continual practice at the bedside. The military 
science, e(inally with all others, requires practical experience. The 
greatest writers on the science in Eui-ope wei-e very indiffi'rent com- 
manders in tiie field. It is for these reasons that with such un- 
equalled material for troops, and such lavish resources, patience be- 
came the chiefest of public virtues. General Scott, it is true, per- 
formed a brilliant, short, and effective campaign in Mexico, but it will 
be remembered that he was a life-long commander, of considerable 
natural skill, and that his command, composed of regular troops 
mostly, was, after all, but a trifle in numbers as compared with any of 
the corps now in tlie field. In relation to the " tactical aspects " of^ the 
contest, it will be observed that the Union troops at the commence- 
ment of the war occupied .an immense line, running from the Potomac 
to the Mississippi, and another running on the Atlantic coast down to 
the Gulf of Mexico ; while the enemy held the centre of the region 
enclosed by these lines, which, as we have seen of France in respect to 
Europe, is the strong position. The law of strategy in this case re- 
quires the parly occupying the circumference to close his circle, and 
gradually contract it. But no commander or nation ever before had 
bo vast a circle to close. The enemy, in accordance with the same 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLI0:N'. 139 

la^vs^ was required to concentrate his force, remain on the defensive at 
all points, keeping his internal communications always clear, and pre- 
pared to direct his condensed columns against the first opposmg army 
that should approach. lie held ^yhat is known in military parlance as 
"interior lines ;" that is to say, a greater number of Confederate troops 
could reach a given point at a given time than of Federal troops, un- 
less the latter shoidd be so enormously superior in numbers as to make 
any resistance to them hopeless. This, however, was by no means the 
case at that stage of the war of which we are now writing, and it will be 
seen in the course of this narrative how the rebels, by a skilful use of 
their interior lines, for years baffled the eftbrts of the best Federal 
generals to penetrate to the heart of the revolted territoiy. 

In the following pages we shall observe expeditions sent to hold 
each of the Atlantic cities, thus forming a chain on that line; and on 
the nortliern line a succession of armies, which have to perforin a left- 
wheel movement, turning on the army of McClellan in front of Wash- 
ington. The whole, in so moving, must preserve the line like the 
simple left-wheel of a single platoon, because the army which out- 
marches the others so as to lose their support, will be crushed by a 
vigihint enemy. The whole line will then be broken. 

In resuming the thread of military events from the defeat of Ma- 
nassas, it may be considered that preparations for the war were but 
fairly commenced with the recovery of the public mind from the effects 
of that disaster. The whole movement, from the attempt to re-enforce 
Fort Suuiter in the beginning of April, had been irregular and spas- 
modic. It was impelled by the first impatient burst of popuhu* enthu- 
siasm, and had not been jDi-epared or directed by the sagacious foresight 
which important movements require. If the secession movement at 
the Soutii had been long planned and deliberately considered, M'ith all 
the contingencies foreseen and the necessities of the case provided for, 
such had not been the case at the North. The last session of the 
thirty-seventh Congress had passed away amidst vain attemj^ts at com- 
promise on' the part of the minority, to which the majority only op- 
posed a " masterly inactivity," while the impression was disseminated 
that no outbreak would take place. The tail of Sumter, the sudden 
activity of the Executive, the calling out of the militia, the hasty 
assembling of troops, the hurried marches, and the premature attacks, 
were all apparently impulsive, without any deliberately considered pol- 
icy, and, as was but natural, the result was by no means encouraging. 
All the armies that were forming, and which composed the aggregate of 
two hundred and forty thousand men reported by the Secretary of 
War on the meeting of Congress, felt the paralyzing influence of the 
defeat at Bull Run. The force at Fortress Monroe, under General 
Butler, was diminished in order hastily to re-enforce Washington. 
General Banks evacuated Harper's Ferry, and concentrated nearer to 
Washington, at Point of Rocks, where he was anxiously watching 
Western Maryland. 

Tlie Army of the Potomac was now massed for the protection of 
Washington, and General Wool, appointed on the 20th of August to 
the command of Fortress Monroe, found little beside Newport New? 



140 niSTORT OF THE GREAT REBELLI01S-. 

and the fortress itself in liis possession. In Western Virginin, Rose- 
cniDS, the successor of McClellan, lield his position and commanded 
the key of the mountain passes. The seventy-five tliousand militia, or 
-what was left of them, who had been called out for tliree months, had 
returned to their homes, and their places were more than filled by a body 
of stalwart volunteers, who had enlisted for three years or the war, 
but who, though fiii-nishing the best material for soldiers in the world, 
were as yet utterly undisciplined. The Confederate force was scarcely 
so strong as ours ; had it been, the Capital would have been in serioiis 
danger. " The brilliant victories of Rich Moimtain and Beverly had 
given a prestige to the name of General McClellan, which seemed to 
justify the Government in calling him to the work of organizing this 
rajjidly increasing mass of volunteers into a Avell-ordered, well-dis- 
ciplined army. There was no lack of money, and the munitions of war 
were becoming abundant; but the formation of an army required time 
and patience, and the peojilc, convinced of this by the sad disaster of 
Bull Run, were disposed to grant both. They felt that henceforth it 
Avas no holiday work in which they were engaged. The Southern vol- 
unteers, inflamed to hate of the North by the artful proclaniations and 
appeals of their leaders, were a more formidable foe than they had 
been supposed, and though not the equals of the Northern soldiery in 
steady, persistent valor, they were brave, and under able and efticient 
leaders. 

It was felt, indeed, that there was some danger of European inter- 
ference, which the desire for cotton, the eagerness for free trade, and 
the misrei)resentations of the agents of the Confederacy, combined 
with the disaster of Bull Run, seemed likely to provoke. Such an 
interference the aristocratic element in Great Britain and the friends 
of despotism in France Avould have rejoiced to see ; but, fortunately, 
the scanty and insufficient crops of England and France, and the 
necessity of procuring breadstuffs from us, bound these two great 
powers to keep the peace ; and thus, enormous as was the expendi- 
ture, there Avas time for the needful delay. 

When the Army of the Potomac retired upon Washington, many 
regiments were in a state of demoralization. Military duties were, to 
a considerable extent, abandoned, and disorderly troops, with the re- 
mains of their equipments, crowded the streets. The bars and hotels 
were filled with officers Avhose commands were scattered and disorgan- 
ized. The citizens were uneasy, and the small shop-keepers trembled 
for their little stores. There was no efficient head to enforce obedience 
or restore order. In the midst of this condition of affiiirs, General 
McClellan was called from Western Virginia to take command, the 
extent of which was designated in the following order : — 

"War Depaktment, Adjdtant-Gexeral's Office, 
"Washington-, July 2bth, 1861. 
"Thero -will ho adderl to tho rcpartmGnt of the Rhonandoah the counties of Wash- 
ington, AUefchany, in Maryland, and such other parts of Virginia as may be covered 
by the army in its operations. And there will be added to the Department of Wash- 
ington the counties of Prince George, Montgomery, and Frederick. Tlie remainder 
of Maryland, and of all Pennsylvania and Delaware, will constitute the Department of 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 141 

Pennsylvania; head-quarters, Baltimore. The Department of Washington and the 
Department of Nortli-eastern Virginia will constitute a geographical division under 
Major-Geueral McClellan, United States Army, head-quarters, Wasliington." 

On the following day, July 26th, General McClellan arrived in 
Washington, and immediately set about the work of reform. On the 
30th of July, amidst the prevailing confusion, the following order ap- 
peared : — 

" Head-Quarters, Division of the Potomac, 
" Washington, Jlt/i/ 30</i, 1861. 

"The General commanding the -division has with much regret observed that large 
numbers of officers and men stationed in the vicinity of Washington are in the habit of 
frequenting tlie streets and hotels of the city. This practice is eminently prejudicial 
to good order and military discipline, and must at once be discontinued. 

" The time and services of all persons connected with this division should be do- 
voted to their appropriate duties with their respective commands. It is therefore 
directed that hereafter no officer or soldier bo allowed to absent himself from his camp 
and visit Washington, except for the performance of some public duty, or the trans- 
action of important private business, for which purposes written permits will be given 
by the commanders of brigades. The permit will state the object of the visit. Bri- 
gade commanders will be held responsible for the strict execution of this order. 

" Colonel Andrew Porter, of the Sixteenth United States Infantry, is detailed for 
temporary duty as provost-marshal in Washington, and will be obeyed and respected 
accordingly. Colonel Porter will report in person at these head-quarters for instruc- 
tions. By command of 

"Maj.-Gen. McClellan. 

" S. Williams, Assistant Adjutant- General.'" 

Colonel Porter, an active officer of the regular army, and a man of 
great determination and vigor, at once organized his patrols, and, 
while the guard-houses were speedily filled, the streets were emptied, 
Washington, which went to bed in very poor spirits one night, found 
that the evil had vanished iu twenty-four hours, and that the next 
night she could sleep in peace. Another order, issued in sujiport of 
the former, followed, by which the eWl was entirely remedied, and 
the troops, confined to their quarters, began to bend to the force of 
discipline. The insubordination had previously reached to the extent 
of open mutiny in a part of one or two regiments. The enforcement 
of rigid discipline was as first distasteful to numbers, but the great 
intelligence of the men came in aid of the efforts of the General, and 
they were not slow in acknowledging the necessity and in submitting 
to it cheerfully. Some discontented spirits required rooting out, but 
the whole came gradually to feel the master's hand. Tlie Spanish 
General Lana, who had been at Washington on a visit, thus describes 
the state of atfairs in a letter of the same date as the order of General 
McClellan, to an Havana journal: — 

"It is necessary to see this place to be convinced of what is occurring, and to form 
an idea of what an army is, composed of men without any military habits, and led 
by officers — chiefs and generals — who are for the most part devoid of the necessary 
knowledge. Excepting the war material in the transportation department, such as 
wagons, gun-carriages, ambulances, &c., &c., which is magnificent, all else is a con- 
fusion of ill-clad men without any military instruction, and, what is worse, without 
trying to acquire it, according to appearances, since during the time I remained there 
I have seen them pass days and nights iu the camps without doing any thing, with 



143 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 

the exception of battalion drill for a short while in the morning and again in the 
evening." 

Mortifying to our national pride as was such a state of things, 
announced by a foreigner, it was nevertheless not exaggerated, and 
afforded evidence of the task that was to be accomplished. The new 
«-eneral exerted himself to the utmost in urging forward troops, and 
ill one case a senator was so much impressed by his statements, that 
he telegraphed, on his own responsibility, to the Governor of his 
State, to send at once every regiment he could muster to Washington. 
These exertions, added to those of the Administration, were soon fol- 
lowed by a stream of military setting into Washington to replace the 
three-months' men departed, and the broken bands that had fallen 
back from Manassas. These new troops were untainted by the de- 
moralization that marked the old ones. The material of some of the 
Korthern regiments could not be excelled. Splendid men, young, tall, 
robust, intelligent, and accustomed to adventure, filled the ranks. 
These, as they arrived, were sent over the river and put to incessant 
drilling and the construction of field-works. At first they were em- 
jiloyed in the construction of a great abattis from Fort Ellsworth, at 
Alexandria, across the front of the position, and gradually in the 
formation of numerous camps. By the 1st of September there were 
ui)wards of seventy-five thousand troops of all arms in the neighbor- 
hood of Washington, not including Banks's column at Harper's Ferry, 
or the command of General Dix, at Baltimore. General McDowell 
remained in command of the troops at Arlington. The head-quarters 
of General McClellan were in Washington. Tims gradually, an army 
was formed, and Washington encircled with defences. The men were 
drilled and inured to camp duties, while the Government was using 
every exertion to supply them with arms. 

The laws which had passed Congress provided for two branches of 
service — the volunteer and the regular army. The number of volun- 
teers was to be five hundred thousand, though, by the passage of two 
bills, authority was inadvertently given for raising one million. They 
were to serve for three years or during the Avar, and to be organized 
into regiments of ten com)>anies, each ha\ing from seventy-seven to 
one hundred and one men, the maximum number of officers and men 
in the regiment being one thousand and forty-six. Fiom three to five 
reghnents formed a brigade, under a brigadier-general, and two or 
more brigades a division, under a major-general. At first the most 
experienced colonels served as acting brigadiers, and in some in- 
stances as acting major-generals ; but very soon a considerable number 
of brigadier-generals and the recpiisite number of major-generals were 
nominated by the President, and most of them confirmedby Congress. 
The whole number of brigadier-generals thus confirmed, to tlie close 
of the session of Congress in Jvdy, 1862, was one hundred and eighty. 
In some instances these appointments were made as a reward for ser- 
vices rendered in raising recruits, Sec, but for the most part the oflicers 
appointed jiroved skilful and efticient commanders. 

The pay of the volunteers was the same as that of the regular army, 
but in order to encourage the re-enlistment of the three-mouths' men, 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 148 

and to fill up the ranks speedily, most of the States and many of the 
towns and counties added to the emoluments of the men, by laws 
making extra allowance of pay, and of monthly provision for such as 
had families. These swelled the pay of volunteers to twenty dollars, 
and in some cases more, per month. There were many comjdamts 
among the volunteers in regard to food, but these seemed not on tlie 
whole to be well founded, but arose from the change from home com- 
forts to camp life. No army in the world had better rations than the 
troops of the United States, yet there was much dissatisfaction. Some 
mutineers were sent to the Tortugas, and some organizations were 
disbanded and others punished. At Fortress Monroe, General Butler 
had to bring his guns to bear upon some mutinous men. 

N'otwithstanding the increase authorized in the regular army, the 
inducements oiFered to volunteers were so much greater that not one 
of the new regiments was filled up. It was believed that, as it would 
undoubtedly be necessary, at the close of the war, to maintain a con- 
siderably larger army than before, a sitfficient number could at that 
time be readily enlisted from the volunteers, and no special efforts 
were made to recruit the new regiments to their maximum. 

The question of increasing the number of cadets in the Military 
Academy at West Point was discussed for a long time in Congress ; 
but the country had suffered so severely from the treason of a large 
number of the graduates of that institution, which had furnished a 
President and all its ablest military leaders to the Southern Confed- 
eracy, that there was a strong opposition to any enlargement of the in- 
stitution, and the cadets in attendance were required to take an oath 
of allegiance in a new form, by which they bound themselves to 
maintain and defend the sovereignty of the United States, paramount 
to any and all allegiance or fealty which they might owe to any State 
or country whatsoever. 

Congress also invested the President, as commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, with the indispensable power of 
dismissing or removing officers at pleasure, without a court of inquiry, 
as well as of assigning thenj positions of higher or lower rank, as he 
might deem for the good of the service, and the successful prosecution 
of the war. 

By the month of September the Federal front on the Virginia side 
of the Potomac, with a breadth of five miles from the river, had its 
left a short distance below Alexandria, and its right near Lewinsville, 
a distance of twenty-four miles, following the lines. The Potomac 
forms a half-circle from Gre.at Falls, eight miles above the chain bridge, 
to Mount Vernon, eight miles below Alexandria. Thus the Federal 
troops formed a crescent on the western side of the river, with Wash- 
ington as its convex side, and the Confederate troops touching the 
river above and below, enclosed this half circle. At Lewinsville the 
Union right flank was on the east bank of the river, under General 
Banks whose head-quarters were at Poolesville. lie there faced the 
left flank of the Confederates, who held Leesburg, six or eight miles 
west of the river. The Avhole Virgmia side of the Potomac in that 
region is rough and mountainous, and mostly covered with a dense 



144 HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

growth of small timber, thickets, and underbrusli. The roads into the 
interior form a e^radually ascending grade over steep and wooded hills, 
a comparatively small portion of which had been cleared. Nearly all 
the roads leading out from Alexandria to Georgetown terminate at or 
before reaching "the Leesbuig Tm-npike, which runs parallel with the 
river, within a few miles of it, and all that is valuable of this road 
was held by the enemy. From thence south and westward the roads 
diminish in nuinl)er, gradually converging towards Fairfax andJVIa- 
nassas, and enabling an army to concentrate as it falls back, should it be 
compeiled to do sof The rebel lines now crossed all these roads at no 
point over five miles from the river, with the Leesburg Turnpike — the 
only road of any size or length— jnst in the rear, and affording the 
cneuiy the s^reatest facilities in shifting his force from one point to 
another. To attempt to cut other roads throuj^h such a country would 
be a -work of the greatest difficulty, if not an impossibility, and could 
be easily met and thwarted by the enemy. 

The aggressive campaign of the North against Richmond had ended 
unsuccessfully, but in instituting a system of defence a degree of skill 
■was expended wiiich was destined to have very favorable results. The 
utmost energy was displayed by the Union generally in taking advan- 
tage of every natural ficility for strengthening the position in front of 
Washington, and within a few weeks every variety of works — ranging 
from the most elaborate earthen forts to simple lines of intrenchments 
and rifle-pits — constituted a chain of apparently impregnable defences. 
Whole forests Avere also cut down to give an unobstructed and wider 
range from the various positions. Nor was this all. On the Mary- 
laud side the city was almost surrounded with Avorks of an equally 
formidable character. These extensive intrenchments required a con- 
siderable force to defend and cover them, and in and around them the 
grand aimy of the United States was destined to remain many months, 
immediately defending the Capital, which thus, in the eyes of the world, 
niudcrwent a long siege. 

The necessity of remaining in this position for a few weeks, until 
the army was thoroughly organized and disciplined, though at first 
view it seemed humiliating, was very apparent. The acciunulating 
force on the Potomac did not attam strength or coherency until Sep- 
tember, and each successive regiment, as it came into camp, required 
education in all the duties of tlie soldier — the officers no less than the 
men; and when educated to regimental duties and drill, they still re- 
quired a training for movements in larger bodies, as brigades, divisions, 
and cor2ys iTarnice. They were not like the standing armies of Europe, 
whicli receive in time of peace instruction and training qualifymg them 
to^ move at short notice on the enemy. There was indeed around 
Wasliington the material for something greatly better than those 
armies, in intilligence, muscular power, and a consciousness of a just 
cause ; but it was only to be developed by culture. The question of 
how long a time was required to do this was precisely that on which 
tl»e public began presently to show a diiference of opinion. There is 
no doubt that early iu the autunm General McClellan was in command 
of an available body of nearly one hundred thousand men for offensive 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOIi. 145 

purposes, who were equal in discipline to their opponents and far 
superior in numbers, and as these facts transpired a forward movement 
began to be urged. 

The Confederate forces which confronted Washington were not in 
a condition particularly favorable to an offensive movement. They 
had suffered a heavy loss in killed and wounded at Bull Run, and 
their resources, whether in money, men, or munitions of war, were 
less than those possessed by the Federal Government. Availing them- 
selves of the panic which followed the battle, they might have pressed 
on, and possibly have taken, though they could not have held, the 
Federal Capital ; but as time passed their strength did not increase in 
a ratio at all corresponding with that of the Federal forces, and the 
repeated and successful attacks made upon the Southern coast during 
the summer and autumn distracted their attention, and rendei-ed them 
cautious and feai'ful. The policy of their leading commander, General 
Beauregard, whom the Confederate President had raised to the highest 
rank in their army on the field of Bull Run, was one of defensive 
rather than offensive warfare. 

The want of means of transportation was one of the alleged causes 
of the inactivity of the Confederates, but both General Lana and 
Prince Napoleon, the latter of whom visited both the Union and rebel 
lines in July, expressed the utmost admiration of the quality of the 
mules and horses which are so abundant at the South. Without the 
power to make a decided movement, the rebel troops acted in a man- 
ner to keep up the profound and unnecessary anxiety which occupied 
the mind of the new Union commander, and their lines gradually ad- 
vanced on the right to within two and a half miles of Alexandria, 
while their left accumulated strength towards the Upper Potomac. 
Winchester, connected by railroad with Hax'per's Ferry ; Strasburg, an 
important town of the Shenandoah Valley, and communicating by the 
Manassas Gap Railroad with Manassas Junction ; and Leesburg, already 
mentioned, the terminus of the Alexandria, Loudon and llampshire 
Railroad, were each occupied by bodies of their troops. They had also 
a force between Fairftix Court-IIouse and Alexandria. As this dis- 
position was supposed to threaten Banks at Harper's Ferry, General 
McClellan ordered that general to concentrate his forces nearer to 
Point of Rocks. Likewise, by collecting boats in the creeks of the Poto- 
mac, below Washington, and erecting batteries at Aquia Creek, where 
the railroad to Richmond commences, and also at Matthias Point, they 
were supposed to be aiming to cross the Potomac to Port Tobacco, 
whence a march of twenty-live miles would bring them in the rear of 
Washington. The time, however, passed away, and the Confederates 
made no attempt, while every day the Union position was becoming 
more impregnable and the army more perfect, either for defence or of- 
fence. On the 12th of September, General Smith made a successful 
recoimoissance with two thousand men to Lewinsville, which General 
McClellan noticed in a special report, remarking at the close, " We 
shall have no more Bull Run affairs." The following general order 
was issued in the first week in September : — 
10 



146 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 



" Head-Quabters Army of the Potomac, ) 
"Washington, September (oth, 1861. ) 
"The Major-General Commanding desires and requests that in future there may be 
a more perfect respect for tlie Sabbath on tiie part of his commaud. We are fighting 
in a holy cause, and sliould endeavor to deserve tlie benign favor of the Creator. Un- 
less in case of attaclv by the enemy, or some other extreme military necessity, it is 
commended to the commanding officers tliat all work shall be suspended on the Sab- 
bath ; that no unnecessary movements shall be made on that day ; that the men shall, 
as far as possible, be permitted to rest from their labors; that they sliall attend Divine 
6er\dce after the customary Sunday morning inspection ; and that officers and men 
nlike use tlieir influence to insure the utmost decorum and quiet on that day. 

" Tlve General Commanding regards this as no idle form. One day's rest in seven is 
necessary for men and animals. More than tliis, tlio observance of the holy day of 
the God of mercy and of battles is our sacred duty. 

" George P.. McClellan, 
[Ofhcial.] ^' Major-General Commanding. 

"S. Williams, Assidant Adjutant- General." 

On tlie 2Gtli of Angu>t, the first of a series of naval expeditions, de- 
pigned to occupy the jsea-coast, in accordance with what was familiarly 
known as the ''Anaconda Plan," by which the Conft?derates were to 
"be encircled and their power of resistance crushed, as in the folds of 
an anaconda, left Fortress 3Ionroe. Ilatteras Inlet, on the coast of 
North Carolina, had formed a convenient refuge for privateers, and a 
number of steamers issued therefrom to prey on the Northern com- 
merce. It is an opening in the long sand-baidc Avhich encloses the 
shallow sheets of water known as Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, the 
former of which receives the waters of the Roanoke and Chowan 
Rivers, and the latter those of the Neuse and Pamlico. At this point 
the Confederates had erected two works. Forts Clark and Hatteras, 
mounting fifteen heavy guns, which it was determined to seize. The 
naval force consisted of the Minnesota, flag-ship, with the steamers 
Wabash, Monticello, Pawnee, and Harriet Lane, accompanying which 
were eight hundred troops, under General Butler, in transports. On 
the morning of the 28th, the fleet opened fire upon the forts, which 
was retuined by them with considerable activity, but with little effect. 
At the close of the day the enemy still held out, and during the night 
they were re-enforced. This proved, however, of little avail, as the 
bombardment, which was renewed in the morning, was even more 
destructive than on the previous day. General Butler also landed 
several liundred men to attack the forts in the rear. Seeing that further 
resistance was hopeless, the commander of Fort Hattenis, Samuel 
Barron, of the Confederate navy, offered to surrender both Avorks — 
the officers to go out with side-arms, and the men to retire. This was 
rcfiised, and an unconditional surrender demanded by General Butler, 
with which Commodore Barron was fain to comply. 

This person, as a former officer of the United States naA'y, found in 
arms agamst his Government, had forfeited his life, and Avas justly 
amenable to the penalty of treason in the first degree; but it Avas one 
ot the many exemplifications of the leiiieiu^y which the United States 
tiovernmeut has exercised towards prominent traitors Avhen taken 
prisoners, that he only suffered the imprisonment due to ordinary 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



147 



prisoners of war. He was, at the time of his capture, assistant secre- 
of the Confederate navy. 

The prisoners numbered seven hundred and fifteen, officers and men. 
Two forts, thirty-one cannon, only half of which were mounted, one 
thousand stand of arms, and some ammunition, were also captured. 
The losses in the forts Avere eight killed and a few wounded. None of 
the United States forces Avere injured. The prisoners were brought 
to New York. 

The interest of the war now turned once more to the West, where 
General Fremont had assumed command, July 26th, of the Depart- 
ment of the West, embracing Illinois, and the States and Territories 
between the Mississippi and the Rooky Mountains. He established 
his head-quarters at St. Louis, and made that the point for the gathering 
of troops. Pie also located a camp at Jefferson City, for the recep- 
tion of Illinois and other volunteers, and placed it under the command 
of General Pope,* who, on the 19th of July, issued a proclamation to 
the people of North Missouri, stating that he had come to maintain 
the authority of the Government. 

Immediately on his arrival, General Fremont exerted himself to 
raise and arm a force for the rescue of the State from the secessionists, 
who were determined to possess it. Regiments of undisciplined troops 
soon began to pour in, but there were neither arms nor equipments 
sufficient for them, and the condition of things was critical. Cairo and 
St. Louis were threatened by the large Ccmfederate force at Columbus, 
and below; while in South-western Missouri the gallant Lyon, who had 
pushed on to Springfield, was in peril from the greatly superior force 
of McCuUoch and Rains, who were advancing to meet him, his own 
little army being reduced meanwhile l)y the expiration of the term of 
service of the Iowa three-months' regiments. He was, however, receiv- 
ing a considerable number of new recruits. General Fremont was 
placed in a difficult position. His force at St. Louis, undisciplined and 
poorly armed as it was, was hardly sufiicient to resist an attack with 
such force as the enemy could bring against it; and Cairo, a point of 
the utmost strategical importance, was only defended by a handful of 
disorganized troops. If he sent any re-enforcements to General Lyon, 
they could hardly reach him in time, Avhile their withdrawal would 
seriously imperil St. Louis and Cairo. Forced to decide between 



* John Pope was born in Illinois in 1S23, and 
gi-atUiated at West Pointin 1842, at which time he 
was commissioned second-lieutenant of engineers. 
lie won his brevet as first-lieutenant at Monterey, 
in 18W, and as captain at Buena Vista, in 1S4T. In 
1S49 ho conducted the Minnesota exploring; e.vpe- 
dition, having accomplished which, he acted as 
topographical engineer in New Mexico, until 
l&o3, when he was assigned to the command of 
one of the expeditions to survey the route of the 
Pacific Railroad. From ]S>54 to 1859 he was 
engaged in this work, during which time — viz., 
on the 1st of July, 1S56 — he was promoted to a 
caj)tiuwcy in the corps of topographical ensrineers. 
On the 17th of May, 1861, he was apijointed a 
brigadier-general of volunteers, and assigned to a 
command in North Missouri. In December he 
served in Central Missouri, under General Halleck. 
On the 17th of that mouth ho scattered the rebel 



camp at Shawnee Mound. On the 18th he surprised 
another camp near Milford, and took some 1,800 
prisoners. This campaign cleared fhis district. On 
the 14th of March, 1S62, he captured New Madrid, 
and on April 7lh the rebel garrison of Island No. 
Ten, amounting to nearly 7,000 men, for which 
Services he was made a major-general. He was 
next appointed commander of a corps d\ii-'>nee to 
co-operate with Halleck in the reduction irf 
Corinth. In June. 1SG2, he was assigned to tho 
command of the Army of Virginia. overFremonr, 
Banks, and McDowi-ll, and on July 14th wfts 
commissioned a bricradier-general in the retrnlar 
army. At the conclu.sion of the seconii Bull Unn 
campaign, September 3, he was relieved at his 
own request, and was assigned to the command 
of the Depai-tment of the North-west, whence, in 
the spring of 1865. he was transferred to that of 
Missouri. 



148 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOI^". 

such alternatives, he felt himself compelled to retain the force at his 
command in a position to repel the expected assau^ on Cairo and St. 
Louis. He was further led to adopt this course by the knowledge 
that General Lyon's little army was composed of brave and disciplined 
troops, well armed, and with a superior paik of artillery, which could 
be well handled by his experienced artillerists. At the most, if the 
Federal troops were driven back from Springfield, the ground could 
soon be regained, wliile the capture of Cairo or St. Louis would be 
disastrous to the Union cause. 

Meantime General Lyon occupied Springfield with about six thousand 
men, and eighteen guns. The Confederate Generals McCulloch, Rains, 
Price, and Parsons were at Marysville, Arkansas, not far from the 
Missouri line, drilling and organizing their troops. In the last days of 
July they moved northward in two columns to Sarcoxie and Cassville, 
and" on the 1st of August commenced an advance towards Springfield. 
Tiieir force at this time was from twenty thousand to twenty-five 
thousand. On the 1st of August, General Lyon ordered his troops to 
rendezvous at Crane Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, with a view 
of moving thence raj)idly upon one of the rebel columns, and over- 
whelming it befoie it could be joined by the other. With his reduced 
force he was obliged either to do this or retreat. 

The whole column was under the immediate command of Major- 
General Lyon, while acting Brigadier-Generals Sweeny and Sigel, and 
Major Sturgis, were intrusted with the most important subsidiary 
charges. 

The march commenced at five o'clock on the afternoon of August 
1st. The baggage-wagons, one hundred and eighty in number, were 
scattered over a distance of three miles. The camp at Crane Creek 
was reached about ten o'clock, the men marching slowly, and making 
frequent halts to get the benefit of shade or water. On the following 
day the march was continued to Dug Springs, where one of the 
enemy's columns, under General Ben McCulloch, appeared in sight. 
By feigning a retreat, Lyon enticed the enemy to advance, when he 
suddenly turned upon them, and by a few well-directed shots drove 
them away in confusion. He immediately occupied the battle-ground, 
and found upon the field the bodies of forty killed, and forty-four 
Avounde<l, of the invaders. On the side of the Union troops, the loss 
was eight or ten killed, and thirty wounded. McCulloch then marched 
rapidly westward, and joined the main rebel column, under General 
Sterling Price, which was moving from Sarcoxie upon Springfield, and 
Lyon, finding their combined forces stronger than" his own, fell back 
upon the latter place, followed slowly by the enemy. 

General Lyon, having rested his men, determined, on the 9th, to 
attack the enemy in his camp at Wilson's Creek, ten miles south of 
Sprini^fiild. Accordingly, his force was formed in two columns : the 
maui body under himself; the second under Colonel Si^el.* The first 

nitli^l^T/'fifi'"' ''"." ^"'■" '" ""^ *^'"=*"'' ^^''^y "<■ artillorist in Germany. In the revolution of 1848 

nAio.'l of r i '"'i ^'''^ *'''"'■*"''' '" '!'« military he wns comraiinder-in-chief of the revolutionary 

«!. tbe liaden Irm'v 1"; i«,- ''*"'"f""^ ehief aHjntant I army, and bein- defeated by an immense force, 

a. iUi.l.adtn army In IS-h, ami was called tl.e best migrated to this country in 1850. He was for 



HISTORY OF THE GEE AT KEBELLIOjS". 149 

marched at five p. m. on the 9th, making a detour to the right, to 
strike the northern point or left of the enemy's camp. They came 
within sight of the enemy's fires at one o'clock, a. m., and halted 
until dawn. A line of battle was then formed, and advanced until 
the outposts of the enemy were driven in. The rebel camp extended 
in a valley along Wilson's Creek for three miles, and followed the 
bends of the stream to the north at its western extremity, and to the 
south at the eastern. Sigel's column was to make an attack at the 
latter point, the flank and rear of the enemy, while Lyon pushed the 
line in front. At five a. m. the line of Lyon advanced with great 
energy, taking the enemy by surprise and driving him in. He soon 
brought up fresh troops, and the battle raged with great fury. Now, 
however, it became apparent that the struggle was a most unequal one. 
Although repeatedly driven back in confusion, the rebels, in con- 
sequence of their great preponderance in numbers, were enabled to 
return again and again to the charge. Several hours of this sort of 
work continued, when General Lyon, who had been in the thickest of 
the fight, received two wounds, one in the head and one in the leg, 
his horse being killed at the same time. He walked slowly to the 
rear, saying, " I fear the day is lost." He then procured another horse, 
and, swinging his hat in the air, called the troops nearest him to follow. 
The Second Kansas gallantly rallied around him, headed by Colonel 
Mitchell. In a few moments the colonel fell, severely wounded ; about 
the same time a fatal ball was lodged in the General's breast, and he 
was carried from the field a corpse. " Thus gloriously fell as brave a 
soldier as ever drew a sword — a man whose honesty of purpose was 
proverbial — a noble patriot, and one who held his life as nothing when 
his country demanded it of him." 

Tlie battle was sustained some time after the fall of Lyon, when 
about noon the order to retire was given, the enemy having been 
temporarily driven from the field, and the retreat upon Springfield 
commenced. This was rendered a vital necessity from the fiict that 
Sigel's column, which numbered only twelve hundred men, had been 
defeated, with the loss of five guns and a stand of colors. The dis- 
aster was attributed by General Sigel to the three-months' men. The 
loss of his brigade was eight hundred and ninety-two men. The 
whole Union loss was two hundred and twenty-three killed, including 
General Lyon and a number of officers, seven hundred and twenty- 
one wounded, and two hundred and ninety-two missing, out of some- 
what more than five thousand men engaged. The rebel loss, according 
to their own account, was two hundred and sixty-five killed, eight 
hundred wounded, and thirty missing. When the retiring L'nion 



several months major of the Fifth New York 
militia regiment, subsequently professor of mil- 
itary science at St. Louis, and at the outbreak of 
the rebellion became colonel of the Third Missouri 



major-general, and received a command in West- 
ern Virginia. He served through Pope's Virginia 
campaisn, took a prominent part in the second 
battle of Bull Kun, and in September, 1S6'2, was 



Volunteers, and acting brigadier under General appoiuled to command the Eleventh Army Corps. 



Lyon. He was made a brigadier-general in August, 

1861. his commission dating from May 17th. He 
made a famous retreat from Wilson's "Oreek ; was 
present at the battle of Pea Ridse, February, 

1862, for his skill in which battle he was made 



lie was relieved early in the following year. In 
the spring of lb64 he commanded in the valley 
of the Shenandoah, but having been twice badly 
defeated, was relieved in May. In May, 1S65, he 
resigned bis coiumissioa in tile army. 



150 



mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]!^'. 



troops reached Springfield, the commaDd devolved upon Sigel, who 
gave orders for continuing the retreat towards Rolla, where it arrived 
unmolested with its train on the 19th. 

Meantime, the Confederates, under McCulloch, occupied Springfield, 
and on the 12th the General issued an order congratulating the 
troops on their victories, and enjoining the most scrupulous respect for 
private property. He also issued a proclamation to the people of 
Missouri, calling upon Unionists to retm'n to their homes, and assuring 
them of protection, and avowing his intention to release Union pris- 
oners. He called upon them to choose their own destiny — to side 
cither -with the North or the South. 

On the next day. General Pope, in Northern Missouri, issued a 
proclamation regulating the free navigation of the Missouri River. 

The defeat, at Springfield left the most considerable interior points 
of the State in the hands of the Confederates. The most important 
military line south of the Missouri River, and west of Jefferson City, 
is the Osage River. This line was now almost completely in the 
possession of the enemy. Bodies of their troops held Warsaw, Tus- 
cumbia, and Osceola ; and the most important strategical points on the 
Missouri River, north of this line, viz., Kansas City, Lexington, and 
Booneville, were unoccupied by the Unionists, and were exposed to 
capture by the advance of either Hardee's or Price's forces from the 
south, and the whole eflbrts of the Unionists were now directed to 
the security of St. Louis and Jefferson City. For this purpose the 
most essential strategical points against an attack from the south were 
Rolla, L'onton, and Cape Girardeau. Ironton was easy of defence 
from its superb natural advantages, to which a few judiciously erected 
batteries had added material, strength. Cape Girardeau was much 
exposed, and its posseesion by the enemy Avould have given him control 
of the Mississippi, and enabled him to send troops by boats to St. 
Louis. There was, however, no force to send there. Rolla was the 
most exposed. It was held by the remains of Lyon's army, which, 
owing to the departure of the three-months' men, consisted of little 
more than six thousand men. 

General Sigel immediately went to St. Louis to arrange plans for 
future operations with Major-General Fremont. His chief want was 
artillery and cavalry, which the department was unable to supply. 
-^"^"'■""^ City was garrisoned by five thousand troops, under the 
of General Grant.* Fortifications were ordered to be 



Jefferson 
command 



• Llysses S. Grant is !\ ntitive of Ohio, .ind was 
born in lb2'2. lie graduale.l at West Point in 
J>vJ.J. serve.l in tlie Me.xican war, and was seconrt- 
llciitenant and actins re-irnoiital quartermaster 
or the ti.ui-th Infantry. For gillant conduct at 
Molino del Key and Chapultepec he was brevetted 
nrst-lieulenant and captain. In 1847 he was pro- 
moted ti> a lirst-lien tenancy, and in 1S52 made 
captain Having resigned in 1S5.S, ho settled in 
nieroantilc business in St. Louis and suhseqiuntly 
>n (.alena; but at the outbreak of the rel>ellion 
was made colonel of the Twentv-first lircinient of 
llllnnis \ oluntocrs, and havinR been appointed 
brliradu-r-eeneral, Auu-nst, 1S61, took con.inand of 
»oulU-caat }4i3souri, with his licaUquartcrs at 



Cairo. Tie oocnpied Paducah, Ky., on the 6th of 

September; fought the Confederates at Belmont 
on the 7th of November; commanded at the cap- 
ture of Fort Donelson in February, 1862, and 
at the severe battle of Shiloh in March ; and in 
September was ai>pointed commander of the Army 
of West Tennessee, with head -quarters at Jack- 
son, Tennessee. On Fehruury 4th, 1S6.8, he as- 
sumed command of the land forces before Vick.s- 
burj:; in the suooeedin? May defeated the enemy 
at Champion Hills and Big Black River bridge, 
and on the ISth occupied Haines's IJluff, and com- 
pleted the investment of Vicksburg. On July 
4th he received the surrender of the place from 
General IVuibt-rtou. lu October ho was appointed 



niSTOKY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 



151 



erected, and home guards organized, as had been done In St. Louis, 
with a view to secure proper defences for the Capital at the least 
possible expense of men. 

The forces of McCulloch and Price* vrere meanwhile slowly advan- 
cing towards the north. After having issued the proclamation at Spring- 
field, McCulloch, who was profuse in protestations of mild treatment, 
released most of his prisoners unconditionally, and sent them home. 
This was supposed to have been intended to affect the State election 
for a convention, then about to take place. 

Meantime, the news of the defeat at Springfield had produced great 
excitement in St. Louis, and many with Southern sympathies did not 
conceal their joy at the fall of Lyon. Apprehensions of disorder were 
excited, and it was judged expedient to take steps towards declaring 
martial law. Still other urgent considerations, such as the known 
antecedents and sympathies of certain police officials, suggested the 
propriety of such a course. The proclamation declaring martial law 
was as follows : — 

" HEia)-QuARTERS, "WESTERN DEPARTMENT, 
" St. Louis, August 14:lh. 
" I hereby declare and establish martial law in the city and county of St. Louis. 
Major J. McKinstry, United States Army, is appointed provost-marslial. All orders 
and regulations issued by him will be respected and obeyed accordingly. 

"J. C. Fremont, 
" Major- General Commanding.'" 

Provost-Marshal IVIcKinstry thereupon issued a proclamation calling 
upon all good citizens to obey the rules it had been deemed necessary 
to establish, in order to insure and preserve the public ])eace, and. 
stating tiiat the civil law would remain in force, and the military 
authority only be used when civil law proved inadequate to maintain 
the public safety. All persons were forbidden bearing arms, and no 
arms were allowed to be sold or given away from the date of the 
proclamation. 

On the 15th of August, Provost-Marshal McKinstry suppressed the 



to the military depjirtmont of the Mississippi, 
with plenary powers, and assumed command of 
troops at Ohiittanootra, wliere, on November 24th 
and 25th, he gained an important victory over 
General IJra^'g. In March, 1SG4. he was commis- 
sioned lieutenant-i^eneral, and assumed command 
of all the armies of the United Slates, and on 
May 4th he commenced the campaign against 
Eichmond by ordering the Army of the Potomac 
across the iiapidan. On April 9th, 1S65, he re- 
ceived the surrender of the rebel army under 
ticneral Lee, wliich practically ended the war. 

♦Sterling Price was born in Viri'inia, whence 
ho emigrated to Missouri, and became a member 
of Congress in lS4o. He first became prominent 
as a military character during the Mexican war, 
in wiiich he appeared as colonel of a volunteer 
regiment of Missouri cavalry. On the 20th of 
July, 1S4T, he was made brigadier-general of the 
United States Volunteers. He commanded in an 
eng.agement .at CaiiadiV, New Mexico, January 24th, 
1848. and at the battle of Santa Cruz de Kosales, 
March 16th, 1S4S; in the former he was wounded. 
His troops were disbanded in November, 1848. 



He -w.-vs Governor of Missouri from 1S53 to 185T. 
and bank commissioner in 1.861. He was president 
of the State Convention in February of that year, 
and suti.sequently commander-in-chief of" tha 
State Militia, in which capacity he endeavored to 
take Missouri out of the Union; fought at the 
battle of Wilson's Creek, and on September ITth 
captured Lexington, Mo., with two thousand five 
hundred prisoners. In the succeeding winter ho 
was appointed major-general in the Confederate 
army, fouirht at Pea Eidge in Marcli. 1662, at luka 
and Corinth in the succeeding autumn. After 
serving in Mississippi, under Pembertou, ho was 
again sent to the tians-Mississippi Department, 
participated in the rebel defe<it at Helena, Arkansas, 
July 4th, 1S63. Thenceforth, until the close of 
the war, he served in that part of the country. In 
September, 1864, he invaded Mi.^souri with a largo 
force, but was repeatedly defeated, and finally 
driven, in October, into Arkansas. He accom- 
plished jiothiiig else of importance. He was 
included in the capitulation of General Kirby 
Smith to General Canby. 



152 



HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 



public.ntion of the War J3idletm and the Missoicrian, two newspapers 
which had exhibited mafked secession sympathies. 

On the 20th of August, the Confederate general, Price, at Spring- 
field, issued another jiroclamation, stating that the army under his 
command had been organized under State laws, and that it had gained 
a o-Iorious victory over the invaders. He invited all good citizens to 
return to their homes, promising them protection, and added: — 

" I, at the same time, warn all evil-disposed persons who may support the usurpa- 
tions of any one claiming to be provisional or temporary Governor of Missouri, or who 
shall in any other way give aid or comfort to the enemy, that they will be held aa 
enemies, and treated accordingly." 

On the 24th of August, H. R. Gamble, who, on July 30th, had been 
appointed by the Missouri Convention provisional Governor, issued a 
proclamation calling out forty-two thousand troops for six months, 
unless peace in the State was sooner restored, and stating that it 
might become necessary to resort to a draft if there sliould be a defi- 
ciency. 

Meantime, the Confederates had steadily pushed forward their 
advanced corps. They occupied Warsaw and Lime Creek, and 
advanced on the 29th of August to Lexington, Avhich they surrounded 
and attempted to capture, but were repulsed with a loss of eight killed 
and twenty woimded, and left the vicinity. The Federals still held 
Ironton, RoUa, and Cape Girardeau, and on the 19th of August five 
hundred men were sent from the latter place to relieve Commerce, forty 
miles below Cairo, 111., the capture of which by the Confederates 
would have suspended river communication with Cairo. General 
Pillow* occupied New Madrid, General Hardee f occupied Greenville, 
General Jeff. Thompson, Pikestown. On the other hand, General 
Prentiss commanded the Union forces from L'onton to Cairo, and 
operated in the direction of Hardee; and Grant was still at Jefferson 
City. On the 19th of August an engagement took place at Charles- 
town, Mo., between the National forces, about two hundred and fifty- 
strong, under command of Colonel Dougherty, and the Confederate 



♦Gideon J. Pillow was born in Williamson 
County, Tenn., in 1806. He commenced Ids mili- 
tary career in lb46, when be was appointed 
brigadier-general of volunteers. He was made 
major-general in the army April 13th, 1S17, and 
during a cam|)ai£n in Mexico commanded a divi- 
sion under General Scott. Ho was wounded at 
Cerro Gordo. In July, 1S48, his troops were dis- 
banded. Ho became a general in the Confederate 
forces, and was in command at Columbus, and 
subsequently at Fort Donelson, and Island No. 
Ten. Ho served throughout the war in the South- 
western States, but never acquired much distinc- 
"""• H« was included in the surrender of Gen- 
eral Taylors forces in May, ISfiS. 
icri(?^"i'i*'" ■'• ll'irdee was born in Georgia about 
IBIU. He entered the Military Academy at West 
iolnt in 1834; andin 183s was commissioned as 
Bccond-lieutenant of dragoons. In April, 1830, 
he was opcointed assist;int commissary of sub- 
Biutence, and in December of the same year was 
promoted to n first-lieutenancy. During the 
Mexican war ho was brevetted major for gallantry 
•tMedelln, near Vera Cruz, and on the 20th of 



August, 1847, lieutenant-colonel for services at St. 
Augustin. In 18C3 he was employed by the War 
Dep.artment to superintend the publishing of 
" liiflo and Light Infantry Tactics." In lSo6 he 
was appointed commauder of the corps of cadets, 
and instructor of cavalry, artillery, and infantry 
tactics. At the comniencenient of the war he 
offered his services to the Confederates, and was 
made a brigadier-general by them, and sent to 
Missouri to co-operate with Generals Price and 
liains. In 1862 he commanded a division in Gen- 
eral Polly's Corps, and particip.ated in the invasion 
of Kentucky by Bragg. In October he was made a 
lieutenant-general. Subsequently he had com- 
mand of a corps in Brairg's army, fought at Mur- 
freesboro', Chickamauira, and Chattanooga, and ia 
the campaign of 1864 heldahiixh command in John- 
ston's array. When Sherman advanced upon 
Savannah he occupied the city with fifteen 
thousand men, but retired into "South ("arolin.-v 
before the capitulation. He subsequently held 
command under Johnston in North Carolin.% and 
was included in the surrender of that general in 
May, 1865. ' 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJST. 153 

force, estimated at six to seven hundred, commanded by Colonel 
Hunter, of Jeff. Thompson's array. The National force was \'ictorious, 
completely routing the enemy, killino; forty, and taking seventeen 
prisoners. The National loss was one killed and eight woimded, among 
whom Avas Colonel Dougherty, slightly. Captain Noleman, with fifty- 
mounted men, left Bird's Point at about six o'clock, August 20th, for 
Chai-lestown, to join the forces under Colonel Dougherty, but failed to 
form a junction with them. They met a party of Confederates, about 
one hundred strong, and gave them battle, killing two, and taking 
thirty-three prisoners, also capturing thirty-five horses, without the 
loss of a man. 

Towards the close of August, troops began to collect in considerable 
numbers in St. Louis, and tlie necessary contracts for all descriptions of 
army supplies gave a stimulus to business, which was also increased 
by the construction of fortifications around St. Louis, which consisted 
of palisades, block-houses, and earthworks, on the west and south sides, 
so distributed that a small force could hold it, and the greater part of 
the troops be spared for other operations in the State. On the 16th of 
August, a train on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was fired into 
near Palmyra, and some soldiers killed. In consequence. General 
Pope sent Biigadier-General Ilurlbut into the county, with orders to 
levy contributions to the extent of fifteen thousand dollars. Guerrilla 
parties scoured the country west of Jefferson City, and a train with 
two hundred and fifty United States soldiers was fired into near that 
city, with loss of life. 

The boldness of the Confederate forces, and the number of recruits 
they were obtaining for guerrilla and army service in the western part of 
the State, evidently required severe measures of repression. During the 
month of August a considerable number of volunteers had arrived at 
St. Louis, and as fast as they could be armed and drilled for service, 
they were employed either in garrison duty at St. Louis, or, if they 
were sufiiciently disciplined for service, in protecting the line of the 
Missouri River, and the northern part of the State, which was threatened 
by marauding bands of secessionists. Notwithstanding the extraordi- 
nary efforts made by the commanding general to procure arms, there 
was yet less than half a supply for the force already collected. 

Believing that the proclamation of martial laAv against those con- 
cerned in promoting the lebellion, the confiscation of their property, 
and the freeing of their slaves, would be the most effectual blow he 
could then strike at secessionism in the State, since it would compel 
the secessionists to desist from their forays upon the property of Union 
men, in order to preserve their own, General Fremont issued, on the 
31st of August, the following proclamation: — 

" Head-Quarters of the Western DEPARTsrENT, ) 
St. Loucs, August Zlst, 1S61. ) 

" Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufBcient urgency, render it necessary that the 
commanding general of this department should assume the administrative powers of 
the State. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total 
insecurity of life, and the devastations of property by bands of murderers and marau- 
ders, who infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of tlie public 
misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood ven^ 



154 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

geance, and who find an enemy -u-licrever they find plunder, finally demand the severest 
measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the 
inhabitants and ruining the State. 

" In this condition the public safety and the success of our arms require unity of pur- 
pose, without let or hindrance, to the prompt administration of affairs. 

" In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now practicable the 
public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal 
citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the State 
of Missouri. 

" The lines of the army of occupation in the State are for the present declared to 
extend from Leavenworth, by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, 
to Cape Girardeau on the .Mississippi River. 

"All pcrsous who shall bo taken with arms in their hands, within these lines, shall 
be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty, will be shot. 

" The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall 
take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken 
an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public 
use, and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men. 

" All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this 
order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the 
law. 

" All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to 
the enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults, in disturbing the public tran- 
quillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their 
own interests warned that they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punish- 
ment. 

"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are required to return 
to their homes forthwith : any such absence, without sufficient cause, wih be held to be 
presumptive evidence against them. 

" Tlie object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the miUtary authorities 
the power lo give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies 
as the conditions of war demand. But it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tri- 
bunals of the country, where the law will be administered by the civil officers in the 
usual manner, and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably 
exercised. 

" The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public welfare, and in hia 
efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support 
of the loyal people of tho country. J. C. Fremont, 

" Major- General Commanding.'" 

On the day previous to the publication of this proclamation, but 
with direct reference to it, General Fremont had issued a special mili- 
tary order to the soldiers of the department, in which he rebuked the 
laxity and irregularities in discipline which had grown up with the 
progress of enlistment, and, referring to his forthcoming proclamation, 
l-eminded theni that the exercise of martial law over the people would 
require the enforcement of strict discipline among themselves, lest they 
should inflict the severities of that laAv on those who did not merit its 
penalties. lie also enjoined all officers to use the utmost prudence and 
circurrispcction in the discharge of their duties, to protect and avoid 
harassing innocent persons, &c. 

The iiromulgation of this proclamation produced great excitement 
throughout the country, though much more in other States than in 
Missouri, where but slight objection was made to it, even by those who 
were personally hostile to the General. It was an advance in the 
direction ot emancipation upon the Confiscation Act, approved by the 
1 resident on the Gth of August previous, inasmuch as that act provided 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOH". 155 

only for the forfeiture and emancipation of the slaves of rebels, when 
such slaves had been actually employed in hostile service of any kind 
against the Government of the United States. The President, there- 
fore, addressed a letter to General Fremont, requesting him to modify 
the proclamation so as to make it correspond with the Confiscation 
Act, to which the General rej^lied, expressing his preference that the 
President should himself make the modification. Accordingly, on the 
11th of September, a letter from Mr. Lincoln to Major-General Fre- 
mont was published, in which, after stating the above facts, he con- 
cludes as follows : — 

"It is therefore ordered that the said clause of said proclamation [the clr^iise in rela- 
tion to the contiscation of property and the liberation of slaves] be so modified, held, 
and construed as to conform with, and not to transcend, the provisions on the same 
subject contained in the act of Congress, entitled ' An Act to confiscate property used 
for insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6th, 1861 ; and that the said act be 
published at length with this order." 

Previous to the reception of this order, General Fremont had 
granted deeds of manumission to two slaves of Thomas L. Snead, an 
active and prominent rebel of St. Loids. 

An incident, having no connection with this proclamation, occurred 
at this juncture to increase the feeling against General Fremont. 
Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General of the United States, and hia 
brother, the Hon. Francis P. Blair, Jr., a member of Congress from 
St. Louis, had been friends of the General, and had requested from the 
President his assignment to the Western Department, and Francis P. 
Blair, Jr., had taken command of a volunteer regiment raised in St. 
Louis, Disapproving, however, of his commander's management, 
Colonel Blair wrote to his brother on the 1st of September (after the 
promulgation of the order above cited), complaining of want of disci- 
pline in the army which General Fremont was collecting, and closed 
his letter thus : — 

" My decided opinion is, that he should b^ relieved of his command, and a man of 
ability put in his place. The sooner it is done the better." 

On hearing of this letter. General Fremont, in accordance with the 
articles of war, caused the arrest of Colonel Blair, and asked from the 
President a copy of the letter. The Postmaster-General replied, for- 
warding a copy of the letter, and requesting his brother's release from 
arrest. General Fremont complied with his request, releasing Colonel 
Blair, and directing him to resume the command of his regiment. 
This he refused to do, but early in October addressed a series of 
charges against the General to Adjutant-General Thomas. Among the 
specifications of these charges were, that General Fremont had filled 
to repair promptly to St. Louis and enter upon his duties ; that he had 
neglected to re-enforce Lyon and Mulligan ; that he suffered Brigadier- 
General Hurlburt, " a common drunkard," to continue in command ; 
that he refused to see people who sought his presence on matters of 
urgent business ; that he had violated the President's orders in the mat- 
ter of his proclamation of August 31st; that he had made efforts 
to procure commendation from his officers j that he persisted in 



156 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 

keeping disreputable persons in his employ ; and that he had unjustly 
suppressed the St. Louis Eveniiig News. Otlier parties, about the 
sametime, made complaints through the public prints of his extrava- 
gance in his purchases, of his unnecessarily fortifying St. Louis, of his 
having given contracts to California sjieculators, and of his wasting 
the public money in the construction of gunboats. 

No trial was had on these charges, although they were the subject 
of two special ex parte investigations ; and it may be remarked that 
subsequent developments, the course of his successor. General Halleck, 
and his own appointment to another important independent command, 
appear to have exonerated him at least from those which were most 
insisted upon. 

We will now proceed with the narrative of events. The Federal 
garrison of Lexington, which, on the 29th of August, had repulsed 
a greatly superior force of rebel troops, consisted of only four hundred 
and thirty men. There was reason to suppose that General Price in- 
tended to attack the place so soon as his forces, which were collecting 
at Springfield, should become sufficiently large to enable him to do so. 
Accordingly, on the 1st of September, General Fremont ordered 
Colonel Mulligan, then at Jefferson City, in command of the Irish 
brigade, to re-enforce the garrison at Lexington, which, though in- 
trenched, needed a larger body of troops. Colonel Mulligan arrived 
at tlie town on the 9th of September. It lies on the south side of the 
Missouri River (which here flows from west to east), one hundred and 
twenty miles west of Jefferson City, and contained at that time not 
far fron\ five thousand inhabitants. It is situated on a high rocky bluff, 
which slopes almost precipitously directly down to the bed of the river, 
making a very steep ascent from the landing up into the city. Old 
Lexington was the early settlement, situated back on the hill. It has 
been superseded by New Lexington, fiirther up the river, where the 
steamboat landmg now is, and which is the princii)al vi]lnf,'e. There 
are scattering houses along the bluff between the two, and both are 
now united under the name of Lexington. From the rear of the city 
the land recedes slightly in alternate successions of beautiful prairie 
and choice timber, and is well occupied by finely-cultivated farms, yield- 
ing a rich support to this hitherto thriving place. 

The re-enforcements brought by Colonel Mulligan raised the whole 
strength of \\iQ garrison to about eighteen hundred men, including 
several hundred home guards. His artillery consisted of five brass 
pieces and two mortars, but the mortars were valueless, as he had no 
shells. He at once commenced increasing and strengthening the forti- 
fications, which were placed on Masonic Hill, between the old and new 
towns tmd consisted of earthworks ten feet in height, with a ditch 
ei.-r hth feet in width. Within these fortifications Was a solid brick 
building erected for a college, which was used as quarters for the 
Lniou soldiers, and had been strengthened to resist an artillery attack. 
Jne lines of the fortifications were extensive, and were capable of con- 
taining a force of ten thousand men. 

frni" t'"" •'^'^' ^^ September a detachment of the Federal troops went 
irom Lexmgton to Warrensburg, twenty miles distant, and took a 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOI^". 157 

quantity of coin from the bank there, but were pursued by the Con- 
federate forces under General Price, who was in the vicinity of War- 
rensburg. They reached Lexington on the 11th, and on the 12th the 
Federal pickets were driven in by skirmishers from the advance-guard 
of the Confederates, under command of General Rains, who attacked 
them with nine pieces of artillery, but was repulsed. Skirmishes 
occurred every day after this, and meantime the Confederate force 
was constantly increasing. Colonel Mulligan dispatched messengers to 
Jefferson City for re-enforcements, but they were captured. General 
Fremont had, however, learned of his critical position, and made 
efforts to relieve him, but unsuccessfully. The Confederates had sur- 
rounded the town, and their force was so large that they could repel 
the troops sent to the relief of the beleaguered toAvn. Fifteen hundred 
Iowa troops, who had arrived within sixteen miles of the river, were 
met by a greatly superior force and compelled to retire. Major Stur- 
gis, with four thousand more, reached the north bank of the river a 
few miles below, but the Confederates had destroyed or captured all 
the ferry-boats for miles above and below, and they could not cross in 
time. General Lane, from the south-west, near the Kansas River, and 
Colonel Davis, from the south-east, had both been sent forward, and 
their united forces amounted to eleven thou.sand men ; but they could 
not reach the scene of action till it was too late. 

Aftairs, meantime, were getting desperate with the besieged. On 
the 17th the water gave out, and the Confederates had cut them off 
from the river, while the shells, falling into the intrenchments, where 
their cattle, horses, and mules were picketed, and their train was 
placed, produced great havoc. Rations also began to grow short, and 
the home guard were becoming discouraged and mutinous. On (he 
18th, General Price sent a summons to Colonel Mulligan to surrender, 
to which that gallant commander replied: " If you want us, you must 
take us." The sufferings of the Federal troops for water were very 
severe. A shower of rain filling, they spread out their blankets, and, 
absorbing what they could of it, wrung it out and drank it. The 
moon through the nights shone brightly, and the firing night and day 
was incessant. It was evident, however, to the gallant Colonel, that 
his little force could not hold out longer, and, after several desperate 
charges of the enemy had been repulsed, he sent out a flag of truce for 
a parley on the aftei-noou of the 20th September. The only terms 
General Price would grant were unconditional surrender, the officers to 
be retained as prisoners of war, the men to be allowed to depart with 
their personal property, surrendering their arms and accoutrements. 

Reluctantly this was acceded to, and the surrender took place. At 
four p. M. on Saturday, the 21st, the Federal forces, having laid down 
their arms, were marched out of the intrenchments to the tune of 
"Dixie," played by the rebel band. They left behind them their arms 
and accoutrements, reserving only their clothing. The prisoners were 
first made to take the oath not to serve against the Confederate States, 
when they were sent across the river, and, in charge of General Rains, 
marched to Richmond, sixteen miles j from there they were marched 
to Harville and released. 



158 niSTOET OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 

The Confederate General Price, in his official report, stated the re- 
sults as follows : 

" Our entire loss in this series of engagements amounts to twenty-five killed and 
sevent3--two wounded. The enemy's loss was much greater. The visible fruits of this 
almost bloodless victory are great. About three thousand five hundred prisoners, among 
whom are Colonels Mulligan, Marshall, Teabody, and Whitigrover, Major Van Horn 
and one hundred and eighteen other commissioned officers, five pieces of artillery, and 
two mortars, over thirty-three thousand stand of infantry arms, a large number of 
sabres, about seven hundred and fifty horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wag- 
ons, teams, ammunition, more than one hundred thousand dollars worth of commis- 
sary stores, and a large amount of other property. In addition to all this, I obtained 
the restoration of the great seal of the State and the public records, which had been 
stolen from their proper custodian, and about nine hundred thousanrl dollars in money, 
of which the bank at this place had been robbed, and which I have caused to be re- 
turned to it." 

There is good reason t() believe that Price's return of killed and 
wounded was much greater than he has stated. His return of prison- 
ers captured is grossly inaccurate. 

The force of Colonel Mulligan had been weakened by the desertion 
of many of the home guard, and at the time of his surrender the num- 
ber of officers and men was actually only two thousand six hundred 
and forty. The Confederate force was about twenty-one thousand live 
hundred. The loss of men sustained on the Federal side, in the course 
of the siege, was forty-two killed and one hundred and eight wounded. 

General Fremont learned of the surrender on the 2:3d, and immedi- 
ately forwarded to Washington the following dispatch : 

"Head-Quarters "Western Department, 
"St. Louis, September 23d, 1861. 
" Colonel E. D. Townsend, Adjutant- General: 

"I have a dispatch from Brookfield that Lexington has fallen into Price's hands, he 
having cut off Mulligan's supply of water. Re-enforcements, four thousand strong, 
under Sturgis, by the capture of ferry-boats, had no means of crossing the river in 
time. Lane's forces, from the southwest, and Davis's, from the southeast, upwards of 
eleven thousand in all, could also not get there in time. I am takmg the field myself, 
and hope to destroy the enemy either before or after the junction of the forces under 
McCuUoch. Please notify the President immediately. 

"J. C. Fremont, 
" Major- General Coiniiianding .'''' 

There was considerable excitement throughout the country at the 
intelligence of General Mulligan's surrrender, and there were not 
wauting those who bestowed severe censure upon General Fremont 
for not re-enforcing him; but when the circumstances were fully under- 
stood, it appeared that these censures were unjust. Colonel Mulligan 
himself declared that General Fremont was not in fault. The troops 
he had ordered to Lexington to aid the besieged were more than three- 
fourths of his entire avaihiblc f)rce at this tiine. 

Pursuant to liis telegraphic dispatch to the Government, under 
date of September 2;kl, General Fremont, on the 27tli of Septem- 
ber, left St. Louis for Jefterson City, and soon concentrated there 
twenty thousand men, preparatory to an advance on Lexingtou. 
Price, at Lexington, had meantime been preparing for an otfensive 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 159 

movement. His eiFective force was about twenty thousand. On 
September 28th he crossed over the river at Lexington, with four 
thousand mounted men. This force took up its line of march for the 
railroad, with the view of its total destruction, after which sad 
havoc was to have been made with all the Government forces in 
Northwest Missoiiri. But intelligence received from some of his spies 
at St. Louis and Jefterson City, led him to change his plans; Fremont 
was approacliing, and might cut him off from his base in Southwestern 
Missouri. He therefore countermanded his order for sending troops 
to the railroad, and a messenger having been immediately dispatched 
after those already started, they recrossed the river on Sunday morn- 
ing. That night Price issued orders for a movement south. In the 
mean time General Sturgis, who had been holding St. Joseph's, came 
down from the north in time to shell the rear-guard of Price from 
across the river, as they left Lexington; and General Hunter approached 
with his troops from Rolla. Price and all his force left on the 30th in 
the direction of Papinsville, but returned to Greenfield on the road to 
Springfield. General Fremont, who had followed westward as far as 
Warsaw, crossed the Osage River there after a short delay to bridge 
it, and moved towards Springfield by forced marches. General Sigel, 
leaving Bolivar, also pitslied for Springfield. On the 25th of October, 
a rear-guard of two thousimd Confederates, who held Springfield, was 
charged by three hmidred of the body-guard of General Fremont, 
under Major Zagonyi, and routed, with a loss of ninety killed and 
wounded, the Federals losing fifteen killed, twenty-seven wounded, 
and ten missing. On the 27th, General Fremont occupied Springfield, 
after forced marches, in which his troops had suffered terribly. Mean- 
while Lexington had been reoccupied by a ^"fideral force. While 
Price was retreating, McCulloch was advancing from the south, 
and these two formed a junction, with which they again menaced 
Springfield. 

The charges agninst General Fremont had led the Secretary of War, 
Hon. Simon Camei-on, to visit Missouri in person, taking with him 
Adjutant-General Thomas. They made a rapid visit to St. Louis, and 
to the camp of the general at Tipton, and on their return to St. Louis 
transmitted to General Fremont the following order : — 

"St. Louis, Mo., October Uth, 18G1. 

"General: — The Secretary of War directs me to communicate the following, as his 
instructions for your government. 

"In view of the heavy sums due, especially in the quartermaster's department in 
this city, amounting to some §4,500,000. it is important that the money which may 
now be-in the hands of the disbursing officers, or be received by them, be applied to 
the current expenses of your army in Missouri, and these debts to remain unpaid until 
they can be properly examined, and sent to Washington for settlement; the disbursing 
oflScers of the army to disburse the funds, and not transfer them to irresponsible agents 
— in other words, those who do not hold commissions from the President, and are not 
under bonds. All contracts necessary to be made, to be made b}^ the disbursing officers. 
The senior quartermaster here has been verbally instructed by the Secretary as above. 

"It is deemed imnecessary to erect field-works around this city, and you will direct 
their discontinuance; also those, if any, in cour.se of construction at Jeflerson City. lu 
this connection it is seen that a number of commissions have been given by you. No 
payments will be made to such officers, except to those whose appointments have been 



160 HESTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOjST. 

approved by tho President. This, of course, does not apply to the officers with Tolun- 
teer troops. Colonel Andrews has been verbally so instructed by the Secretary; also, 
not to make transfers of funds except for the purpose of paying the troops. 

" The erection of barracks near your quarters in this eity to be at once discontinued. 

"The .Secretary ha.s been informed that tlio troops of General Lane's command are 
committing depredations on our friends in Western Missouri. Your attention is di- 
rected to this, in the expectation that you will apply the corrective. 

"Major .Mien desires tlie services "of Captain Turnley for a short time, and tlio 
Secretary hopes you may find it proper to accede thereto. I have the honor to be, 
very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"L. Thomas, Adjutant- General. 
" Major-General J. C. Fremont, 

^^ Commanding Department of the West, Tipton, Mo^ 

This order indicated that his removal was intended, but he still 
pushed on after the enemy, resolved, if possible, to achieve a victory 
before laying down his command. On the 2d of November, however, 
he received at Springfield an order to transfer his command to Major- 
General Hunter, with Avhich he promptly complied, and after issuing 
a farewell order, taking leave of his troops, he left for St. Louis, his 
staff and body-guard accompanying him. On the day |)revious to his 
removal, he had entered into an agreement with the Confederate 
General Price, by which both parties bound themselves to break up 
the practice of arrests for the mere entertainment or expression of 
political opinions, and to protect peaceable citizens in their houses. 
This aofreement General Himter repudiated on the Yth of November 
The Federal force in Missouri at that time was estimated at twenty- 
seven thousand men, of whom five thousand were under the i-mme- 
ditite command of General Hunter, four thousand under General Sigel, 
four thousand five hundred under General Asboth, five thousand five 
hundred under General McKinstry, four thousand under General Pope, 
two thousand five hundred under General Lane, and one thousand five 
hundred under General Sturgis. It was understood that General Price 
was at Cassville with twenty-five thousand men, and that McCuUoch, 
with ten thousand more, was advancing with the intention of offer- 
ing battle at Wilson's Creek, the scene of their former victory. 
The Union army was concentrating. Generals Lane, Sturgis, Pope, 
and McKinstry reached Springfield November 2d, and General 
Asboth, who accompanied General Fremont to St. Louis, left his 
division in charge of General Carr. 



CHAPTER Xn. 

Kentucky.— Vote of the State.— Meeting of Legislature.— Message of Governor.— 
Kentucky for the Union. — Breckinridge's Proclamation. — Military Movements.— 
vrn"'~'^''-'^"™^^"^' '^^ Position and Strength.— Paducah.— Concentration of Troops.— 
Mill Spnng.— Defeat and Death of Zollicoffer.— Construction of Gunboats.— Capture 
VI r 'If^O'-— Cowhng Green Evacuated.— Fort Donelson.— Escape of Pillow and 
iloyu.— FaU of Nashville.— Columbus Evacuated.— Missouri under General Halleck. 

The State of Kentucky attempted to maintain her neutrality for 
Beveral months after her Governoi', Magofiin, had peremptorily refused 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOaS-^. 161 

to supply troops at the call of tlie President, when the fall of Sumter 
had aroused the North. The address already alluded to, which was 
issued in May, to the people of Kentucky, while advisinjf that she 
should remain true to the Constitution and the Union, and insist upon 
her constitutional rights in the Union, defended neutrality in the fol- 
lowing language : — 

" Your State, on a deliberate consideration of her responsibilities — moral, political, 
and social — has determined that the proper course for Iier to pursue is to take no 
part in tlie controversy between the Government and the seceded States but that 
of mediator and intercessor. She is unwilling to tatce up arms against her brethrea 
residing either north or south of the geograpliical line by which they are unhappily 
divided into warring sections. This course was commended to her by every considera- 
tion of patriotism, and by a proper regard for her own security. It does not result 
from timidity; on the contrary, it could only have been adopted by a brave people — 
so brave that the least imputation on their courage would be branded as false by their 
written and traditional history. 

" Kentucky was riglit in taking this position — because, from the commencement of 
this deplorable controversy, her voice was for reconciliation, compromise, and peace. 
She had no cause for complaint against the General Government, and made none. The 
injuries she sustained in her property from a failure to execute laws passed for its pro- 
tection, in consequence of illegal interference by wicked and deluded citizens of the 
Free States, she considered as wholly insufficient to justify a dismemberment of the 
Union. That slie regarded as no remedy for existing evils, but an aggravation of them 
ail. She witnessed, it is true, with deep concern, the growth of a wild and frenzied 
fanaticism in one section, and a reckless and defiant spirit in another, both equally 
threatening destruction to the country, and tried earnestly to ari-est them, but in vairu 
"We will not stop to trace the causes of the unhappy condition in which we are now 
placed, or to criminate either of the sections to the dishonor of the other, but can say 
that we believed Loth to have been wrong, and, in their madness and folly, to have 
inaugurated a war that the Christian world looks upon with amazement and sorrow ; 
and that liberty, Christianity, and civilization stand appalled at the horrors to which it 
will give rise." 

The address was signed by J. J. Crittenden, President; James 
Guthrie, li. K. Williams, Archibald Dixon, F. M. Bristow, Joshua F. 
Bell, C. A. Wicklifle, G. W. Dunlap, C. S. Morehead,* J. F- Robinson, 
John B, Huston, Robert Richardson. Ex-Governor Morehead, who 
signed this document, was subsequently arrested and conliued in Fort 
Lafayette on a charge of treason. 

So restricted had the intercourse between the North and South now 
become, that communication was to a great extent closed, except by 
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. It had been lung manifest that 
the blockade of the South could not be complete until the transit of 
supplies by this route Avas cut off. The doubtful position of Ken- 
tucky, however, made this interference with her internal trade a deli- 
cate matter. The road in question is one hundied and eighty-five 
miles long, of which only forty-seven miles are in the State of Tennes- 
see ; and the greater part of the cost of building an<l equipping it had 
been sustained by citizens of Kentucky. On the 1st of July, a Ten- 
nessee general, Anderson, ordered the company to keep more rolling 

* Mr. Moreheart appended to the address the fol- General Government to prosecute the civil war 
lowing explanation : " I have sia;ned the foregoing now soing on. and the policy of neutrality, with- 
address, because I approve of the policy therein out considering myself committed to all that is 
indicated, of j-efusing to furnish troops to the | said upon other matters. C. S. Mokehead." 

11 



1G2 HISTOPvY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

Stock in Kashvillo, To tliis James Guthrie, of Kentucky, president 
of the road, repUed that he was not under the military orders of Ten- 
nessee. General Anderson consequently seized two trains going out 
of Nashville, and one that came in, and then demanded a fiir division 
of the rolling stock. Mr, Guthrie, in response, implied assent, if he 
could have a guarantee against further interference. This brought 
out Governor Harris, of Tennessee, as the real mo^•e^ in the matter. 
Mr. Guthrie then refused assent, whereupon Governor Harris imme- 
diately closed the road; an act of great folly, since it stopped supplies, 
of which the South was much in need, coming from Louisville, and 
not orjjy elTectcd that completion of the blockade which the Federal 
Government sought, but decided Kentucky in favor of the Union, by 
placing the Confederates clearly in the wrong. All further questions 
in relation to the blockade were thus disposed of There were, in- 
deed, other routes for supplies through Kentucky, but the closing of 
that road gave such a turn to affairs as to decide the whole question. 

Towards the close of the summer a small encampment of Union 
troops, called " Camp Dick Robinson," was formed in Garrard County, 
which was complained of as an infringement of neutrality. It was 
stated, however, in reply, that the troops were assembled at the call 
of the Union men of Kentucky to defend the State in case of in- 
vasion. Commissioners were sent to President Lincoln in August to 
remonstrate against the presence of the force and demand its removal 
from the State, in order that peace might be preserved. The President 
refused to comply with this demand, stating that citizens of Kentucky 
had requestcd^ the troops to remain. A similar letter was sent to 
Jefferson Davis, in consequence of the invasion of Kentucky by a 
Tennessee force, and the fact that the Confederate Congress had, 
August 18th, jvassed an act authorizing the enlistment of troops in 
Kentucky. Davis replied, to the effect that neutralitv, to be entitled 
to respect, must be strictly maintained towards both parties. The 
Legislature of Kentucky met September 3d, and a large barbecue 
was held on the 5th. These events caused great alarm among Union- 
ists, the more so that the State Guard was invited to attend. They 
were about fifteen thousand strong, and under the conti-ol of the 
secessionists of the State. Their fears, however, proved to be ground- 
less. The Legislature stood— Senate, twenty-seven Union, eleven 
secession ; House, seventy-six Union, twenty-four secession. The • 
message of the Governor asserted the right of Kentucky to a neutral 
position, and that she had not approved of the sectional i)arty in the 
Iree States, or of the secession of the Southern States. He complained 
that Kentucky had suffered outrages from both sides ; that a Federal 
camp had been organized in the State without the State authorities 
bemg consulted, and declared that troops in Kentucky should be 
obtained under authority of its constitution only. He therefore ad- 
vised the passage of resolutions requesting the disbanding of the mili- 
t.ary bodies not under State authority. About the same time a body 
oi l^ontederate troops, under General Leonidas Polk, entered the State, 
ana intrenched themselves at Hickman and Columbus. Governor 
Juagottm immediately received a dispatch from General Grant, com- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 163 

manding at Cairo, stating that Tennessee troops had entered Columbus. 
Governor Magoffin telegraphed to Governor Harris, protesting against 
this, to which Governor Harris replied, that he would request President 
Davis to withdraw the troops at once. General Polk issued the fol- 
lowing proclamation at Columhus, Kentucky, September 14th: — 

"Tlie Federal Government having, in defiance of the wishes of the people of 
Kentucky, disregarded their neutrality by establishing camp depots of armies, and by 
organizing military companies within her territory, and by constructing military works on 
the Missouri shore, immediatelj' opposite and commanding Columbus, evidently in- 
tended to cover the landing of troops for the seizure of that town, it has become a 
military necessity, for the defence of the territory of the Confederate States, that tho 
Confederates occupy Columbus in advance. The major-general commanding has, there- 
fore, not felt himself at liberty to risk the loss of so important a position, but has de- 
cided to occupy it in pursuance of this decision. He has thro^vn sufficient force into 
the town, and ordered to fortify it. It is gratifying to know that the presence of his 
troops is acceptable to the people of Columbus, and on this occasion he assures them 
that every precaution shall be taken to insure their quiet, protection to their property, 
with personal and corporate rights." 

In consequence of this movement of General Polk, General Grant 
left Cairo on the 6th with two regiments of infantry, one company of 
light nrtillery, and two gunboats, and took possession of Paducah, 
Kentucky, near the mouth of the Tennessee River. He found secession 
flags flying in difierent parts of the city, in expectation of tlie arrival 
of the Southern army, which was reported three thousand eight 
hundred strong, sixteen miles distant. The loyal citizens tore down 
the secession flags on the arrival of the Federal troops. 

General Grant took possession of the telegraph office, railroad dcp6t, 
and marine hospital. He found large quantities of complete rations 
and leather for the Southern army. He then issued the following proc- 
lamation : — 

" I have come among you, not as an enemy, but as your fellow-citizen. Not to 
maltreat or annoy you, but to respect and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. 

" An enemy in rebeOion against our common Government has taken possession of 
and planted his guns on tlie soil of Kentucky and fiied upon you. Columbus and 
Hickman are in bis hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here to defend you 
against this enemy, to assist the authority and sovereignty of your Government. 

" I have nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and 
its aiders and abettors. Tou can pursue your usual avocations without fear. The 
strong arm of the Government is here to protect its fi-iends and punish its enemies. 

" Whenever it is manifest tliat you are able to defend yourselves, and maintain the 
authority of the Government, and protect the rights of loyal citizens, I shall Avithdiaw 
the forces under my command. 

" U. S. Graxt, Brigadier- General Comvianding." 

On the 9th, the following statement by four commissioners, appointed 
from Tennessee to maintain friendly relations with Kentucky, was 
communicated by Governor Magoffin to the Legislature : — 

" The undersigned yesterday received a verbal message, through a messenger, from 
Governor Harris. The message was — that he (Governor Harris) had, by telegraph 
dispatch, requested General Polk to withdraw the Confedera;e troops from Kentucky, 
and that General Polk had declined to do so; that Governor Harris then telegraphed 
to Secretary Walker, at Richmond, requesting that General Polk be ordered to with- 
draw his troops from Kentucky, and that such order was issued from the War Depart- 
ment of the Confederacy ; that General Polk replied to the War Department that the 



164 HISTOKT OF THE GREAT REBELLION 

rotontion of tlio post was n, military necessity, and that the retiring from it would be 
attended by the loss of many lives." 

On the same day a dispatch from General Polk to Governor Ma- 
goflin was laid before the Legislature, the substance of whicli was, 
lh.it he had occupied Columbua and llickinan, on account of reliable 
information that tlie Federal forces were about to occupy these points ; 
that he considered the safety of Western Tennessee and of the Con- 
federate army in the vicinity of Hickman and Cohimbus demanded 
their occupation by the Confederate forces ; and that, in corroboration 
of these statements, the Federal troops had been drawn up in line on 
the river opposite to Columbus ])rior to its occupation by the Confeder- 
ate forces, causing many of tlie citizens of Culumbus to flee from 
their homes, for fear of the entrance of the Federal troojxs. General 
Polk proposed substantially, that the Federal and Confederate forces 
should be simultaneously withdrawn from Kentucky, and enter into 
recognizances and stipulations to respect the neutrality of that State. 

It was so evident that the purpose of this ])roposal was to place 
Kentucky in a condition favorable to her being dragged into secession, 
that the loyal Legislature had no hesitation in regard to the course to 
be pursued. On the 11th of September tlie House of Representatives 
adopted a series of resolutions directing the Governor to call out the 
military of the State to expel the Confederate troops, encamped on the 
soil of Kentucky. The vote on the passage of the resolutions stood 
seventy-one in favor to twenty-six against. Tlie House then refused to 
amend the resolutions, in order to require both the Federal and Con- 
federate troops to evacuate the State. The Governor vetoed tlie res- 
olutions passed. IJoth houses, however, immediately passed them 
over his veto. 

Meantime, General Felix Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, had, with a large 
body of rebel troops, marched through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. 
He telegraphed to Governor Magoffin on September 14th that the 
safety of Tennessee demanded the occupation of Cumberland Gap and 
the three long moimtahis in Kentucky, and that he should hold them 
until tbe Union forces were withdrawn. This was laid before the 
Legislature. 

The decision expressed by the resolutions above mentioned Avas 
hailed with great satisfaction by the friends of Union. It is difficult 
to exaggerate the importance of this act on the part of the State. 
Whether viewed in its relation to the material or moral aspects of 
the civil strife in the land, the active adhesion of Kentucky to the 
Union cause was a momentous event. But it was. specially valuable 
for the testimony it bore to the rightfulness and the necessity of the 
bclhgerent issue which the National Government had been compelled 
to accept. Colonel Thomas L. Crittenden, of the Sixth Indiana Kegi- 
'm "^'<^^*^^ the iirst to bring troops in aid of the State; and Governor 
iVlagoffiii it^sued his proclamation, ordering him to execute the objects 
contemplated by the resolutions of the Kentucky Legislature in refer- 
ence to the expulsion of the invaders. General Crittenden ordered 
ine nnhtary to nuister forthwith into service. Hamilton Pope, Briga- 



niSTOKY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 165. 

dier-General of the Home Guard, also called on the people of each 
ward to meet in the evening, and organize into companies for the 
protection of the city. 

General Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, hy order of the 
Federal Government, assumed command of the State and National 
forces on September 20th, and issued the following proclamation, 
September 21st : — 

" Kentuckians : — Called by the Legislature of this my native State, I hereby assume 
command of this department. 1 come to enforce, not to make laws, and, Ood willinji;, 
to protect your properly and lives. The enemies of the country have dared to invade 
our soil. Kentucky is in danger. She lias vainly striven to keep ixrJka with her 
neighbors. Our State is now invaded Vjy those who professed to bo her friends, 
but who now seek to conquer her. No true son of Kentucky can longer hesitate as to 
his duty to his State and ajuntry. The invaders must, and, God willing, will be ex- 
pelled. The leader of the hostile forces [General Buckner] who now approaches is, I 
regret to say, a Kentuckian, making war on Kentucky and Kentuckians. I^et all past 
difl'erences of opinion bo overlooked. Iwery one wlio now rallies to the support of our 
Union and our State is a friend. Rally, then, my countrymen, around the flag our 
fathers loved, and which has shielded us so long. I call you to arms for self-defence, 
and for the protection of all that is dear to freemen. Let us trust in God, and do our 
duty as did our fathers. Robkut Andeiu5on, 

" Brigadier- General U. S. A." 

Brigadier-General Crittenden also issued a proclamation calling for 
troops, and directing the State Guard to rendezvous at Louisville. 
Immediately upon the appearance of these documents, General A. S. 
Johnston, general and commander of the Western Department of the 
army of the Confederate States^ head-quarters at Memphis, issued a 
counter-proclamation, to the effect that his troops were present to aid 
the people of Kentucky in maintaining their neutrality, by helping 
them to drive out the Federal invaders. Thus was Kentucky launched 
into the contest for the maintenance of the Government and the pres- 
ervation of the Union. On the 23d of September, a bill was passed 
by her Legislature, authorizing a loan of one million dollars, for the 
defence of the State, in addition to a like sum authorized May 24th, in 
State bonds, payable in ten years, and levying a tax to pay the bonds 
and interest. A bill calling out forty thousand volunteers was also 
passed — sixty-seven to thirteen in the House, twenty-one to five in the 
Senate — to serve one to three years ; and one declaring that Kentuck- 
ians voluntarily taking service with the Confederate States shouM be 
incapable of acquiring real estate in Kentucky, unless they returned to 
their allegiance within sixty days. Thanks were returned to Ohio, 
Illinois, and Indiana, for forwarding troops to the State's aid. On the 
1st of October, a resolution was passed — twenty to five in the Senate, 
fifty-five to thirty-one in the House — requesting John C. Breckinridge 
and L. W. Powell to resign their seats as senators in Congress. 
Should they fail to comply, Congress was requested to investigate their 
conduct, and if it was found to be in opposition to the Government, to 
expel them. The banks of Kentucky ])romised to furnish their quota 
of the two loans of a million dollars each, which had been authorized 
in May and September. Under these laws, the State was brought 
fully into the field, with arms and money, for the cause of the Union. 



166 HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

The Legislature then adjourned until November 27th, having issued 
an address to tlie people of the State, in which it was declared that 
the neutral attitude of Kentucky had heen admitted by the United 
States, but violated by the Confederates, leaving the State no choice 
but to exert its authority and drive out the invaders. In the mean 
time, the Confederates continued to pour across the border, and gradu- 
ally concentrated to the number of thirteen regiments of infantry, six 
field batteries, three battalions of cavalry, with three steamboats on 
the Mississippi River, at Columbus under Generals Polk and Pillow, 
and at Cumberland Gap under General ZoUicofter. General Buckner, 
formerly commander of the State forces, to whose treachery the Legis- 
lature charged the demoralization of the State troops, appeared within 
twenty-five miles of Louisville. He had advanced under assurances 
of large re-enforcements, but as these were not forthcoming, he fell 
back upon Bowling Green. 

The difierent recruiting stations and points occupied by the Confed- 
erates for offensive operations in Kentucky, at the beginning of Octo- 
ber, were estimated to contain forces numbering as follows : — 

Hickman, under General Polk 10,000 

Bowling Green, under General Buckner 7,000 

Cumberland Gap, under General ZoUicoffer 5, 000 

Owen County, under Humphrey Marshall 600 

"Warsaw 400 

Near Hazel Green, under J. C. Breckinridge 800 

Near West Point ." 300 

Bloomfield • 200 



Total rebel forces in Kentucky. 24,300 

The Union forces near Louisville numbered twenty thousand. 
Considerable bodies of. troops also continued to pour in from Ohio 
and Indiana, centring at Covington and other points. There had 
been numerous organizations, under the name of home guards, in the 
State, for drill and elementary instruction. These embraced many 
troops who ultimately left the State, the larger portion joining the 
Confederates, though some were incorporated with Federal troops. 

The force under ZoUicoffer had a slight skirmish at Barbourville, 
September 18th, with the home guards at that place. The Confeder- 
ates had been scouring the country to Winchester, committing more 
or less depredations, and on October 1st retreated to Cumberland 
Ford, which they fortified. This is fifteen miles within the Kentucky 
hne, and thus commanded Cumberland Gap in their rear, a point very- 
essential to communication between Kentucky and Western Virginia. 
A Federal force of Ohio and Indiana troops, with some Kentucky- 
volunteers, under the command of General Sehoepf, was about this 
time assembled at Camp Wild Cat, in Southeastern Kentucky ; and on 
the 21 St of October, Colonel Coburn, of the Thirty-third Indiana, pur- 
suant to orders, took three hundred and fifty inen, with a portion of 
Colonel Woolford's Kentucky Cavalry, and advanced to take posses- 
sion of an eminence, half a mile to the east of the camp. This force 
■was attacked by two regiments of Zollicoffer's trgops, who, shouting 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 167 

that they were Union men, approached within a short distance, and 
took deliberate aim before the falsehood was discovered. The Indiana 
troops, not relishing this cowardly trick, returned a well-directed and 
steady fire, and tlie enemy precipitately retired. During the engage- 
ment Colonel Coburn was twice re-enforced, and repelled two successive 
attacks made by ZoUicofler's troops, who finally retired to Barbour- 
ville. The Federal loss was six killed and twenty wounded. The 
rebel loss was much more considerable. General Schoepf's head-quar- 
ters were soon after established at Somerset, thirty miles cast of Lon- 
don, where he had command of about seven thousand men, or, with 
the force at Camp Calvert, ten thousand. General George B. Critten- 
den commanded the Confederate troops in East Tennessee and East 
Kentucky, and was at Cumberland with a lai-ge force, threatening East 
Kentucky. There were also a number of Union troops at London and 
Wild Cat, on the Lexington and Cumberland road. 

General Buckner, on occupying Bowling Green, issued a proclama- 
tion to the people of Kentucky, dated September 18th. He charged 
the Legislature with having been faithless to the will of tlie people, and 
asserted that it was only alter the State had, under the proclamation 
of President Lincoln, been occupied by United States troops, that the 
Confederates entered the State ; also, that the Confederate troops, on 
the invitation of the citizens of Kentucky, entered the State to assume 
a defensive position only. 

""We do not," said he, " come to molest any citizen, whatever may be his political 
opinions. Unlike the agent of the Northern despotism, who seek to reduce us to the 
condition of dependent vassals, we believe that the recognition of the civU rights of 
citizens is the foundation of constitutional liberty, and that the claim of the President 
of the United States to declare martial kw, to suspend the privilege of the writ of 
habeas corpus^ and to convert every barrack and prison in the land into a Bastile, is 
nothing but the claim which other tyrants have assumed to subjugate a free people. 
The Confederate States occupy Bowling Green as a defensive position." 

The southern portion of Kentucky was now in complete possession 
of the Confederates. There-enforcements that Buckner expected on his 
advance to Louisville lie did not get; but the news of the surrender 
of Mulligan at Lexington, Missouri, caused great numbers to rally 
round him, and all opposition to the Southern invaders seemed to be 
extinguished in Southern Kentucky. Bowling Green was fortified 
and held, and Buckner sent troops from town to town, expelling the 
refractory, receiving the submission of the weak and mercenary, and 
bringing the whole country under Confederate sway. On the 24th of 
September General Anderson issued the following order : — 

" Head-Quarters Department of the Cumberland, ) 

"Louisville, Ky., Sqitemher 2Uh, 1861. ) ' 

" The commanding general, understanding that apprehension is entertained by citi- 
zens of this State who have hitherto been in opposition to the policy now adopted by 
the State, hereby gives notice that no Kentuckian shall be arrested who remains at 
home, attending to his business, and does not take part, either by action or speech, 
against the authority of the General or State Government, or does not hold correspond- 
ence with, or give aid or assistance to, those who have chosen to array themselves 
against us as our enemies. Robert Anderson, 

'^Brigadie?- Gcne7-al U, S. A., Commandiiig.''^ 



Ids 



HISTORY or TTIE GREAT REJJELLIOTT. 



The hciillli of Gcncnil ATulerHon soon failed liim, and ho. was com- 
polk'd to rcJiiKiiiisli liiw command on the 8th of* October, which lie did 
by the rollovving order: — 

" IIkax)-Q0arter8 Depaiitment of the Cumbeuland, ) 
" LouiHViLLK, Ky., October Hth, iSiil. J 

"Tho following telograpliic order was received yesterday at these head-quarters: — 

" 'Brigadior-Ueneral Andkubon: 

" 'To give you rt'.st iiccoHHary to rcHtoration of liealth, call Brigadier-General Sliorrnan 
to command tiio Dopartrjjcsnt ol' tlio Cumberland. Turn over to him your instructions, 
and report liere in person as soon as you may without retarding your recovery. 

" ' WlNHKLD HCOIT. 
" ' WASiiiNfJTON, D. C, October Glh, 18C1.' 

" In ohpilionco to the abovo order, I lioroby relinquish tho command of this depart- 
ment to I5rigadier-(ieijerul Hiiorman. Regretting deeply the necessity wiiich renders 
this stop proper, I do it willi less reluctance because my successor, Brigadier-General 
Sliernuui, is tiie man i liad selected for that puq>oso. God grant that lie may be tho 
means of delivering this department from the marauding bunds who, under the guiso 
of relieving and befriending Kentucky, are doing all the injury they can to those who 
will not join them in their accursed warfare. 

" ROBEET AnDERAON, 

Brigadier- General U. S. A., Commanding.''^ 

Brigadier-Ceneral "W. T. Sherman, of Ohio, who succeeded to the 
command, avuh Jiimself disabled by ill health in a few weeks, and on 
the 8th of November General Don Carlos Buell* was appointed in his 
place. 

On the 8th of October, J. C. Breckinridge issued an address to the 
people of Kentucky, resigning his senatorship. lie said : — 

" I oxchango, with proud satisfaction, a term of six years in \ho United States 

Senate, for tlie musl<ot of a soldier There is no longer a Senate of 

tho United States witliin the meaning and spirit of the Constitution — tho United 
States no longer exists — tho Union is dissolved." 

Mr. Breckinridge was occupied at Prestonburg raising troops for 
the Confederate army. 

In the Ix'ginning of November, a small Federal force was collected 
in Eastern Kentucky under the command of General Nelson, a lieu- 
tenant in the navy, who hud been detached from his nav;il duties and 
sent to his native State, Kentucky. Having occupied Prestonburg, 
November 2(1, witltout resistance from the enemy, who fell back about 
six miles, he issued the following proclamation : — 



* Don Carlos niiill was born in Ohio nbont 
1818, entorod W.a I'l.iiit In 1S37, irnidiiuti-d in 
VH\, and was promoted to a Hrst-lieiitonancy 
In 1848. He received tlie brevet ranli of captain 
for (gallant conduct iil Monterey in 18-10, and sub- 
Bcqucntly tliat of iiinjor, for iiieritorioiis l)ehavior 
»t Contreras and Cliurubusco, where ho was 
wounded. Ho Horved as assistant adjutant-gen- 
eral In 1848 and for several years afterwards, and 
in IHol relin.|Mishod his rantc in the lino. In Au- 
KHjit, 1861, h(^ was appointed brlpadier-Kenerai of 
Toiunteers, and assi-ned to a command on tho 
rotomac. lie succeeiUd (ieneral W.'V. Sherman 
lh»T."";"vT "'" "'•' I'«'pa>tmei,t of the Ohio on 
WW 8tU of November, IbCl, and was conllimed oa 



major-ponoral of Toiunteers in March, 1802. lie 
took part in tlie Sfxond day's llKht at tlie hattlc of 
Shiloh, and in Juni;, IsO'J, aHHumed command of tho 
military district ofOliio. llooccnniod tiie fortified 
posts in Northern Misslssipiii and Alaljama, until 
I'rapfj's invasion of Kentucky, where ho essayed 
to pnrauc him. Ho reachdi Louisville, without 
oyertaklns,' Urantr, on September 24, and was floon 
after relieved of his command. I!ut having been 
temporarily restored, he atraln followed the rebel 
army on Us retreat Into Tennessee, but too slowly 
to overtake it. On October 80th. ho was [x-rma- 
nently relieved. A court of inf|Uirv acqnitU-d 
him of blame in this eampaien, but 1io held no 
further command, and in IbM rcBlgned. 



HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOJT. 1C9 



" Head-Quaetees, Camp at Peestokbueo, ) 
"JVwem/yer 5<A, 18C1. f 

" Having this day occupied the town of Preatonburg with the lorces under my 
command, I declare to all whom it may concern : That the jurisdiction of the State 
of Kentucky is restored in this section of the State, and that the rejrular fall terms of 
the courts will be held in those counties in v.'hich the time for holding tiie same 
hag not passed. All the civil officers are ordered to attend at the times and places of 
holding said courts, and attend to the duties of their respective offices. 
"Given under my hand, this 5th day of November, 1861, 

" V. Nelsok. 
" By command of Brigadier-General Xelsos, 
"Jko. M. Duke, vli<fc-ofe- Camp." 

A Confederate force at this time occupied Piketon, the capital of 
Pike County, on the west fork of the Big Sandy Kiver, under Colonel 
John S. Williams. It numbered about one thousand men, but was 
expecting to be re-enforced by artillery, and had in cliarge a large 
amount of public pro[»erty. On the 8th of November, General Xelsoa 
Bent a considerable force, by way of Joljn's Creek, to turn the left of 
the Confederate position, while with three Oliio regiments, a battalion 
of Kentucky volunteers, and two sectioas of artillery, he himself 
proceeded on the direct road to Piketon. But Colonel Williams, by 
skilful manoeuvring, delayed the Federal advance imtil the property in 
his charge could be hurried off, when he retreated rapidly with slight 
loss. 

On the ] 7th of December, four companies of the Thirty-second Indi- 
ana, thrown cut in advance of Mumfordsville, on the Louisville and 
Nashville Railroad, forty-two miles north of Bowling Green, encoun- 
tered a party of Texan Rangers^ who charged them, and were received 
with a shai-]j fire. The infantry were then ordered to rally upon an 
adjoining wood. In the act they were charged by the Texan horse- 
men, and a desperate hand-to-hand encounter ensue'], the Indi^nians 
making use of iheir sword-bayonets. They soon gained the woods, 
<ind were re-enforced by two other regiments, when the Texan s fled, 
leaving many dead, including their colonel, upon the field. The Fed- 
eral loss was thirteen killed and as many wounded. 

The main operations of this season were in Western Kentucky, where 
the Northern troops were being organized with the view of opening 
and defending the navigation of the Mississippi. The State of Illinois 
furnished a large portion of the men who fought in Missouri and Ken- 
tucky, and in September had already sent into the field over fifty thou- 
sand infantry, four thousand cavalry, and ten batteries of artillery, 
besides over ten thousand men in squads and companies, who had en- 
listed in other States. It had also furnished the following general 
oflScers to the army : — 

Major-General David Hunter. Brigadier-General John A. McClernand. 

Brigadier-General John Pope. Brigadier-G«neral Benjamin M. Prentiss. 

Brigadier-General U. S. Grant. Brigadier-General E. A. Paine. 

Brigadier-General S. A. Hurlbul. 

Two of tliese generals. Pope and Hunter, were in command in Mis- 
souri, and General Grant at Cairo, where Illinois troops had assembled 



170 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLI02T. 

in April. This city, situated in Southern Illinois, at the confluence of 
the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, is surrounded with levees forty-two 
feet above low water, to protect it from the overflow of the rivers, 
which rise, at ordinary floods, thirty-live feet, and is entirely com- 
manded by Bird's Point, Missouri. Troops can cross from Kentucky 
to Missouri from old Fort Jefferson, four miles below Cairo, and have 
easy access to Bird's Point without being seen from Cairo. On the 
Kentucky shore there is a ridge which also commands Cairo. The 
width of the Mississippi and the Ohio at this point is about three- 
quarters of a mile each. Cairo, on its occupation, became an impor- 
tant point of concentration for men and gunboats in the expedition 
against the Confederates in Kentucky and Tennessee. In August the 
railroads in Western Tennessee were taken possession of by the State 
authorities, as was alleged, for the purpose of conveying troojis towards 
Cairo. This movement had caused the difficulty between Tennessee 
and Kentucky. About eight thousand troojjs, however, crossed the 
river to New Madrid, in Southeastern Missouri, where they were 
joined by others from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, the whole 
of whom, it was asserted, were about to attack Cairo. It was this in- 
tended expedition winch engaged General Fremont's attention soon 
after his arrival at St. Louis, in July, 1861. Tiie troops sent by Fre- 
mont raised the Union force at Cairo to eight thousand men, and Illi- 
nois troops were subsequently added, under the command of General 
Grant. 

The Confederates, upon taking j^ossession of Columbus, September 
4th, immediately commenced to fortify it with all the means at their 
disposal, the position being regarded in the Confederacy as the north- 
ern key to the mouth of the Mississippi. It is situated in Kentucky, 
on the Mississippi River, eighteen miles below Cairo by water, forty- 
seven miles from Paducah, and forty-five miles above Island No. 10, in 
the Mississippi River, and is the terminus of the Mobile and Ohio Rail- 
road. Nine miles below, at Hickman, the Nashville and Northwest- 
ern Railroacl terminates. The to^vn lies on the slope of a high bluff on 
the Mississipjn bank, and commands the stream for five miles. Here 
were placed in battery three one hundred and twenty-eight pound 
guns, seventy-five feet above the water. Farther up were fourteen 
rifled gims ; on the northern slope of the bluff were two light bat- 
teries, and a riile-j)it one mile in length. These were designed to pro- 
tect the place agahist a land attack from the north. On the summit of 
the hill was a strongly intrenched Avork conmianding the position in all 
directions, and armed with eight guns on the south side ; and to protect 
the town from a rear attack, was a small battery of eight guns. The 
guns in position were estimated at over one hundred. On the river was 
afloatmg battery of twenty guns, capable of being moved to the most 
exposed points. The number of troops occupying and manning these 
batteries was probably not far from thirty thousand, under General Le- 
onulds i oik. While these movements were in progress, Paducah was 
seized by the Union troops under General Grant, barely in time to 
anticipate General Polk, who had already moved with the same inten- 
tion, it 18 a place of considerable military importance, and its position 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 171 

near tlie mouth of the Tennessee River, fifty miles from Cairo, made it 
a desirable rendezvous to the Unionists fqr expeditions down the Mis- 
sissippi ; while by the Confederate general it was considered necessary 
to the defence of his rear on the Mississippi. By the 6th of September 
about five thousand Federal troops were concentrated at Paducah, who 
could thus assail the Confederate position in the southwest, by a line 
shorter and less exposed than from Missouri. The closing of the rail- 
road also stopped the departure of large supplies of provisions and 
military stores, which for months previous had been going to the South. 
As the place commands the Tennessee River, the commerce of that 
stream was also stopped. The surface of the country presented no 
means of defence against exjDeditions either on the line of the railroad 
or up the river. 

On both sides great accumulations of troops continued to be made 
through the month of November. On the 1st of December, the Fed- 
eral troops in Kentucky were estimated at over fifty thousand, consist- 
ing chiefly of Western regiments. At tlie same time, according to the 
official returns of the State military board at Frankfort, Kentucky, the 
number of recruits from that State in the United States army was up- 
ward of twenty-five thousand. These large preparations were crowned 
wdth such success, that by March 1st, 1862, every Confederate soldier 
had left the State. 

When, about the middle of November, General Zollicofier made his 
camp at Mill Spring, on the southern bank of the Cumberland, he de- 
termined also to occupy the opposite, or northern bank, at Camp Beach 
Grove. This he fortified with earthworks, and placed there five regi- 
ments of infantry, twelve guns, and several hundred cavalry — keeping 
at Mill Spring two regiments of infantry, and a few hundred horse. 
About the first of January General George B. Crittenden arrived and 
took command, and soon after the brigade of General Carroll came 
from Knoxville. On the 6th of January General Crittenden issued a 
proclamation calling upon the people to join the Southern standard 
and repel the invaders, and denouncing in strong terms what he called 
the duplicity and falsehood of the Federal Executive. His address 
does not appear to have been followed by any very important results. 
He seems to have been, at this very time, far more in want of food 
than of men. 

At the same time a Union force was at Columbia, twenty-five miles 
northwest of Beach Grove Camp, and Schoepf held Somerset, fifteen 
miles east. Between these two positions runs Fishing Creek, then so 
much swollen by rain that it could not be crossed. On the l7th of 
January, pursuant to orders from General Buell, General Thomas 
advanced and occupied Logan's Cross-Roads, ten miles north of the 
Beach Grove camp. The enemy were in a position which was unten- 
able, for want of provisions. They were on short allowance, and the 
neighboring country had been exhausted. The Union troops at Co- 
lumbia commanded the Cumberland River, by which supplies might 
have been drawn from Nashville. In every direction the roads were 
so bad that wagons could not be serviceable. In this state of afiairs 
it was determined to attack the Union troops at Cross-Roads before 



172 mSTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOK". 

the force at Somerset should be able to join them, and, if possible, be- 
fore the reserve at Columbia could be brought up. Accordingly, on 
the 19th the brigade of ZoUicoffer moved in advance, followed by that 
of Carroll and the reserve, and about two miles from their camp en- 
countered and drove in the Federal cavalry. The enemy advanced 
rapidly up the road, ZoUicoffer leading, with two Mississippi companies 
deployed as skirmishers, one on each side of it, and soon encountered 
the main body of the Federal troops, with whom was commenced a 
sharp engagement. The Confederate general, surrounded by his staff, 
was leading his men, when Colonel Fry, of the Fourth Kentucky, shot 
him dead with a pistol. This circumstance had a very depressing effect 
upon the enemy, and a correspondingly favorable one upon the Fed- 
erals. In the confusion of the moment the Ninth Ohio charged with 
the bayonet, turning the enemy's flank, and driving him from the field. 
The enemy then fell back to his intrenchments on the Cumberland, 
where he was cannonaded until dark. In the evening General Schoepf 
came up with additional regiments, and on the following morning tlie 
cannonading was recommenced, with Parrott guns, which were also di- 
rected upon the ferry across Fisliing Creek, to prevent the enemy from 
crossing. Upon approaching the intrenchments, it was found that the 
enemy had retired during the night, abandoning every thing — twelve 
guns, with caissons filled, one hundred and fifty wagons, one thousand 
horses, and many stores. After crossing, they had burned the ferry- 
boats, so that pursuit was impossible. As they could not hold the 
camp, .there was no alternative but to abandon every thing, save 
the army, and retreat to the most accessible point of supply. The 
Union loss in the battle was thirty-nine killed, and two hundred and 
seven wounded. The enemy lost Generals Zollicoffer and Baillie Pey- 
ton, and one hundred and ninety killed, sixty-two wounded, and eighty- 
nine prisoners, besides a large number drowned in crossing the Cum- 
berland. 

The enemy at the same time sustained another loss. Early in Jan- 
nary, Humphrey Marshall, with four regiments and four guns, held an 
intrenched position five miles south of Paintsville, in Eastern Kentucky. 
A movement Avas made, January Vth, to dislodge him. For this pur- 
pose, Colonel Garfield, with two thousand five hundred men, advanced 
upon him from Muddy Creek, while a smaller force approached by way 
of Paint Creek. Learning of the approach of these two bodies, Mar- 
shall burnt large quantities of grain, broke up his camp, and retired to 
the heights of Middle Creek, two miles from Prestonburg, leaving 
some troops at the mouth of Jennis Creek. These being attacked 
vigorously by Federal cavalry, retired upon the main body. The Union 
loss was one killed and thirteen wounded ; that of the Confederates 
was stated at twenty-seven killed, sixty wounded, and twenty-five 
prisoners. Marshall retreated towards Abingdon,Virginia, and Colonel 
Garfield occupied Prestonburg. Thus two Confederate forces were 
driven out of Kentucky at nearly the same time. 

The enemy, however, still held four formidable positions in Kentucky, 
viz. :'Fort Ifenry, on the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson, on the Cum- 
berland, about seventy miles from the mouths of those rivers, and 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIST. 



173 



closing the way by water into Tennessee and Alabama ; Bowling Green, 
near the middle of the State ; and Columbus, ou the Mississippi. The 
Union forces held Mumfordsville, between Mill Spring and Bowling 
Green, and various less important points. The two great rivers, the 
Tennessee and the Cumberland, both fall into the Ohio near tlie western 
corner of Kentucky, and, for a distance of seventy miles from their 
mouths, run nearly parallel, about ten miles apart. Otherwise,*ho wever, 
their courses are difterent ; the Cumberland rising in Kentucky, and 
flowing through that State and Northern Tennessee, while the Tennes- 
see rises in Eastern Tennessee, and, after passing through Northern 
Alabama, flows for the last three hundred miles nearly due north. The 
Cumberland is navigable for steam to Nashville, two hundred miles, 
and for boats three hundred miles farther. The Tennessee is navigable 
for steam two hundred and seventy-five miles, to Florence, Alabama, 
and for boats two hundred and fifty miles farther. These two great 
arteries afforded the means of not only penetrating into the interior of 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, but al-o of causing the rebels to 
abandon the defences of the Mississippi, which had been so elaborately 
prepareil by the enemy. Early in the summer the necessity of pre- 
paring a fleet of gunboats at Cairo, for the purpose of commanding the 
navigable waters of the West, became apparent, and befoie the suc- 
ceeding spring the Government had in readiness twelve gunboats, to 
caiTy, in all, a hundred and twenty-six guns, viz. : the Benton, six- 
teen guns; Mound City, Cincinnati, Louisville, Carondelet, St. Louis, 
Cairo, and Pittsburg, each thirteen guns; the Lexington, Essex, 
Conestoga, and Tyler, each nine guns. They were for the most part 
river steamboats converted into war vessels, and several were iron-clads. 
The guns, many of them rifled, were thirty-two-pounders, forty-two- 
pounders, sixty-four-pounders, and the Essex threw a shell of one hun- 
dred and twenty-eight pounds. Thirty-eight mortar boats, each sixty 
feet long and twenty feet wide, surrounded by iron-plate bulwarks, 
seven feet high, were also ordered, but only a part were built. This 
fleet was placed under the commaml of Flag-Ofticer A. H. Foote.* 
The completion of the fleet and the organization of the land force de- 
layed the expedition until February, 1862. 

On the 20th of January, the Conestoga, Captain Phelps, felt its way 
up the Tennessee and shelled a battery just below Fort Henry, but 
receiving no response, withdrew. This work, situated on the right 
bank of the river, near the boundary-line between Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky, mounted seventeen guns and a number of mortars, and was 
specially intended by the rel)els to defend the railroad communications 
between Memphis and Bowling Green. On the 6th of February the 
fleet, under Flag-Officer Foote, proceeded up the river, to the fort, which 



* Andrew H. Foote, son of the late Governor 
Foote, born in Connecticut, in 1S06, entered the 
navy, as.midshipm,in, in IS'22. He served In the 
East Indies against the pirates— on the African 
coast, to prevent the slave-trade— and at Canton 
in 1S56, where he greatly distinsuished himself 
by the capture of the Barrier Forts ; and in April, 
1861, commanded at the Brooklyn Navy-Yard. In 
the fall of 1861, he was assigned to the Mississippi ; 



superintended the building and equipment of the 
Government gunboats; captured Fort Henry; 
was wounded at the bombardment of Fort Donel- 
son ; conducted the naval attack against Island 
No. 10, but alter its re<luction was obliged to re- 
linquish his command in consequence of his 
woimd. lie was subsequently appointed rear- 
admiral and chief of the bureau of equipment and 
recruiting; and died in New York, June 26, 1863. 



174 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLI01S-. 

waa then occupied by a number of men hardly sufficient to work the guns, 
although a force of some five thousand Confederates was encamped 
outside, commanded by General Lloyd Tilghman, of Kentucky, a 
graduate of West Point. The naval part of the expedition consisted 
of the iron-clad gunboats Cincinnati, flag-ship, Captain Sterabel ; Essex, 
Commander Porter; Carondelet, Commander Walker ; and St. Louis, 
Lieutenant Paulding ; and the wooden gunboats Conestoga, Lieutenant 
Phelps ; T'yler, Lieutenant Gunn ; and Lexington, Lieutenant Shirk. 
Accompanying the gunboats was a fleet of transports conveying aland 
force of ten thousand men, under General Grant, who were to co-operate 
in the attack upon the fort. When within a few miles of the fort the 
troops wore landed, and sent to attack the land side, while the gun- 
boats moved against the water front. They did not, however, reach 
the fort imtil it had surrendered to the gunboats. On arriving within 
one thousand seven hundred yards of the fort, the flag-ship, the Cin- 
cinnati, opened fire, followed by the rest of the fleet, and as the distance 
was gradually lessened, the fire both from the gunboats and the fort 
increased in rapidity and accuracy of range. The fort was soon 
wrapped in a cloud of smoke, which rose lazily up and floated away 
over the hills, and through it the flashes of her guns broke like gleams 
of lightning. 

For nearly an hour this fierce conflict continued, the boats gradually 
approaching nearer and nearer, until within a few hundred yards of 
the fort, when the rebels' fire slackened, and suddenly a white "flag was 
raised on the ramparts ; but the dense smoke prevented its being seen 
by the boats, and the firing still continued. In a few moments more 
the rebel flag, which had been proudly flaunting from a tall pole in the 
centre of the fort, was hauled down, and Fort Henry was won. Cap- 
tain Phelps was ordered to land and take possession. Only sixty-three 
prisoners, with General Tilghman, surrendered to Foote, the force that 
had surrounded the fort having dispersed, without firing a shot. 
Among the guns of the fort was a sixty-pound rifled gun, which had 
Bent a shot through the boiler of the Essex, causing an explosion that 
wounded twenty-nine officers and men, inchiding Captain Porter, and 
compelling the Essex to drop astern, out of the fight. It burst, how- 
ever, before the surrender. The capture of Fort Henry caused much 
rejoicing. It proved the value of the gunboats, and opened the navi- 
gation of the river, as was shown by the successful voyage of three 
gunboats to Florence, Alabama, where tw'o steamers and a gunboat 
were captured ; and six others, loaded with stores, were burnt by the 
enemy to prevent their falling into the hands of the Federals. The 
railroad bridge over the Tennessee, ten miles south of Fort Henry, was 
also destroyed. Much Union feeling manifested itself in Northern 
Alabama. 
. The success of the attack on Fort Henry was followed by other ira- 
// portant results, among Avhich was the uncovering of the enemy's 
positions at Columbus and Bowling Green. The latter place had been 
ordered to be occupied by General A. S. Johnston, when he assumed 
; I the command of the Confederates in that Department of the West. He 
.1 deemed it then necessary, because of the action of the Kentucky Legis- 



HISTOEY OF TIEE GKEAT TiEBELLIOK. 175 

lature against the Confederates. Towards the close of the year the 
force under General Buckner had, with difficulty, preserved its strength, 
although great efforts had been made to concentrate men and arms, 
January IGth a notice was published in Barren County, requiring^ all 
guns belonging to persons who " will not volunteer," to be delivered 
to the inspector of arms, at Glasgow ; and all persons between eighteen 
and forty-five, who were possessed of taxable property to the value of 
five hundred dollars, and had no gun, were to pay twenty dollars, for 
which an evidence of debt against the Confederate Government would 
bo issued — delinquents to be fined fifty dollars and imprisoned. The 
results of this measure were not remarkable, and wliile the Union 
troops continued to increase in numbers and strength, Bowling Green 
became no stronger, an<l the utmost etForts of General Johnston brought 
little aid from the South. The capture of Fort Henry and the gather- 
ing strength of the Federal forces in Kentucky finally rendered the 
longer occupation of the place impracticable, and the troops there were 
ordered to move south. Bowling Green was occupied immediately, 
on the 15th, by a Federal force xinder General Mitchel, 

Preparations now commenced for the attack upon Fort Donelson, 
which lies directly east of Fort Henry, on the left bank of the Cumber- 
land River, and adjoining the town of Dover. It occupied the summit 
of a high bluff, enclosed an area of about one hundred aci-es, and was 
protected on the river side by two formidable water-batteries, and on 
its land front by outlying rifle-pits, batteries, and abatis, as also in a great 
measure by the rugged and impracticable character of the surrounding 
country. The work completely commanded the na^■^gation of the 
Cumberland River, and was regarded of such enormous strength that 
over sixteen thousand troops under Generals Buckner and Pillow were 
concentrated there, awaiting with apparent unconcern the approach of 
the Federal army and fleet. On February 13th, General Floyd, for- 
merly of Buchanan's Cabinet, arrived and assumed command. For 
the reduction of the fort. General Grant, who was now stationed at 
Fort Henry, relied upon the considerable force which had concentrated 
there, upon re-enforcements expected from Buell's army, and from St. 
Louis, Cairo, Cincinnati, and elsewhere, and also very considerably 
upon the fleet which had done such gallant service at Fort Henry. 
The gunboats, it is true, were in need of repairs after their recent 
engagement, but as it was deemed of great importance to follow up 
the first success at once by another blow, they proceeded, after a brief 
delay at Cairo, to the Cumberland River, Oil the 12th, General Grant 
marched from Fort Henry with about fifteen thousand men, having 
first sent a portion of his force in transports to Paducah, whence, in 
company with his re-enforcements, and conveyed by the gunboats, they 
were to sail for Fort Donelson. His land force therefore comprised 
two se]'>arate bodies of about equal strength, one of which marched 
overland with himself, while the other went by Avater. 

On the afternoon of the 1 2th the troops from Fort Henry arrived in 
front of the rebel outposts, and on the succeeding night the cohxmn 
which went by water disembarked about three miles north of the fort. 
Delays of various kinds prevented the junction of the two colmnns 



176 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

until the evening of the 14th. The interval was improved by the 
troops tirst on the ground in driving in the rebel skirmishers and com- 
mencing regular Ihies of investment. TJie weather was bitterly cold, 
and the troops, inadequately supplied with shelter or food, suflered 
severely; but not a murmur was heard, and the men cheerfully biv- 
ouacked at niglit on the snow-clad ground, in the confident expectation 
that in a day or two the rebel stronghold would be theirs. As at Fort 
Henry in the previous week, Flag-officer Foote, without waiting for 
the co-operation of the land forces, proceeded on the afternoon of the 
14th to open lire upon the river batteries of Fort Donelson. For an 
hour and a half the gunboats poured a steady stream of shot and shell 
into the batteries, which, being fully manned, replied with vigor and 
eiFect. Gradually, however, their fire began to slacken, and the pros- 
pect of capturing or completely silencing the works seemed flattering, 
when two shots, discharged with fatal accuracy, disabled the steering 
apparatus of the fl.ig-ship St. Louis, and the Louisville, which in con- 
sequence been me unmaiuigeable, and drifted out of fire. The enemy 
immediately returned to their guns, and the remaining vessels, de- 
prived of the services of their two most powerful consorts, were 
obliged to haul off, considerably shattered by the hard pounding they 
had received. Li this action Foote was severely injured in the ankle 
by the fragment of a sixty-four pounder shot, and his ship was struck 
sixty-one times. 

The morning of the 15th dawned cold and dull, and so soon as suf- 
ficient fight Avas aflbrded for the movement, the rebels, without a mo- 
ment's notice, threw out a heavy column of infantry, supported by 
two batteries, upon the Federal riglit, commanded by General 
McClernand. The onset at first was irresistible, and the regiments 
which attempted to withstand it were broken and routed. For several 
hours the rebels continued to gain ground, but finally, as fresh Federal 
regiments and batteries were brouglit up, the tide was turned, and the 
enemy pushed back towards their intrenchments. Undismayed by 
the repulse of the gunboats and the vigor which the rebels showed 
by this sally, General Grant soon after noon ordered his left, under 
command of General 0. F. Smith, to make a general assault upon the 
rebel intrenchments, which, in consequence of the enemy liaving 
massed on the Federal right, he wisely judged would be the more 
easily carried. At three p. m.. Smith moved forward at the head of 
ten regiments, and sending his main body somewhat to the right, to 
divert attention from the real point of attack, detailed the Second and 
Seventh Iowa and the Fifty-Second Indiana regiments to storm a line 
of rifle-pits on the crest of a steep hill, about half a mile distant from 
the fort. The storming column, headed by himself, pressed impetu- 
ously up the hill in the teeth of a severe fire, and never ])ausing, burst 
over the intrenchments, from which the enemv flid in confusion. 
Federal re-enforcements arriving soon after, the ground thus gallantly 
won was secured beyond the possibility of recapture. Meanwhile on 
the right and centre a division under General Wallace, encouraged by 
the success on the left, advanced against the rebel rifle-pits in that 
quarter, and after a stubborn resistance drove the enemy completely 



HISTORY OF TIIE GEE AT EEBELLIOK 177 

"wltliin his works. So favorable did the prospect now seem that the 
troojjs clamored to be led to the final assault ; but as day was closing, 
it was deemed 2)rudent to postpone this until the next day. Another 
bivouac on the frozen ground liad little effect in weakening the enthu- 
siasm of tlie troops, who at dawn of the IGth sprang to their arms, in 
the expectation of being led at once against the fort. ]iut before 
hostilities could be resumed a flag of truce arrived proposing an 
armistice until noon, and the appointment of commissioners to agree 
upon terms of capitulation. By the departure of Generals Floyd and 
Pillow during the night with two thousand five hundred men, tlie fort 
had been left in command of General IJuckner, the former commander 
of the Kentucky State Guard. To this officer General Grant returned 
the following reply : — 

" IIeAD-QuABTERS on TIIE FlEI-D, FORT DONELSON, 
''Ffbruary 16, 1802. 
"To Oenerai, S. B. Buckner: 

"Sir: — Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and the appointment of com- 
misrfioiiers to settle ou the terms of capitulation, is just received, 

" No terms, except unconditional and immediate surrender, can be acceptable. 
*' I propose to move immediately on your works. 

" I am very respectfully your oljedient servant, 

'• U. S. Grant, Brigadier- General Commanding." 

To this General Buckner replied as follows : — 

" Head Quarters, Dover (Tennessee), 
''February 16, 1862. 
"ERiaABiER-GENERAL U. S. Grant, U. S. Army: 

'' Sir: The distribution of forces under my command, incident to an une.tpected 
chanoje of commanders, and the overwhelm in j( force under your command, compel me, 
notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confederate arms, to accept the ungenerous 
and unchivalrous terms which you propose. 
" I am, sir, your servant, 

"S. B. Buckner, Brigadier- General C. S. Army." 

The fort was accordingly at once given up to the Federal com- 
mander, and the rebel garrison, numbering nearly fourteen thousand 
men, marched out as prisoners of war. Their loss in killed and 
wounded was one thousand two hundred and thirty-eight, and that 
of the Federal troops two thousand one hundred and eighty-one,' be- 
sides one hun<lred and fifty taken prisoners. Among the spoils were 
seventeen heavy guns, over forty field-pieces, many thousand stand of 
arms, horses, commissary stores, &c. This first important success of 
the Federal arms since the commencement of the war infused universal 
joy into the loyal people of the North, and laid the foundation of 
General Grant's fame. His reply to Buckner has become historical, 
while the hitter's rejoinder afforded an .amusing illustration of that 
spurious chivalry which the Southern leaders were wont to cultivate. 

The blow Avas a most disastrous one to the enemy, not only in its 
materinl, but in its moral results. The city of Xashville was incapable 
of defence, and strong forces were advancing from Bowling Green 
and up the Cumberland. Nashville was therefore ordered to be 
abandoned, and at Murfreesbo rough, the broken columns of Critten- 
12 



178 niSTOEY OF TIEE GREAT EEBELLIOJiT. 

den coming from Mill Spring, and the fugitives from Donelson and 
Bowling Green, were formed on the main body brought from Nash- 
ville, and the whole ultimately united with Bragg's corps at Corinth, 
in North-enstern Mississippi, by a very hazardous march, to co-operate 
with Beauregard for the defence of the JSIississij^pi, 

Meantime, the Union forces poured on. Commodore Foote, with 
two gunboats, reached Clarksville, the last defensible place before 
Nashville. He found it evacuated, the enemy having burned the 
railroad bridge. General Buell with his army advanced on Nashville 
frona Bowling Green, and Genei-al Nelson proceeded by the way of 
the Cumberland River. On the 16th, the troops that had evacuated 
'Bowling Green passed through the city, and on the same day Floyd 
arrivedfrom Donelson, wlien, for the first time, the inhabitants learned 
the fall of that place. The Governor and Legislature at once de- 
parted for Memphis, carrying off the public archives ; gunboats in 
process of construction were burned, railroad bridges destroyed, and 
the public stores were distributed to those who wished them. On the 
19th, Governor Harris issued a i^roclamation announcing the fall of 
Donelson, and calling upon every able-bodied man to enlist in the 
army. On the morning of the 23d, Buell's advance guard appeared 
at Edgehill, opposite Nashville, General Nelson also arrived up the 
river, and on the 25th the city was surrendered by the mayoi', on as- 
surances that persons and jiroperty would be respected. On the 26th 
the mayor issued a proclamation assiu-ing citizens of protection from 
the National forces, and urging them to resume their usual occupations. 
Afer the occupation of the capital of Tennessee, and the flight of its 
Government, a new one was organized, and Senator Andrew Johnson 
w.'is appointed military governor, with the rank of brigadier-general. 
These events in the interior of the State made the longer occupation 
of Columbus by the Confederate troops useless, and it was evacuated 
on the 27th of February. On the 2d of March, a reconnoitring 
party, sent by Flag-oflicer Foote from Cairo, discovered the evacuation, 
and, on their report, a force Avns sent to take possession, but a party of 
Illinois cavalry sent from Paducah by General Slierman had already 
occupied it. The enemy fell back to Island No. 10, forty miles below 
Columbus. Thus, during the two months ending with February, the 
enemy had been driven from their positions in Kentucky and Tennes- 
see. The army of Marshall took refuge in Virginia ; and the shattei-ed 
remains of all the others were combining to make a new stand at 
Corinth. 

After General Hunter, in November, assumed command in Missouri, 
and repudiated the treaty of General Fremont with Price, the Union 
army began slowly to retire from Springfield, and was followed step 
by step by the Confederates under Price, in three divisions, with the 
apparent intention of moving upon Kansas, On the 30th of Novem- 
ber, his right wing, five thousand troops, held Stockton ; bis left, four 
thousand, under General Rahis, was at Nevada ; and the centre, five 
thousand, under Price, at Monticello. Early in November, the Con- 
federates lield Belmont, Missouri, opposite Columbus, with a small 
force, and it was determined to make a demonstration in that direction, 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 170 

for the purpose of preventing tbem from sending troops to Price on the 
one hand, or to Bowling Green on the other. Accordingly, on Xo- 
vember 6th, Generals Grant and McClernand left Cairo for JJelniont, 
with the Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first 
Illinois, and the Seventh Iowa, together with a battery and some cav- 
alry — in all, two thousand eight hundred and fifty men, who were 
embarked on several steamboats, and convoyed by the gunboats Lex- 
ington and Tyler. 

The Federal forces landed a short distance above Belmont, at 8 a. m. 
on the 7th, were formed in line of battle, and immediately attacked the 
rebel works. They were met by the rebels under General Cheatham, 
whom they drove through their camp, capturing a battery of twelve 
. guns, burning their camp, and taking the rebel baggage, horses, and. 
many prisoners. Large bodies of rebels, meanwhile, crossed from 
Colmnbus and re-enforced those at Belmont, when another severe fight 
took place, and the National forces withdrew to their boats. Their 
retreat was well covered by the gunboats. The whole action lasted 
several hours. The loss on the Confederate side was between six hun- 
dred and one thousand ; on that of the L^nion, eighty-four killed, and 
about three hundred wounded and missing. The Unionists also car- 
ried away two guns, and destroyed two. This operation had the 
desired effect of preventing the movement of troops to aid Price. 

On the 18th of November, General II. W. Ilalleck arrived at St. 
Louis, and took command of the Western Department. The division 
of General Hunter and that of General Pope were on the line of the 
Pacitic Railroad, awaiting orders. Generals Sigel and Asboth, witli 
their divisions, arrived at St. Louis. General Hunter was transferred 
to the Department of Kansas. The plan of General Price, whose chief 
difficulty was want of arni'^, was to procure them from the borders of 
Kansas ; but being unsuccessful in this, he was obliged to retreat south 
of the Osage. General Ilalleck soon after issued a series ot military 
orders, which declared that active rebels and spies liad forfeited their 
rights as citizens, and were liable to capital punishment ; all persons 
in arms against the Government, or aiding the enemy, should be ar- 
rested, and their property seized ; all persons giving information to the 
eueiny be shot as spies, and uuenlisted marauders treated as criminals ; 
officers were required to enforce the law confiscating slave property 
used ibr insurrectionary jmrposes ; citizens who had been robbed by 
insurrectionists were to be quartered at the expense of insurrection- 
ists ; jjrisoners of war or slaves to be employed on military defences ; 
and all municipal ofllcers were required to take the oath of allegiance. 
These orders had an important influence in suppressing the disorders 
that had existed, and in reducing the number of guerrillas, very many 
of whom were arrested at diffi'rent j)oints in the State. General Pope 
was assigned to the connnand of all the National forces between the 
Missouri and Osage Rivers, which constituted the largest part of the 
array which General Fremont took to Springfield. He immediately 
took active measures to clear that part of the State. Price was on the 
Osage, and with him about five thousand men, waiting recruits and 
supplies from the North. General Pope, December 15th, left Sedalia 



ISO HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOX 

Tvith t\ro brigailos, one niuicr C\-»1onel ,T. C Davis, of Indiana, an<l the 
j^oov^uci under Colonol F. Steele, On the li>ih his advance-guard fell 
in vriili a part of Genenil Rains's force, between Warrenshurg and Rose 
Hill, and captured sixteen wMurons and one hundred and fifty prisoners ; 
and tlie pursuit continiu^i under Lieutenant-Colonel BroTm. the main 
body moving tow^;^rds Warrenshnrg. Tlie scouts having reix>rteci on 
the ISth a larjre force of the enemy coming fioni Waverley and Arrow 
Rock, Colonel Davis went forward with eight companies of cavalry 
and a section of artillery towards Milford. to turn his left and rear, 
while Major ^larshall was St^ut with t<^n companies of horse to turn his 
riglit and rear. Tlie movement was successful. The enemy, finding 
liim^^lf in presence of a large force, surrendered, to the number of 
thirteen hundred men, including three colonels .and fifty-one ofiicers, 
with seventy-three wagons lo.aded with powder and stores, five hun- 
dre«l horses, ajid one thous;ind stand of .anns. Tliis w.as a heavy blow 
to Piice, who had been anxiously ex}>ecting these supplies. jSleantime 
ireneral IVentiss. witli some comp.anies of tb.c Third Missouri cavalrvand 
of Kridgt^'s sharpshooters, attacked and defeated .a Confederate force .at 
Mount Zion, Boone County, December i? 7th .and 2Sth. Tlie Union loss 
was three killeii ,and ten wounded. Tlie Confetlerate power in Mis- 
souri wa* soon after much weAkencti by the withdrawal of McCulloch's 
ibrcv : and a few stringent measures of General Haileck settled affairs 
there. 



CHAPTER XTII. 

Affairs in "Western Tirginia. — General Rosecr.'ins;, — Oppression br G«ieral THse. 

Population of Western Tireinia. — The Confederate Troops. — Ganler Bridge. — Ka- 
nawha Expedition. — Rosecrsns's Command. — Prodamation. — G^nenU Lee. — Elk 
Rirer. — Cheat Mountain. — c«Miera.l Rernolds. — His Command. — Camifex Feny. — 
The RiitJe. — i^eneral Benham. — Retreat of the Knemv. — I>o2Trood Gap. — Big Se-w- 
all. — i.i<n7eral Fiord. — G^nenil Remolds. — Green River. — Enemr's Loss. — Chapman- 
Tille.. — Gaulej Bridge, — Gnyandott«. — Romnej. — Camp AUegtaiiy. 

The stAte of affiirs in "Western Virginia when General McClellan 
was onlered to the comni.and of the Potomac Dep.^r^.nent was fevora- 
ble for the Xation.al cause, Bripidier-Genenal Rosecrans hrui suc<^eeded 
to the command of the Department of the Ohio. General Wise w.as 
in conmiaiid of the Confederates, occupying the line of the K.anawha, 
,ind li.ad conducted his ojx>rations in such a mjim^er a* greatly to aid 
the development of the Union sentiment of that section, the population 
of which, as j>er c^-nsus of 1S60, w.as as follows ; — 

■fy ^ _. . . , JBUclcv WWtei Total. 

vv e?tom \ ii^nia. thirtr-nine counties 10.101 2«i.6S5 2S1,7S6 

Rest of Virginia, one hundred and nine 

'"^^'ii^es 470,:S6 $11,627 1.282.41.^ 



4J*0,SS; 1.0S3,312 1,.=j:S.199 

For weeks General Wise kept his guerriDiis scouring the counties 



HISTORY OF THE f IKE AT IlEBELLIOT^. 181 

of Kanawha and Jackson, seizing all llio cattle and horses of Union 
men, and pretending to buy thern of disunion men. These cattle and 
horses he sent to the east, until there were very few good animals left. 
Other counties fared but little better. He burned nearly every !)ridge 
in the valley except the fine suspension bridge across P^lk River, which 
lie ordered to be ctit down and fired. These and similar proceedings 
had produced great (lissali>faction even among those who regarded 
secession favorably. In this state of affairs, General Cox advanced 
against Wise, at Gauley Bridge, July 26th. As soon as the Union 
scouts were seen, intelligence was conveyed to Wise, who beat a pre- 
cipitate retreat, leaving Ijehind one thousand five hundred muskets, a 
large lot of ammimition, tents, and other camp equi|)age. In his re- 
treat he burned all the bridges on the road, and fell back on a ))Osilion 
at White Sulphur Sjjrings, eighteen miles above Gauley Kiver. His 
force was about three thousand five, hundred badly-equipped men. 
Colonel Tyler, of the Seventh Ohio, joined Cox on the same day. and 
the two corps were united. 

Meantime General Kosecrans was at Grafton, on his way to take 
command of the Kanawha expedition. Cheat ^lountain Pass, beyond 
Iluttonville, and the route at "lied House," l^y which tlie remnant of 
Garnett's division escaped, were strongly fortified and occupied; a de- 
tachment was left at Cheat Kiver Pass, on the Baltimore and Ohio 
R;iili-oad ; the two railroads were guaided, and the remainder (»f the 
available force in Western Virginia was concentrated and precipitated 
on the rebels in the Kanawha region. 

On the I'ith of Septemljcr, the enemy, nine thousand strong, with 
eight to twelve pieces of artillery, under command of Genend P. E. 
Lee, advanced by the Ilimtersville jiike, on Elk "Water, held by a 
brigade of Indiana troops, under General Joseph J. Reynolds. Our 
advanced pickets gradually fell buck to our main picket station, two 
companies of the Seventceiuh Indiana, under Colonel Hascall, checking 
the enemy's advance at the Point Mountain tuinjjike, and then falling 
back on the regiment, which occupied a very advanced position on our 
right front, and Avhich was now ordered in. The enemy threw into 
the woods on our left front three regiments, which made their way to 
the right and rear of Cheat Mountain, took a position on the road 
leading to Iluttonville, broke the telegraph wire, and cut off Reynolds's 
connnunication with a regiment of Indiana cavalry on Cheat Sinnmit. 
Simultaneously another force of the enemy, of about equal strength, 
advanced by the Staunton pike in front of Cheat Mountain, and threw 
two regiments to the right and rear of Cheat Mountain, which united 
with tlie three regiments fiom the other column of the enemy. (The 
two posts, Cheat Summit and Elk Water, are seven miles a]jart by a 
bridle-path over the mountains, and eighteen by the wagon-i-oad vid 
Iluttonville; Cheat Mountain pass, the former head-quarters of the 
brigade, being at the foot of the mountain, ten miles from the sununit.) 
The enemy, advancing towards the pass, by which he might possibly 
have obtained the rear or left of Elk Water, was met there by three 
companies of the Thirteenth Indiana, ordered up for that purpose, and 
by one company of the Fourteenth Indiana, from the summit. These 



182 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

four companies enrraged find crallantly heW in check greatly superior 
numbers of the eireiuy, foiled him in his attempt to obtain the rear or 
left of Elk Water, and threw him into the rear and riglit of Cheat 
Mouiitaiu— the companies retiring to the pass at the foot of the moun- 
tains. , n . r^t . 

The enemy, about fire thousand strong, were closed m on Cheat 
Summit. So matters rested at dark on the 12th, with heav^^ forces in 
front, and in plain sight of both posts, communicatin cut off,_ and the 
t<upply train for the mountain, loaded with provisions, which Avere 
needed, waiting for an opportunity to pass up the road. Under such 
circumstances, General Reynolds, resolving to force a communication 
with Cheat Momitain, ordered the Thirteenth Indiana to cut their 
way, if necessary, by the mail-road, and the greater part of the Third 
Ohio and Second Virginia to do the same by the path, the two com- 
mands stalling at three o'clock. This was effected, and communica- 
tion opened. 

Meantime General Lee advanced on Elk Water, when one rifled 
ten-pound Parrott gun, from Loomis's battery, was run to the front 
three-fourths of a mile, and delivered a few shots at the enemy, which 
caused him to retire. He renewed the attack early on the 1 4th, and 
was met by th'C Fifteenth Indiana with such vigor tliat he withdrew 
ten miles. The result of these affairs wfts a loss of one hundred of the 
enemy killed, including Colonel John A. Washington, aide-de-camp to 
General Lee (the same who was arrested by John Brown at the cap- 
ture of Harper's Ferry, in 1859), and about twenty prisoners. The 
Unionists lost nine killed. 

p]arly in September General Wise Avas encamped at Dogwood Gap, 
a few miles from Carnifex Ferry, on the Gauley River, which was held 
by General Floyd, with five thousand men and sixteen guns, intrenched 
in a very strong position on the top of the mountain, around the south- 
ern base of which winds the Gauley River, forming a semicircle, in the 
centre of which is Gauley Bridge. His rear and both flanks were thus 
perfectly protected. The front was masked by a thick wood and 
jungle. General Rosecrans, on the 10th of September, after a march 
of seventeen and a half miles with Benham's brigade, reached the front 
of this position. The Ohio Tenth Regiment, of General Benham's 
brigade, was in advance, and drove a strong detachment of the enemy 
out of camp east of the position, the site of which was imknown. 
Shortly afterwards his scouts, consisting of four companies, suddenly 
discovered themselves in the face of a parapet battery, and a long line 
of palisades for riflemen, when the battle opened fiercely. The 
remainder of the Tenth and Thirteenth Ohio were brought into action 
siiccessively by General Benham, and the Twelfth afterwards by Cap- 
tain Ilartsuff, whose olyect was an armed reconnoissance. The enemy 
played upon the National forces with musketry, rifles, canister, and 
shell, causing some casualties. Colonel Lytle led several companies 
apinst the battery, when lie was brought down by a shot in the leg. 
Colonel Smith's Thirteenth Ohio engaged the rebels on the left, and 
Colonel Lowe's Twelfth Ohio directly in the front. Lowe fell dead at 
the head of his regiment in the hottest fire, by a ball in the forehead. 



niSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOX. 1S3 

A howitzer battery and two field-pieces, meantime, were p:ot into the 
best position possible nnder the circumstances, and soon silenced two 
of tlie rebel guns. The fire slackened at intervals, but grew more 
furious as night approached, when a German brigade was led gallantly 
into the action by Colonel McCook ; but after a furious fight of three 
hours the troops were recalled, and the men Liy on their arms -within a 
short distance of the enemy all night. 

General Floyd retreated during the night. In doing so he sank the 
boats in the river, and destroyed the temporary bridge which he had 
made when he first occupied the position. The turbulence and depth 
of the river, and the exhaustion of the troops, made it impossible to 
follow him. He left his camp equipage, wagons, horses, large quanti- 
ties of ammunition, and fifty head of cattle. The National troops lost 
fifteen killed, and about seventy wounded, generally flesh wounds. 
Floyd's personal baggage, with that of his oflficers, was also taken by 
General Benham's brigade, which suffered most. The Confederate 
general, who had been wounded in the arm, retired with his men 
fifteen miles on the main Charleston road, whence the retreat was 
continued towards Greenbrier River. On September 14th General 
Floyd and his forces encamped on the summit of the Big Sewall 
Mountain, and General Wise took a position east of him, on the 
western slope of the Big Sewall, which he called Camp Defiance, 
Thinking his position not tenable against a large force, Floyd fell 
back on the IVth to Meadow Bluff*, under the imj^ression that Rose- 
crans was before him with fifteen tliousand men. He ordered Gen- 
eral Wise to follow, covering his rear; but the latter concluded that 
his position was strong enough to make a good defence against 
large numbers, and decided to hold the place at all hazards, as the 
best means of covering Floyd's army. On the 20th, General Lee 
arrived at Floyd's camp, and, subsequently inspecting Wise's position, 
ordered him to hold it until further orders. General Wise had one 
thousand seven hundred men, but on the 24:th General Lee moved for- 
ward with a force which raised the number to five thousand five hun- 
dred men, with eleven guns, at a point where the Staunton turnpike 
ascends the Alleghany Mountains. General Floyd remained at 
Meadow Bluff" with one thousand five himdred men. On the arrival 
of General Lee, Gener.al Wise was ordered to report in person to the 
Secretary of War, at Richmond. 

This being the position of the enemy, General Reynolds, on the 
night of October 2d, started from the summit of Cheat Mountain, 
twelve miles from Greenbrier, with about fi\ e thousand men, to con- 
duct a reconnoissance in force. The Confederate camp was located 
on a highjSteej) elevation, known as Buffalo Hill, at a sharp turn of the 
road, and so situated that an attacking force had to come directly 
under the guns and intrenchments of the right of the camp to obtain 
even a view of the left. The formation of the ground is particularly 
favorable for the construction of terraces, and the enemy had made 
good use of its advantages. Their defences rose one above the other, 
far up the hill, extending even into the forest above the camp. The 
sole attack contemplated was directly in front, with artillery, the in- 



184 niSTOEY OF TUE GREAT EEBELLIOK. 

fantry to be used merely to protect the batteries. A vigorous attack 
of the Indiaua regiments in front soon drove the enemy from their 
lower intrencliments, but tlie fresh troops sent forward restored 
the figlit, and it was maintained with great vigor during four liours. 
The artillery, having finally exhausted their ammunition, General 
Reynolds ordered an end to the engagement. 

The army retired in order to their camp, having lost eight killed and 
thirty-two wounded, and having brought away thirteen prisoners. 
The enemy's loss Avas somewhat greater. Meantime a party of Con- 
federates held Chapmansville, on the Guyandotte, where, on Septem- 
ber 21 si, tliey were surroimded, and, after a short engagement, com- 
pletely routed, with a loss of sixty killed and seventy prisoners. The 
rebels, in escaping, were intercepted by Colonel Piatt, who killed forty 
and took a lai'ge nmnber of prisoners. The country between Charles- 
ton and Guyandotte River was thus freed from secession forces. 

The enemy remained in considerable force in the neighborhood of 
Gauley Bridge, to the close of October. At the point where the 
Gauley and New Rivers come together, forming the Great Kanawha, 
is Gaidey Bridge, or rather the remains of tlje bridge burned by Wise 
in his retreat in July. It spans the Gauley River about two hundred 
yards abve its confluence with the 'New. The country is very mount- 
ainous, the hills on all sides looming up fully five lumdred feet, and the 
watercourses almost entirely covering the valleys, so that there is not 
room in many places for even a wagon-road. Tlie Union forces were 
encamped at the bridge, and at several points on the east bank of New 
River, extending up that stream twelve or fifteen miles. 

On the 1st of November a detachment of scouts retwrned to General 
Rosecrans's head-quarters, and reported the rebels in considerable force 
on the west side of New River. Shortly afterwards two batteries were 
opened upon our troops in the viciiuty of Gauley Bridge, from the 
hills on the opposite side of the river — one directly opposite the bridge, 
and the other two miles lower down, at the fialls of the KanaAvha, op- 
posite a large brick house in which our commissaiy supplies were 
stored. Tiie upper battery, after wasting a good deal of ammunition, 
succeeded in driving the Eleventh Ohiofrom their camp on the hill- 
side opposite, and in sinking a flat-boat, which served the army as a 
ferry. The flat-boat was raised again the same evening, and made to 
do good service. It was not till the day was fir advanced that the 
Union artillery could be brought to bear upon the enemy's batteries, 
but when they were once placed in position the rebel batteries were 
soon silenced. 

On the 10th of November, General Benham, with his brigade, crossed 
the Kanawha River near the mouth of Loup Creek, and marched for- 
Avard on the road to Fayetteville Court-House, to get in the rear of 
the rebel army under Floyd, on Cotton Hill, at the junction of the 
New, Gauley, and KanaAvha Rivers. Part of General Cox's brigade, 
at the^ same time, crossed the New River near Gaulev, and attacked 
Floyd's force in front. After a slight skirmish, the 'rebels fell back 
four miles, and at night retreated towards Raleigh. On the same night 
a body of nearly one hundred and fifty Union troops, occupying Guy- 



mSTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 185 

andotte, on the Ohio River, were attacked by a superior force of Con- 
federates. The Union soldiers were invited to the houses of the 
citizens by previous ari-angement, and when the Confederates made the 
attack, signals were displayed from the houses where the Federal 
troops were quartered, in consequence of which ten or twelve were 
killed and twenty or thirty wounded ; although, in the attempt to ex- 
ecute this inhuman massacre, the rebels lost nearly or quite as many 
as they killed of the Union soldiers. In retaliation, on the arrival of 
Colonel Zeigler with a Union force, a part of the town was burned. 

Meantime Brigadier-General Kelley, with twenty-five hundred men, 
of Virginia and Ohio volunteers, left New Creek, Virginia, on the 
night of tlie 2Gth of October, on an expedition against Komncy. At 
Mill Creek, five miles from Romney, he came upon the outposts of the 
enemy, which were driven in, and advanced to the Indian Mound 
Cemetery, to the west of the town, where the enemy made a stand 
and opened fire with a twelve-pound rifled gun, placed in a command- 
ing position, and a mountain howitzer. One twelve-pounder and two 
six-pounders responded to the artillery on Kelley's i)art, until the 
general was enabled to fully comprehend the enemy's position, when 
he soon gave the command to charge upon their batteries and intrench- 
ments. The cavalry dashed across the river (which was fordable at 
this point), while the infantry rushed over the bridge to encounter the 
foe at the very nmzzles of his guns. Xo sooner did the enemy per- 
ceive this movement, than they immediately abandoned their positions, 
and commenced a precipitate letreat, rushing pell-mell through the 
town, and directing their flight towards Winchester. General Kelley 
captured sixty prisoners, among whom was Colonel E. M. Armstrong, 
late a member of the Richmond Convention, two hundred horses, three 
wagon-loads of new rifles, two cannon, a large quantity of corn, tents, 
and many other stores. The loss on cither side was slight. 

On the 12th of December about fourteen hundred Union troops, 
under command of General R. II. Milroy, marched towards the enemy's 
camp, on the top of the Alleghany Mountains, eight and a half miles 
beyond Camp Bartow, on the Greenbrier River. The column reached 
Camp Bartow about eight o'clock p. m., where it halted and rested. 
At this point the force was marshalled into two divisions, each about 
seven hundred strong, one of which marched on what is kno\vn as the 
old " Greenbank road," to attack the enemy on the left, while the other, 
accompanied by Brigadier-General R. II. Milroy and his staft', took the 
StaunUm turnpike. The latter reached the vicinity of the Confederate 
camp about daylight ; but owing to the badness of the roads, and ob- 
structions from felleil trees, the first division could not reach the field 
in season to co-operate, and the little force contended single-handed for 
about three hours with an enemy of three or four times their number, 
driving the rebels back to their camp repeatedly ; but as they were 
largely re-enforced, Colonel Jones, who was in command, fell back in 
good order to the head-quarters of General Milroy. Just after it re- 
tired, the other division came up and engaged the enemy for six hours, 
when it, too, fell back in order, bringing off all its wounded and most 
of its dead. The Union loss in botli actions was twenty killed, one 



186 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOK 

huRdred and seven wounded, and ten missing. The Confederate loss 
was reported as twenty-tive killed, ninety-seven wounded, and thirty 
prisoners, among them a major and several other officers. 

At Iluiitersville, ahout forty miles from Staunton, the Confederates 
had a depot of munitions and stores, which General Milroy, onthe 31st 
of December, sent a force of seven hundred and fifty men to break up. 
On the 3d of January the advancing force encountered the Confederate 
pickets at (Ireenbrier River, six miles from Iluntersville. The rebels 
fell back upon the main body four miles in the rear, when the Avhole 
retreated, leaving the Union troops in ])OSsession of the stores, which 
were destroyed to the amount of $25,000 or $30,000. 

On the 4th of January, 1862, the Confederate General Jackson made 
a reconnoissance in force towards Hancock, Md., where General Lander 
was in command. After tearing up a portion of the Bahimore and 
Ohio Railroad in the neighborhood of this place, and partly destroying 
the Little Cacapon bridge, he sent a flag of truce over to Hancock, de- 
manding its surrender within an hour, under threat of bombardment. 
General Lander replied by planting his cannon on a hill, and bombard- 
ing Jackson's camp, v.hich led to liis speedy withdrawal. 

On the 7th of January a detaclnnent of General Kelley's forces, com- 
manded by Colonel Dunning, Fifth Ohio, left Romney, and attacked 
the Confederates, two thousand strong, at Blue Gap, Va., east of 
Eonmoy. The enemy were completely routed, with a loss of fifteen 
killed, two pieces of cannon, their wagons, tents, &c., with twenty 
prisop.ers, including one commissioned officer. 

The oj>erations of the Cenfederates became less energetic in that 
Bection of the State until February 13th, when their force having con- 
centrated at Blooming Gap, it was surprised and dispersed by General 
Lander, with a loss of thirteen killed and seventy-five prisoners. Gen- 
eral Lander then reported the department entirely clear of Confeder- 
ates, and asked to be relieved of his command on the ground of ill- 
health, he having never recovered from the wound received at Ed- 
w;irds's Ferry, lie died on the 2d of March, 1862, of congestion of 
the brain, induced by over-exertion while still suffering from his wound. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Strotiffth of the Navy. — Blockado. — Captures by the Navr. — La rcre Increase of Ships 
of War. — Ki^ht of Blockade. — Propositions of the American Government. — Action 
of Enj^land and France. — Privateers.— The Sumter. — The Nashville. — Trial of Pri- 
vateers. — Laws of Piracy. — Retaliation of the Confederates. — Exchange of Prisoners. 

The navy of the United States, like the army, had nerer previous to 
the rehcllidn been kept up on a scale in any degree proportioned to the 
commercial interests, or the rank of the nation, as compared with 
other Governments. The commercial marine was of itself, however, 
regarded as the main portion of our naval power, since in it were nur- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT REBELLION ] 87 

tnred and trained those hardy seamen who, in time of war, man the 
national ships, or, as privateers, form tlie "militia of the seas." Any 
nation which has a hxrge and tl)riving commerce is necessarily a naval 
power : on tlie other hand, those Governments which have not a well- 
d'veloped commerce cannot become great naval powers, no matter 
what may be their resources in other respects ; at least, this has here- 
tofore been the experience of the world. The immense changes 
wroiight by steam in naval science, however, render a comparatively 
smaller number of trained seamen necessary to Avork powerfid steam 
batteries, and may therefore alter the relative naval strength of na- 
tions. The United States had made but little progress in this direc- 
tion, and on the outbreak of the war, vessels, whether steam or sail, 
were Ly no means in sufficient numbers for the exigencies of the Gov- 
ernment. On the IGth of January, 18G1, the whole naval strength of 
the United States, available for tlie defence of the entire Atlantic 
coast, according to a report of the Congressional Committee, was the 
steamer Brooklyn, of twenty-five gims, and the store-ship Relief, of two 
guns. The committee called attention to the extraordinary defence- 
less state in which the coast was thus left, stating that the number of 
sliips lying in port dismantled and unfit for service was twx>nty-eight, 
mounting eight hundred and seventy-four guns, and that from six 
weeks' to six months' time would be i-equired to make them gervice- 
able. Tiie gradual arrival of vessels from abroad soon imparted more 
strength to tlie coast defence. In March, the Cumberland, flag-ship of 
Commodore Pendergrast, arrived at Norfolk, and was detained there. 
Commodore McCauley, in command of the Norfolk navy-yard, was 
cautioned in the beginning of April to put the public property there in 
a condition to be moved, but to act so cautiously as not excite alarm 
at the South. The results we have seen in a previous cliaptei', where the 
loss of the Gosport navy-yard Avas recounted. The Government, on 
learning the aggressions of the Confederates, exerted itself to hasten at 
once the completion of all pubic armed vessels, and issued orders in 
Boston, Philadelphia, and New York to purcha'^e, charter, arm, and 
equip all such steamers as could be found suitable for the j)ublic service. 
The whole naval force was required to carry into effect the proclama- 
tions declaring an embargo or blockade of the Southern ports. Ou 
account of the great extent of coast, three thousand miles, the force 
was divided into two squadrons, one for the Gulf of Mexico and one 
for the Atlantic. At Hampton Roads notice was given of this block- 
ade by Flag-officer Pendergrast, and on the 13th of May, Flag-officer 
Siringham, having arrived in Hampton Roads with the Minnesota, 
]>roceeded to carry it into eflfect. Meantime the President had issued 
the following proclamation ; — 

" By the President of the United States of America. 

""Whereas, for the reasons assigned in my proclamation of the 19th instant, a 
hlockado of the ports of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, was ordered to be estabhshed; and wliereas, since 
that date public property of the United States has been seized, the collection of the 
revenue obstructed, and duly commissioned officers of the United States, while en- 
gaged in executing the orders of their superiors, have been arrested and held in cus- 



188 IIISTOEY OF TnE GREAT EEBELLIOIS". 

tody as prisoners, or have been impeded in the discliarge of their official duties, with- 
out due legal process, by persons claiming to act under authority of the States of 
Virginia and North Carolina, an efficient blockade of the ports of these States will 
therefore also be established. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the Uni- 
ted States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, this 27th day of April, in the year of our Lord 
one tliousand ciglit hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of tlic United 
States the eighly-tiftli. 

" By the President : Abraham Lincoln. 

" William H. Sewabd, Secretary of State." 

As the Government vessels returned from foreign stations, they Avere 
immeiliately employed in carrying out the blockade. The Niagara 
arrived at Boston, fVom Japan, April 24th, and immediately proceeded 
to Charleston HarlK)r, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico, to intercept 
the shi|)ment of arms and munitions from Europe to the Gulf States. 
Flag-officer Mervine arrived in tlie Gulf, June 8th, with the steamer 
Mississijipi, in advance of his flag-ship, the Colorado. The blockade 
of Mobile (Ala.) harbor was commenced May 27th, and Fort Morgan, 
which guards its entrance, welcomed the blockading fleet by display- 
ing the United States flag, with the Union down, below the Confed- 
erate flag, on the same staff". The Cumberland, Pawnee, Monticello, 
and Yankee were enibrcing the blockade off" P'ortress Monroe. The 
steamers Philadelphia, Baltimore, Powhatan, and Mount Vernon, of the 
Aquia Creek line, recently taken possession of by the Federal Gov- 
ernment, were cruising on the Potomac, all heavily armed. 

In Chapter IX. we \\?v\q given the condition of the navy as stated 
in the report of the Secretary, July 4th, to Congress. According to 
that report, froin March 4th to July, two hundre.i and fifty-nine officers 
had resigned from the navy. This number, with those that previously 
gave up their commissions, made three hundred and thirty that left the 
service after November, 1860. For this reason, many vessels were 
without a full complement of officers. There were, however, numbers 
who, having in times past left the ser\ace for civil pursuits, came 
prom])tly forwai-d to offer their services, nnd tnany masters and mas- 
ters mates were taken from the mercantile service. So promptly did 
seamen present themselves, that only two or three yessels experienced 
any detention for want of crews. The navy underwent a most rapid 
mcrease, as well in men as vessels. The aggregate of the purchases up 
to January, 1862, was as follows :— 

_ No. Gum. Tons. Total Cost. Cost Efi<-li. 

bteamers, Side-wheel 36 IfiO 26.680 $2,418,103 $12,000 10^200.000 

Shin. ^^^ •^'-^ ^"'^ 13-9S5 2,187,537 6,000 to 172,f.O0 

n,.'k« ^'^ ^2 9,998 31.3.50.3 T.ooO to 40.000 

SrhoonV™ T' '^^ ^•^^'^ 343,400 11,500 U. 32.000 

Barker ^^ ^^ 5,453 241.790 6,000 to 18,000 

^ 2 4 460 19,000 9,000 to 10,000 

The side-wheel vessels carried from one to ten guns each, the screws 
trom one to nine, the ships one to eiixht. Of the side- wheel steamers, 
nine were first-class ships. Among the steamers were ei<rhteen ferry- 
Doats, bought from the Brooklyn and New Jersey ferry companies. 
tnr!V*'™ .7«^e1s, in the operation of enforcing the blockade, cap- 
tured a considerable number of vessels, from April to November. 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT 189 

The vessels purchased were, however, few of them suitable for the 
blockading service, which required continuous duty oif the coast in 
all weathers. The department therefore contracted for the construc- 
tion of twenty-three gunboats, of five hundred tons each, and made 
arrangements for larger and fleeter vessels, in addition to taking steps 
towards carrying out the order of Congress of the preceding session, 
for the construction of seven sloops-of-war. Of these latter, two were 
directed to be built at each navy-yard — Portsmouth, Boston, New 
York, and Philadelphia — making eight. The following table gives the 
names, character, and cost of the vessels built : — 

rOUKTBEJf 8CBEW SLOOPS, 1,200 TO!<S EACH, OAKKTINO BEVKW GUS8. 

Builder of Price of 

Name. Place built. Builder of hull. machinery. machinery. 

Kearsar^e Portsmouth Government Woodrnff & Beach, .. $104,000 

/->„!, » ti I Reliance Machine) no nnn 

<^^*'f^'« \ Ca.,My8tic, \ ^^'^^ 

Sacramento » " {'^'"''uv'^ C^°''"'^° \ "^-"OO 

Wachnsett Boston " Geo. W. Qiiintard 104.000 

Ilousatonic '• •' J. Corry & Co 110,000 

Canandaiijna " " Atlantic Works 110,000 

Adirondack New York " Novelty Works 125,000 

Ticonderosa " " " Allaire Works 110.000 

Oneida...-. " " " Murphy & Co 102.000 

Lackawanna " " " Geo. \V. Quintjird 110,000 

duniata Philadelphia " Putney, Jones & Co.. . 95,000 

Tuscarora " " Merrick & Sons 102.000 

Monongahela ... " " '• " 110,000 

Shenandoah •' " " " , 110,000 

TWENTY -THREJ! 8CRE-W GITSBOATS, 500 TONS EACH, CAKRTINO TOVK OCN3. 

Price Cuildfr of Price of 

Name. Place built. Builder of hull. of bull, machinery. machinery, 

Tahoma Wilmington, J)el,...W. it A. Thatcher $5.5,500. . .KcanyA Archbold. . ..$40,500 

Wissahickon .. .Philadelphia John Lynn 5S,500. ..Mernck & Sons 45,000 

Sciota " Jacob Birely 52,000 ,. J. P. Morris & Co 44,000 

Itasca " Hillman & Streaker 5:3,000... '• " 4.5.000 

Unadilla New York John Knglis 56.500. . .Novelty Works 31,500 

Ottawa " " J. A. Wcstervelt 5(>,500... *' »' , 31.500 

Pembina " " Thomas Stack .. 6G.500... " " 81,500 

Seneca " " J. Siinonson 56.500.., " " ; 31,.50O 

Chippewa " " Webb & Bell 55,000. . .Morgan Works 46,000 

Winona " " C.&E. Poillon 55,000.. .Allaire Works 46,000 

Owasc Mystic River Maxon, Fish & Co 53,000. , .Novelty Works 46,000 

Kan.awha East Haddam E. G. & W. II. Goodspeed. 52,000. . .Pacific Works 4.5,500 

Cayuga Portland, Conn Gildersleeve & Son 52,000. . . Woodruff & Beach 45^500 

Huron Boston Paul Curtis 5.5,000.. .11, Loring 46,000 

Chocura " Curtis & Tilden 5.3,000... " 45,000 

Sagamore " A. &G. Sampson 55,000.. .Atlantic Works .46,000 

Miirblehead. ...Newbury port G. W. Jackman, Jr .52,000. ..}Iighlan<l Works 43,000 

Kennebec Thomaston, Me O. W. Lawrence 52.000.. .Novelty Works 4.5.500 

Aroostook Kennebec N W.Thompson 5.3,000... " " . 4",.500 

Kineo Portland J. W. Dyer .53, 000... Morgan Works 4fi,.i00 

Katahdin B.ath Larrabee & Allen .52,000... " '■ 4.5,,50O 

Penobscot Belfast C. P Carter ,52,000 .. Allaire Works 42,000 

Pinola Baltimore J.J Abrahams 52,000.. .C. Reeder 46,000 

TWELVE SIDE-WHEEL STEAMERS, TOO TO:r<S EACH, CARRYING FOtTR G0NS, 

Builder of Price of 

Name. Place built, Builder of hull, machinery. machinery, 

Sebago Portsmouth Government Novelty Works $.50,000 

Mohaska " >' Morgan Works 50,000 

Sonoma.. " " Novelty M^orks 50,000 

Conem.augh " « " " 50,000 

Maratanza Boston •* H. Loring 48.000 

T'»>?a " " Morgan Works 50,000 

Genesee " « NcptunoWorks 48,000 

Oclorara NewYork " " " 48,000 

Port Royal " " Thomas Sttick ,' Vessel complete. .....100,000 

Miami Phil.adelphia Government Merrick & Sons 48,000 

Cimerone Bordentown, N, J, . .D. S. Merchon Complete . .100,000 

Paul Jones Baltimore J. J. Abrahams Reany& Archbold..,. 50,000 



190 HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOlf. 

TUUKE IKOX-CLAB STEAMEKS, 1.500 TONS EACH, CAKKYIKO TWO, TWELVE, AND EIGUTEEX GL'NS. 

Prire of 
N«me- Place builU Builder of hull. i.ki, hinery. 

tJalena Mystic B.ishnc.11 & Co Conrplete ft,.- ^'^^'^'^ 

Monitor n;-w York John Ericsson ^^ -J{,,n 

Ironsides Philadelphia Merrick & Sons ibii.uuu 

The names of most of this new fleet are of Indian origin, imparting 
at least " an odor of nationality," if tbey are not easily borne in mind. 
The first of the gunboats launched was the Unadilla, August 17th, and 
thirty days later she made a very satisfactory trial trip. A descrip- 
tion of her construction will serve for that of all. Her length is one 
hundred and sixty-eight feet, width twenty-eight feet, and depth of 
hold twelve feet. She is schooner rigged, and has two engines, fur- 
nished by the IsTovelty Works, each complete in itself. They are what 
is termed back action ; the cylinders are thirty inches in diameter, 
with an eighteen-inch stroke; the boilers are of the vertical tubular 
form ; there are fifty-two feet of grate surface, and two thousand feet 
of heating surface. The propeller is nine feet in diameter, Avith a 
mean pitch of twelve feet ; the shaft is sixty-four feet long. There is 
accommodation for over one hundred and fifty tons of coal on board. 
She averaged nine miles per hour, the boiler showing twenty-eight 
pounds of steam, and the propeller making seventy-five to eighty revo- 
lutions per minute. With the aid of canvas, her speed was estimated 
at fifteen miles per hour. 

As the strength of the Federal navy increased, greater effect was 
given to those proclamations of the President by which a blockade 
of the Southern coast was established. Out of this right of blockade, 
however, grew many interesting questions, particularly in respect to 
the effectiveness of the blockade. The authority of the President to 
institute a blockade at all was, in some quarters, denied. It was in- 
sisted that this power, under the Constitution, could exist only in the 
legislature. The Circuit Court of Washington, however, held that the 
President was commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and, as such, 
had a right to employ them in the manner he deemed most effectual 
to subdue the enemy ; as chief of the navy, he had an undoubted right 
to order a ship to capture an enemy's vessel, and to shut up his port is 
only another mode of attack. The facts set forth in the proclamation 
show that civil war exists. Blockade is a belligerent right, and can 
only legally have place in a state of war. A sovereign nation, engaged 
in the duty of suppressing an insurrection of its citizens, may act in 
the twofold capacity of sovereign and belligerent. By inflicting 
through the judiciary the penalty which the law nfiixes to the crimes 
of treason and piracy upon those found guilty of those often ces, it acts 
in its capacity of sovereign. By instituting a bluckade of the ports 
of its rebellious subjects, and enforcing that measure by capturing its 
vessels and cargoes, and capturing the vessels of any or all nations 
that shall attempt to violate the blockade, it is exercising a belligerent 
right, and the courts in adjudication of prizes are organized as prize- 
courts. 

The question was also raised Avhether a nation could blockade its 
own ports a#d collect duties, since the Constitution declares that no 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 191 

preference shall be given to one port over another, and treaties with 
loreign powers gave them the right of visiting our ports. 

The old law of blockade, introduced by Holland as far back as 1580, 
consisted simply in a diplomatic notice that such or such a ydace was 
blockaded, without much effort to make it real. When England suc- 
ceeded to the supremacy of the seas, she greatly developed and ex- 
tended this system, so that, whenever she was at war, the interests of 
neutral nations became more precarious than even those of the enemy. 
In the wars with Napoleon the whole French coast Avas declared under 
blockade by Great Britain. The proclamation was notified to all 
neutral nations, who were thenceforth to abstain from all intercourse 
with the interdicted territory. Allied to this belligerent right, also, 
w^as that of seizing enemies' goods on board neutral vessels; also, 
neutral goods found in enemies' vessels. In the progress of civilization 
these remains of barbarism came to be modified, and in 1854, on the 
occasion of the war w4th Russia, the various powers agreed that block- 
ades, to be binding, must be effective ; that is to say, maintained by 
forces sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy. 
The same convention abolished privateering in time of Avar. On the 
return of peace, in 1856, these principles were agreed to, in the declara- 
tion of Paris, by Austria, France, Great Britain, Sardinia, Prussia, 
Russia, and Turkey, and were then submitted to the United States. 
Mr. Marcy, then Secretary of State, in Mr. Pierce's Administration, 
objected to the clause which abolished privateering. "It is," said he, 
" not the policy of the United States to maintain vast standing armies 
and navies. When, unfortunately, Ave go to war, Ave depend upon our 
people to protect us on the land, and on our ship-owners to defend us 
on the water. If you Avill make all private property exempt from cap- 
ture at sea, we Avill cease privateering ; but Avhy ask us to abolish it, 
wdiile you maintain and send out your great ships of Avar, Avhich are 
neither more nor less than priA'ateers? They go forth to do exactly 
the same things as the ships we license in time of Avar to burn, plunder, 
and destroy. Make all private property exempt from capture at sea, 
and then Ave Avill agree that privateering shall cease." The English 
Government would not agree to this, although the view had many 
advocates in England. The discussion Avas continued, and it was pro- 
posed, by Mr. Buchanan, that the law of blockade should also be modi- 
fied in so far that it should be confined to national A^essels, and naval 
arsenals and towns Avliich were at the same time iuA^ested by an army 
on the land ; that all merchant vessels, with their cargoes, slioukl be 
free to pass in and out. In 1859 Mr. Cass sent a circular to this effect 
to the representatives of the United States at all the European capitals. 
The British Government replied that " the system of commercial block- 
ade is essential to our naval supremacy." It is somewhat remarkable, 
hoAvever, that in the case of the Russian war the allies acted on the 
principle proposed by Mr. Buchanan. That Avar was declared in March, 
1854, but the ports of Southern Russia Avere not declared in a state of 
blockade until March, 1855, The allies temporized for a year with their 
right and poAver to close the commercial ports of the Black Sea, whilst 
carrying on the most sanguinary struggle before the naval arsenal of 



192 HISTORY or TIIE GREAT REBELLIOIST. 

Sebastopol, in order to allow the exportation of food from Russia, to 
make good the deficieut harvests of England and France. Upward of 
half a million quarters of grain reached England from that region in 
1854. Here, at least, is a precedent for the policy of restricting block- 
ades to fortified places, and leaving commercial ports unmolested. 
Had the proposition of Mr. Marcy, in relation to private property and 
privateers, and Mr. Cass's proposition in relation to blockade, been 
accepted by England and the other powers, they would have suifered 
no inconvenience from the present war, since their vessels would have 
had access to the Southern ports, whence, also, no privateers would 
have issued. When the blockade was instituted, the British Govern- 
ment recognized it as a belligei-ent right, and the Queen issued a 
proclamation enjoining the strictest neutrality. The British minister, 
in reply to some merchants of Liverpool who proposed fitting out ves- 
sels to trade to New Orleans, in the belief that under the treaty they 
had a right to enter any port of the United States, and that the attempt 
to enforce the blockade against British ships was an infringement of 
national law, stated : — 

" The United States and the so-called Confederate States are engaged in a civil war, 
and her Majesty's Government lias recognized that state of things, and has taken up a 
position of neutrality between the contending parties. Under these circumstances, if 
any Bcitish ship, being a neutral, knowingly attempts to break an effective blockade, 
she is hable to capture and condemnatiou." 

In France, application was also made to the minister, and he replied 
more at length to the same efiect as the English minister. Complaint 
was made that no notification was given to the ministers of the several 
powers that the blockade was instituted, but this was not considered 
essential to its vahdity, if it was effective. Fifteen days were allowed, 
after the establishment of the blockade, for vessels to come out of the 
ports. It appears that wliether they weie loaded or not at the time 
the blocknde was established, provided they came out within fifteen 
days, their passage was allowed. On the other hand, the United 
States Govertnnent declined to permit vessels to be sent to ports which 
were blockaded for the purpose of bringing away the property of Brit- 
ish subjects, or the vessels or property of other nations. An applica- 
tion for such permission was made, to which the Secretary of State 
replied tliat if such a facility were granted it would be used by Ameri- 
can citizens wishing to bring away property. The chief object of the 
Government, in the prompt announcement of the blockade, was to pre- 
vent the egress of privateers that might prey upon the Northern com- 
merce. The proclamation of Jefferson Davis to grant "letters of 
marque," had been followed. May 6th, by the act of the Confederate 
. Congress recognizing the existence of war between the United States 
and the Confederate States, and authorizing privateers. The act gave 
effect to the proclamation of Davis, and regulated the action of priva- 
teers and established prize-courts for the adjudication of prizes. 

The announcement of this privateering policy produced a great sen- 
sation at the North, where there was so much at risk. There were, 
nevertheless, two great difficulties in the way of privateers. One was 



HL5T0ET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIf. 193 

the want of vessels, and the other the want of some pbce where prizes 
could be carried for condemnation. It was soon ascertained, however, 
that a number of vessels, mostly those taken from the Government, 
and others belonging to Northern owners, which happened to be in 
Southern ports at the outbreak of the rebellion, were at the command 
of the Confederates, and were being fitted for cruising. A number of 
them ran the blockade and proceeded to prey upon commerce. Among 
these Avas the Aiken, a revenue cutter, which had been surrendered by 
its commander to the Charleston authorities, just previous to the fall 
of Sumter. She was refitted, and, under the name of Petrel, ran the 
blockade in July, and, mistaking the frigate St. Lawrence f )r a mer- 
chant vessel, ran towai'ds her, and when within range was crushed by 
a single broadside. The Calhoun was a side-wheel steamer of one 
thousand and fifty-eight tons, carrying one twenty-four-pound gun and 
two eighteen-pound Dahlgrens. She was commanded by George N. 
Hollius, formerly of the IJnited States navy, and made numerous cap- 
tures. The steamer W. H. Webb, formerly a New York towboat of 
six hundred and fifty tons, and the Dixie, a schooner of one hundred 
and fifty tons, were also busy. The Jeff. Davis, Captain Coxsetter, 
ran north as far as the Nantucket Shoals, making ]irizcs on her way, 
but was soon after lost at St. Augustine, Florida. The I>onita, a New 
York brig, the Sallie, a schooner, formerly the Virginia, of Brook- 
haven, and others, committed serious depredations upon Northern 
commerce. Many of the prizes captured by these vessels were carried 
into Southern ports and condemned in the prize-courts. 

When the Confederate authorities had pi'oposed to issue letters of 
marque, Httle attention was paid to the matter, under the suijposition 
that they had neither the facilities to equip vessels nor the power to 
break the blockade. The prompt appearance of the vessels on the 
ocean compelled the European powers immediately to define their 
positions in relation to them. The grovmd taken was, as m the case 
of recognizing the blockade, to regard both parties as belligerents, and 
to apply the same rules to the vessels of each. On the 1st of June 
the English Government issued a proclamation containing the follow- 
ing clause : — 

" In order to give fall effect to this principle (neutrality), her Majesty has been 
pleased to interdict the armed ships, and also the privateers of both parties, from car- 
rying prizes made by them into the ports, harbors, and roadsteads, or waters of the 
United Kingdom, or any of her Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad." 

The French Government decreed that no vessel of war or privateer 
of either party should be allowed to remain in a French port more- 
than twenty-four hours, and forbidding any sale of goods belonging to 
prizes. The Spanish Government issued a similar decree. 

These regulations much circumscribed the Confederate action ; but 
at Havana it was notified : — 

" Vessels bearing the Confederate flag are allowed to enter Cuban ports under their 
own flags, to discharge and take away cargoes, and do all other things of business 
necessity, with the same privileges as favored nations, but without recognition of the 
new nationality." 

The two most important of the Confederate war-vessels were the 
.13 



19-i HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

Sumter nnd the N.aslivlllc, because of the extent of their operations 
and their long-continued impunity. The former was originally called 
the ]Marquis de la Ilabana, and had belonged to the Mexican General 
Miramon. She had been cai»tured ofi"Vera Cruz, March 5th, 1860, by 
the United States elooi)-of-war Saratoga, for refusing to show her 
colors and firing into the latter when hailed ; and being carried to 
New Orleans, she was subsequently taken possession of by the Confed- 
erate Govennnent, and fitted for sea under command of Raphael 
Scmmes. Her appearance, when her smoke-stack was lowered, which 
was often the case for the purpose of disguise, was tliat of a clumsily 
rifo-ed bark. On the morning of the 30th of June she left the Missis- 
sippi, vainly pursued by the United States steamer Brooklyn. She 
made a number of prizes and sent them in to Cienfuegos, but they were 
not allowed to remain. The Sumter coaled at that port, however, and 
sailed on July Vih. She continued in the West Indies making prizes, 
and coaling 'in the difierent ports, pursued by the United States 
steamer Powhatan from jjort to port, until November, when she ran 
into Martinique for supplies, which the Government refused, but per- 
mitted her to buy them of the English merchants of St. Pierre. While 
she lay there the United States gunboat Iroquois, Captain Palmer, 
made her appearance. The local government, however, interposed, to 
prevent any infraction of belligerent riglits, and detained the Iroquois 
until twenty-four hours after the departure of the Sumter. She then 
crossed the ocean, and ultimately arrived at Tangiers, Africa, where 
some of her officers were seized by the American consul, and sent 
home. 

The Nashville ran tlie blockade on the night of October 26th, and 
excited much attention by the rumor that she carried out Messrs. 
Slidell and Mason, the Confederate commissioners to Europe. This 
rumor was, ho\ve\'er, a blind to cover the actual departure of the com- 
missioners in the Theodora. The Nashville was a side-wheel steamer 
of one thousand two hundred and twenty tons, belonging to the New 
York and Charleston line of steamers, and was of great speed. She 
had a crew of eighty men, and carried two long twelve-pound rifled 
cannon, and was commanded by Captain Pegram, formerly of the 
United Slates navy. She arrived at Bermuda in three and a half days, 
where she coaled from private sources, the Government refusing sup- 
plies. On the 5ih of November she sailed for England. On the 19th 
of November she fell in with and captured the ship Harvey Birch, 
Captain Nelson, from Havre for New York, three days out. The 
captain and crew Avere taken as prisoners of war, and the ship, a vessel 
of one thousand four hundred tons, was destroyed by fire. She then 
proceeded to Southamjjton, where the prisoners were set at liberty 
with all their effects. The Nashville remained a long time in the Eng- 
lish port to refit, being pursued thither and Avatched by the United 
States steamer Tuscarora. They were both ultimately ordered to 
leave the port, to prevent an infraction of the neutrality laws, the Tus- 
carora being compelled to give the Nashville a start of twenty-four 
hours. 

As the Federal navy increased in strength, the number of privateers 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 195 

became less, and their depredations almost altogether ceased. There 
remained, however, the question of the mode of treatment for those 
captured. On the 3 J of Jmie, the crew (twenty men) of the schooner 
Savannah were captured by the United States brig Perry, and carried 
into New York, in irons, to await trial for piracy. William Smith, 
one of the crew of the Jeif. Davis privateer, had also been captured 
and sent to Philadelphia for trial. These two trials took place on the 
Bame day, viz., October 2 2d. Soon after their capture, July 6th, Jef- '• 
ferson Davis sent a dispatch to President Lincoln, stating, that should 
any of those prisoners be executed, he would retaliate, man for man, 
and he proposed to exchange these prisoners. The seaman of the Jeff. 
Davis was tried before Judges Grier and Cadwallader, who charged 
the jury to the effect, that " he could not be regarded as a privateer, 
because he acted under a government that had not been recognized." 

The law in relation to piracy had been laid down in Boston, May 
IGth, by Judge Sprague in a charge to the grand-jury. He cited the 
laws of Congress of 1790, 1820, 1825, 1846, and 1847, as to what con- 
stitutes the general crime of piracy. These laws were based on the 
power of Congress to deline and punisli piracy. But he was of opinion 
that the power to regulate commerce afforded basis for additional 
penal enactments. These laws, being constitutionally made by Con- 
gress, cannot be impaired by the acts of any State or States. No 
man breaking these laws under State authority can escape the conse- 
quences. But if States band together and make war, their authority 
to commence privateering cannot be recognized by the judiciarv, until 
the Government has conceded to them belligerent rights. As long as 
the Government refuses to do this, the judiciary can only regard the 
acts of the individuals as j^iracy. The judge held farther, that if a 
citizen of the United States sliould commit depredations upon its com- 
merce, under a commission even from France or England, he would 
be dealt with as a pirate under the act of 1790 ; and citizens of foreign 
countries which have treaties with the United States, such as are 
alluded to by the law of 1847, may be deemed pirates, if they, under 
a commission from any foreign Government, cruise against the United 
States. The charge of Judge Grier sustained these views, and Smith 
was convicted of piracy. 

The trial of the Savannah crew, of whom eight were foreigners, 
was had before Judges Nelson and Shipman, in New York. Judge 
Nelson charged, that a pirate, by the law of nations, was one that 
cruised against the vessels of all nations ; as the prisoners only cruised 
against one, the United States, their crime fell short of piracy ; but 
still, imder the act of 1820, they were pirates. The comnn'ssion of 
Jefferson Davis could not be set up or defended, because the United 
States did not recognize such authority. Again, a pirate was one who 
depi'edated for private gain ; if this motive was wanting, in respect to 
the prisoners, their crime was not piracy. The jury could not agree, 
and a new trial was ordered. The views of all the judges seemed to 
centre in one point, viz., that the judiciary had no recourse but to 
condemn them under the act, inasmuch as their acts were piracy under 
existing laws, and the authority on which the men acted was not 



196 niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

recognized by the Government. Meantime, pending these trials, the 
Confederate Government ordered the selection of a number of men from 
the Richmond prisons, by lot, to be dealt with in the same manner 
as the privateers should be dealt witli. The choice fell on Colonel 
Corcoran, of the New York Sixty-ninth regiment, and others captured 
at Bull Run. The Federal Government, under these circumstances, 
delaved the .execution of these prisoners. 

While these events were taking place, R. B. Forbes and others, of 
Boston, applied for authority to arm the propella Pembroke, about to 
sail for China, as a privateer. The Secretary replied, that the power 
to do so might be found under the act of August 5th, 1861, empowering 
the President to authorize " commanders of any suitable vessels to 
subdue, seize," &c. It does not appear, however, that any vessels 
were armed under that authority. 

The proclamation of the President in relation to treating privateers 
as pirates created much sensation in England, and on May 16th a 
debate on the question took place in the House of Lords. The Earl 
of Derby said that privateers were not pirates by the law of nations, and 
no one nation could make it so. " He knew the United States treated 
the privateers as mere rebels, and liable to the penalties of treason. 
That was not the doctrine in this country, because we have declared 
that they have belligerent rights. The Northern States could not 
claim belligerent rights for themselves, and deal with the other parties 
as rebels." Lord Brougham said, " it was very clear that privateering 
was not piracy." Lord Kingsdown said the United States dealt with 
the privateers as rebels. " He believed the enforcement of that doc- 
trine would be an act of barbarity which would produce an outcry 
throughout the civilized world." The English Government, however, 
took no active steps in the matter, and the question soon resolved itself 
into one respecting the exchange of prisoners. 

The question of exchange of prisoners early forced itself upon the 
notice of the Government, Avhich had the undoubted right to punish 
those captured as traitors, taken in the act of levying war upon the 
Government. To pursue this course, however, would provoke retri- 
bution, and would cause the war to degenerate into a savage contest. 
On the other hand, the Government hesitated to systematize the ex- 
change of prisoners according to the laws of war, lest it might be 
construed into an acknowledgment of the belligerent rights of the 
Confederate States. The necessity of exchange became, however, 
urgent. The friends of those who Avere languishing in Southern 
prisons were kept anxious by the rumors of barbarities there com- 
mitted, and were clamorous that something should be done for their 
relief. By eftecting an exchange of prisoners, no rights of sover- 
eignty are conceded. There is a well-defined distinction recognized 
by the United States Courts, between necessary intercourse and admis- 
sion of rights. By exchanging prisoners nothing is conceded but 
what is patent to the world, viz., that active war exists, and that it 
B^ould be conducted by a Christian people according to the usages of 
civilized nations. 

Previous to the battle of Bull Run, the number of prisoners on 



HISTOEY OP THE GKEAT EEBELLIOK. 197 

either side was not large. By that disaster a large number of Nortliem 
troops became prisoners. It was then that the threat of retaliation 
was held out in respect to the privateers. In view of this fact, the ques- 
tion of punishment could no longer be entertained. The Confederates 
had, from time to time, released prisoners on parole, and, in an infor- 
mal manner, numbers were from time to time discharged on either side. 
On the 3d of September, a formal intercliange of pi-isoners took place 
between General Pillow and Colonel Wallace. This was followed, on 
the 12th of October, by a pi'oposition from General Polk, commanding 
at Columbus, Kentucky, to General Grant, to exchange prisoners ac- 
cording to the terms of the exchange between General Pillow and 
Colonel Wallace. General Grant did not think proper to cbmply, on 
the ground that he recognized no " Southern Confederacy." On the 
23d of October, General McClernand, understanding the necessities of 
the case, sent Colonel Buford to General Polk, offering to release three 
Confederate prisoners. General Polk wished to make a general ar- 
rangement, but Colonel Buford having no authority, General Polk 
released, unconditionally, sixteen Union prisoners on this occasion. 
The treaty made by Fremont with Price, on the first of November, 
provided for the exchange of prisoners, in terms as follows : — 

" And the parties so named are hereby authorized, whenever applied to for that 
purpose, to negotiate for the exchange of any and all persons who may hereafter be taken 
prisoners of war and released on parole ; such exchanges to be made upon the plan 
heretofore approved and acted upon, to wit, grade for grade, or two officers of lower 
grade as an equivalent in rank for one of a higher grade, as shall bo thought just and 
equitable." 

This was repudiated by General Hunter on the 7th of November. 
Early in 1862 commissioners were appointed by the Federal Govern- 
ment to proceed to the Confederate States, and examine into the con- 
dition of the Union prisoners. They were refused admission, but suc- 
ceeded in entering upon negotiations which ultimately led to the 
adoption of a regular cartel. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Improved Efficiency of the Navy. — Expeditions. — Port Royal. — The Fleet. — The 
Assault. — Troops Landed. — Proclamation. — Stone Fleet. — Ship Island. — General 
Butler. — Proclamation of General Phelps. — Burnside's Expedition. — Fort Pickens. 
— Galveston. — Combat on the Mississippi. — Effectiveness of the B'ockade. 

We have seen in a former chapter, in relation to the tactical aspect 
of the present war, that the South, occupying a central position, and 
the North the circumference of the theatre of operations, it w^as neces- 
sary to close the circle by occupying the leading points of the sea- 
coast with strong detachments. This operation was long delayed 
through the want of a sufficient number of available vessels in the 
navy, at a time when a large number were required to maintain an 
efficient blockade over au extended coast line. As soon, however, as a 



198 inSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

moderate blockuding squadron was supplied, attention was turned to 
the organization of a series of expeditioiiH, having for their object the 
capture of the best harl>orH on the coast, and the occupation of ex- 
tended tracts of country iu their vicinity. 

When General Wool took command at Fortress Monroe, August 
13th, he found preparations in progress for the expedition to Hatteras 
Inlet, of Avhicli the details are given in Chapter XI., sind the results of 
which were the occupation of that point by the Union forces, on the 
29th of August. A ibrtification called Fort Oregon, at Ocracoke 
Inlet, fifteen miles below Ilatteras, was abandoned by the Confeder- 
ates, and destroyed by the Union troops. On the 1st of October, the 
Bteam-tug Fanny, with her two brass guns, and thirty-five of the New 
York Ninth Volunteers, together with a consideral^le quantity of 
stores, was captured by the Confederates. Ou the 4th, the Twentieth 
ludiana, stationed at Chicamacotnico, thirty miles above Hatteras, 
were attacked, and a considerable number of them made prisoners. 
The next day, the Monticello and Susquehanna ran down and shelled 
the Confederates, killing a number, and driving the remainder to their 
boats. 

The Ilatteras expedition having proved successful, the United States 
Government undertook a larger and more foiniidable one. The finest 
harbor on the Southern coast is that of Port Royal, South Carolina — 
a broad estuary, formed by the junction of liroad and l*ort Royal 
Rivers, and Archer's Creek, and their ilchouvUiirc into the Atlantic. 
The mterlacing of these and otlier rivers liaa Ibrmed a large group of 
islands, of wliich Hilton Head, Hunting, St. Helena, Paris, and Port 
Royal are the prmcipal. This harbor is nearly equidistant from 
Charleston on the north and Savannah on the south, with both of 
which cities it has an interior water communication for small vessels. 
The parish of which these islands Ibrm a part is the richest cotton dis- 
trict in South Carolina. The population was about forty thousand, of 
whom thirty-two thousand were blacks. The chief production is the 
long-staple cotton, known as sea island, used Jbr the first class of cotton 
goods, and produced only along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, 
and Texas. Rice is also largely cultivated. The village of Beaufort, 
on Port Royal Island, and the adjacent islands, formed the summer resi- 
dence of many of the wealthy planters of South Carolina. This har- 
bor, after consultation with Ca])tain Dupont,* of the navy, was fixed 
upon as the l)est point for a basis of operations on the Southern coast, 
and preparations on a very extensive scale for an expedition thither 
were at once commenced. After many delays the expedition finally 
took its departure from Fortress Monroe, October 29th. It consisted 
of fifty vessels, including thirty-three transports ; the naval command 
being under Flag-oflicer Dupont. The military commander was 



♦Samuel F. Dnpont was a native of Now Jor- 
npy, where Im wus born In 180;}. llo entered tlio 
navy in 1H15, and lu 1S4S sorvud vinder Commo- 
dore Shubrlek in California, where wHh one hun- 
dred men he attaeUed and routed live hundred 
Mexleuns. He wus uppcdnted captain in AxUfi, 
and ecminniidrd the Minnesota on tho (Milna 
•oual lu is^Ki-y. lu 1601 liu took charge of tho 



Philadelphia navy-yard, .ind in tho ensuintr snm- 
nier was put in eommand of tho South .\tlantic 
bloeliadiuf; squadron. On Oetober Tth, after a 
fralliint action, ho captnn-d the rebel forts in Port 
lioyal Harbor, for which Service he was, in An- 
^'ust, 1802, commissionecl a renr-admiral. Ho 
commanded the Iron-clads in tho attack on Fort 
Siuater, April 7, 1868, aud in Juno waa ruliered. 



niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 



199 



Major -General T. W. Sherman,* and the troops comprised three bri- 
gades, numbering fifteen thousand men, under Brigadier-Generals 
Egbert L. Viele, Isaac I. Stevens, and Horatio G. Wriglit. 

These were accompanied by Hamilton's (late Sherman's) battery of 
BIX rifled guns, and a battalion of volunteer engineers. Soon after the 
fleet left Hampton Roads, the weather became unsettled, and the wind 
increased in violence until on Friday, November 1st, it blew almost a 
hurricane from the southeast, scattering the ships so widely, that on 
Saturday morning but one of the whole fleet was in sight from the 
deck of the flag-ship, the Wabash, On Sunday, the wind having mod- 
erated, the vessels began to reappear. During the gale the Governor 
and Peerless, transports, sank, and the Isaac Smith threw her arma- 
ment overboard to save the vessel. Only seven lives, however, were 
lost. On the 4th, twenty-five vessels anchored olFPort Royal bar, the 
channel through which was immediately sounded, and buoyed out. 
For the protection of the harbor the rebels had erected at Hilton 
Head, on its Southern side, Fort Walker, a strong earthwork, mount- 
ing twenty-three guns of the heaviest calibre, some of them rifled, and 
several of them imported from England during tlie war. On the north 
Bide of the harbor, and distant about two and a half miles from Fort 
Walker, was Fort Beauregard, at Bay Point, mounting twenty guns, 
and supported by an outwork half a mile distant. About two miles 
above the forts, where Port Royal River joins the Broad, was a fleet 
of six or seven rebel gtmboats, under Commodore Tatnall. There was 
also a strong land force in the forts, under General Drayton. Under 
the circumstances it was determined to reduce Fort Walker first, and 
on the 7th of November, at nine o'clock, the Wabash signalled to the 
fleet to form in order of battle in two columns. The flng-ship led the 
main column, and the Bienville the starboard column, having Ijer posi- 
tion on the Susquehanna's starboard quarter, and maintaining it during 
the entire action. The ships were drawn up in the following order: — 



Main Column. 
Wabash, 
Susquehanna, 
Mohican, 
Seminole, 
Pawnee, 
Unadilla, 
Pembina. 



Starboard ColunuL 
Bienville, 
Seneca, 
Curlew, 
Penguin, 
Ottawa, 
Vandalia. 



As the fleet moved up towards Fort Beauregard the rebel batteries 
on both sides of the river opened fire on the head of the column, with 
heavy guns of long range. At ten miimtes past ten the Wabash fired 
simultaneously on both Forts Walker and Beauregard, sending a 
broadside at each. Each volley fell in front of the batteries, and 
ploughed deep furrows in the sand. Followed by her consorts, the 



* Thomas W. Sherman was born in Ehode Isl- 
and. 181(5; graduated at West. Point in 188G as 
second-lieutenant Thinl Artillery; flrst-liciiteu- 
ant, 1838; captain in May, 1846; served in Mexi- 
co, and was made majdr in February, 184T, for 
gdUant conduct at Huena Vista. Ho was np- 
poiated lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Artillery 



in May, 1S61 ; led a brigade in the first battle of 
JJull liun, and in the succeeding October took 
command of the troops in the Port Koyal Expe- 
dition. In March, ]8tJ2, he was superseded and 
ordered to the HouthwcHt. He took part in the 
Port Hudson campaign, undir General Banks, 
and lost a leg in tho assault of May iiTth. 



200 mSTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. 

"Wabash then turned southward, and, sailing in an ellipse, delivered 
her fire as slie passed slowly down within six hundred yards of Fort 
Walker, deliberately, and Avithout losing the range. She also ap- 
proached the shore as closely as the soundings would admit. These 
were given regularly, as upon an ordinary occasion ; signals- were 
made continually, and the fire fell upon the fort with all the cool pre- 
cision of target practice. The second column, meanwhile, had also 
passed up on the left side of the channel, pouring broadsides into Fort 
Beauregard, and then taking a station to cut off Tatnall's fleet frora 
any participation in the fight, and at the same time to keep up a flank- 
ing fire on Fort Walker. Three circuits of the channel were taken 
by the main column, at each of which a broadside was opened upon 
the fort opposite. In this way the whole force of the fleet was brought 
to bear upon the enemy with irresistible effect, each vessel delivering 
its shot as it came in front of the fort, and each, by constantly shifting 
its position, baffling the enemy's aim. The enemy was by no means 
inactive, and offered a stubborn resistance, but at the end of the third 
circuit the guns of the forts were mostly disabled. The flag-ofiieer 
almost simultaneously received tidings to that effect from several 
sources, and about 3 p. m. the rebels struck their flag. The signal to 
cease firing was at once hoisted, at precisely a quarter to three o'clock, 
the bombardment having been nearly five hours in progress. 

The flag-ship lowered a boat and sent it ashore, carrying a flag of 
truce in the bow, to inquire if the enemy had surrendered. Com- 
mander John Rodgers, a passenger on the Wabash, who had come 
down to join his vessel, the Flag, off" Charleston, and had been acting 
during the fight as aide to Commodore Dupont, was assigned the duty 
of taking the flag ashore. He planted the American ensign upon the 
deserted ramparts, and another and larger flag was afterwards displayed 
upon the flag-staff" of a buildmg a few rods to the left, where the rebel 
standard had waved during the combat, and whence it had just been 
taken down. The troops were immediately landed, and took posses- 
sion of the forts. The Federal loss was eight killed and twenty- 
three wounded. The Confederate loss was not ascertained. Forty- 
eight cannon were taken. The village of Beaufort was soon after 
tAen possession of by the Federal forces without opposition, the in- 
habitants mostly retiring at their approach. 

After landing and taking possession of the forts, General Sherman 
issued the following proclamation : — 

" To THE People of South Carolina : 

" In obedience to the orders of the President of the United States of America, I 
have landed on your shores with a small force of National troops. The dictates of a 
duty which under tlie Constitution I owe to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and 
hospitable people among wliom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, 
prompt me to proclaim that we have come among you with no feelings of personal ani- 
mosity ; no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or interfere with any 
of your lawful laws, rights, or your social and local institutions, beyond what the 
causes herein briefly alluded to may render unavoidable. 

" Citizens of South Carolina : The civilized world stands appalled at the course you 
are pursuing I — appalled at the crime you are committing against your own mother; 
the best, the most enlightened, and heretofore the most prosperous of nations. You 




<^ 




^ 



-/ 



MA J. GEN- AMBIV 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION". 201 

• 
are in a state of active rebellion against the laws of your country. You have lawless- 
ly seized upon the torts, arsenals, and other property belonging to our common coun- 
try, and withm your borders, with this property, you are in arms and waging a ruth- 
less war against your constitutional Government, and thus threatening the existence 
of a Government wliich you are bound, by the terms of the solemn compact, to live 
under and faithfully support. In doing this, you are not only imdermining and pre- 
paring the way for totally ignoring your own political and social existence, but you are 
tlireatening the civilized world with tho odious sentiment that self-government is im- 
possible with civilized men. 

" Fellow-citizens : I implore you to pause and reflect upon the tenor and consequen- 
ces of your acts. If the awful sacrifices made by the devastation of our property, the 
shedding of fraternal blood in battle, the mourning and wailing of widows and or- 
phans throughout our land, are insufficient to deter you from further pursuing this un- 
holy war, then ponder, I beseech you, \ipon the ultimate, but not less certain result, 
which its further progress must necessarily and naturally entail upon your once happy 
and prosperous State. Indeed, can you pursue this fratricidal war, andcontinue to im- 
brue your hands in the loyal blood of your countrymen, your friends, your kinsmen, 
for no other object than to unlawfully disrupt the confederacy of a great people, a con- 
federacy established by your own hands, in order to set up, were it possible, an inde- 
pendent government, under which you can never live in peace, prosperity, or quiet- 
ness? 

" Carolinians : We have come among you as loyal men, fully impressed with our 
constitutional obligations to the citizens of your State; those obligations shall be 
performed as far as in our power. But be not deceived; the obligation of suppressing 
armed combinations against the constitutional authorities is paramount to all others. 
If, in the performance of this duty, other minor but important obligations should be in 
any way neglected, it must be attributed to the necessities of the case, because rights 
dependent on the laws of the State must be necessarily subordinate to military exigen- 
cies, created by insurrection and rebellion. 

"T. W. Sherman, 
" Brigadier GeTieral Commanding. 

"HEAD-QnARTERS, PORT ROTAL, S. C, 

'' Kovemher 8, 1861." 

On the 30th of November Adjutant-Genefal Thomas sent instru(v 
tions to General Sherman, in Beaufort, to take possession of all the 
crops on the island — cotton, corn, rice, &c. — on military account, and 
ship the cotton, and such other crops as were not wanted for the 
army, to New York, to be sold there for account of the United 
States ; also, to use negro slaves to gather and secure the crops of cot- 
ton and corn, and to erect defences at Port Royal and other places on 
the adjoining islands. General Sherman proceeded to appoint an 
agent to collect the cotton, employing the blacks for the purpose, and 
allowing them pay, and the cotton was shipped North on Government 
account. In most cases the Confederate commanders on the exposed 
points of the coast received positive instructions to burn or destroy 
all property on the approach of the Union troops. 
, The capture of the forts was soon followed by the occupation of the 
islands. That of Port Royal, although taken possession of by the 
Union forces November 6th, was not fully occupied until the 8th, when 
a reconnoissance in force, under General Stevens, drove the enemy 
completely from the island. They crossed Port Royal Ferry, and took 
up a position on the mainland. The Union pickets were immediately 
extended so as to defend the town of Beaufort and the entire island of 
Port Royal. Meantime the United States gunboats Flag, Augusta, 
Pocahontas, and Seneca went from Port Royal to Tybee Island, at the 



202 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

mouth of the Savannah River. The fortifications were found to be de- 
serted, and formal possession was taken of the island. Reconnois- 
sances in other directions demonstrated the Ashepo, the Coosaw, and 
other rivers to be clear of the enemy. On the capture of the islands 
the white population retired inland, after destroying much cotton, and 
did not return in mmibers. About ten thousand blacks, being nearly 
a third of the slaves, came within the Federal lines, and were employed 
in the culture of the soil and in the requisite labor of the ships and 
forts. 

A formidable plan to make the blockade more efficient was put in 
execution in November. Its purpose was to seal up the channels in 
the Southern harbors by sinking vessels loaded with stone. The first 
attempt of this kind was on the North Carolina coast, where the nn- 
mert)us inlets to Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds gave great facilities 
for evading the blockading vessels. A number of stnall-sized vessels 
were jiurchased in Baltimore and sunk in Ocracoke Inlet. Two other 
fleets were then prepared, one for each of the harbors of Savannah and 
Charleston. The first consisted of twenty-five vessels, and the latter 
of twenty. They were mostly old whalers, no longer seaworthy, and 
of from three hundred to five Inmdred tons burden. They were 
bought for about ten dollars per ton, chiefly in the ports of New Lon- 
don and New Bedford, the forty-five shijDS costing about tAvo hun- 
dred thousand dollars. They were stripped of coj^per and other fit- 
.tings and loaded with picked stones, as deep as possible. The Charles- 
ton fleet sailed November 20th, with sealed orders, and on the l7th of 
December the first fleet was sunk across the principal entrance to the 
harbor. They were placed in three or four rows across the channel in 
a checkered order. The second fleet was sunk in Maflet's Channel, 
Charleston Harbor. 

The usual eflfect of sunken vessels upon the channel of a harbor is 
to gradually destroy it, by causing an accumulation of the alluvium 
which the rivers bear down, and of the sands which the tides carry 
back. ^ This operation was denounced by the English as a crime against 
humanity at large, by destroying one of the Avorld's harbors. But Mr. 
Seward replied, that the United States Government, upon the return 
of peace, held itself bound to restore the harbor. The operation, ow- 
ing to the shifting character of the channels ofi" Charleston, and the 
prevalence of westerly winds at certain periods, which carry all ob- 
structions out to sea, does not seem to have been very eflective, and 
vessels continued to run the blockade in and out of Charleston. 

Another expedition was projected to occupy Ship Island, on the 
coast of JMississippi, shortly after the return of General Butler from 
Hatteras Inlet in September. The island, which is sixty miles from 
New Orleans, is about seven miles in length, and one-eighth to three- 
quai-ters of a mile wide. It is mostly a bank of clear white sand, 
without trees or shrubs, but good water can be obtained by sinking a 
barrel anywhere on its surface. This, with Horn, Petit Bois, and 
Dauphine Islands, forms the southern barrier of Mississippi Sound, 
which, with a width of ten to twelve miles, extends from Mobile Bay 
to Lake Borgne, ia Louisiana, forming aa interior conimunicatioa be- 



204 



HISTOEY OP THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



fween Mobile and New Orleans. On the mainland, opposite Ship 
Island, are the towns of Biloxi, Mississippi City, and Pascagoula. On 
the west end of the island are a fort and a light-house. The fort was 
built by the United States in 1859, and was burned by the Confederates 
in June, 1861. The United States steamer Massachusetts found the 
island unoccupied at the end of June. On the 8th of July, the same 
steamer found a considerable force there, which had thrown up in- 
trenchments, and had mounted several guns. An attempt to dislodge 
them failed, and they retained possession until September 16th, Avhen, 
iipprehending the approach of a large force, they abandoned the island, 
taking most of their guns. In the mean time they had rebuilt the fort 
and named it Fort Twiggs. The Massachusetts landed a force Sep- 
tember 17th, which continued to hold it. They received re-enforce- 
ments, and strengthened the place, mounting several Dahlgren nine- 
inch sliell guns and rilled cannon. On the 19th of October, Commo- 
dore Ilollins, commander of the Confederate steamer Florida, chal- 
lenged the Massachusetts, and, after a combat of forty-five minutes, 
the rebel ship drew off in a sinking condition, with four of her crew 
killed. The Massachusetts Avas hit by a one-hundred-pound shot, 
doing much injury to the hull, but she had only one man wounded. On 
the 21st of November, the gunboat New London arrived in the sound, 
and in the course of a fortnight captured five Confederate vessels. 

General Butler was authorized to enlist troops for this expedition in 
New England, :md in doing so he came in collision with the Governor 
of Massachusetts, who objected to the raising of troops independent of 
his authority in the State, and to the appointment of field officers by 
General Butler. A sharp controversy sprang up on the subject, and 
the expedition was long delayed. Finally the first instalment, a part 
of the Middlesex brigade, consisting of the Massachusetts Twenty- 
sixth and Connecticut Ninth volunteers, with Captain Manning's bat- 
tery of artillery, numbering in all one thousand nine hundred and 
eight men, arrived off Fortress Monroe, Virginia, on board the steam 
transport Constitution, on the 26th of November. In comphance with 
previous orders and commands, General J. W. Phelps* relieved 
Colonel Jones, of the Massachusetts Twenty-sixth, in command, and 
the ship stood out to sea on the afternoon of the 27th. 

They arrived at tShip Island December 3d. Having completed the 
landing of his troops, and before his commanding officer, General 
Butler, arrived, Phelps issued an address to the people of the South- 
west, containing the following passa<'-es: — 

" We believe that every State that has been admitted as a slave State into the Union 
since the adoption of the Constitution, has been admitted in direct violation of that 
Constitution. . 

"The Church, by being endowed with political power, with its convents, its schools, 



* John W. Pholps was born In Vermont, in ISIS, 
praduatt'd at West Point in 1836, as second lieu- 
tenant of artillery, and became first lieutenant 
In ISiS. He commanded his company in Mexi- 
c<) with distinction at the battles of Uontreras and 
ChuiubuBio, was made captain in 1S50, and re- 
8it'ned in 1S59. When the war broke out he was 
made colonel of the First V'ermont volunteers, 



and soon after brigadier-peneral of volunteers, 
lie took part in the Ship Island expedition, and in 
the expedition asiainst New Orleans, in the spring 
of ISG'i, but havins; become involved in a dispute 
with General Butler, with rccrard to the disposition 
to be made of the nesn-oes who sought the pro- 
tection of the United States tiag, he resigned hi« 
commission July 31, l!362. 



206 mSTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK. 

its immense landed wealth, its associations, secret and open, became the ruling power 
of the State, and thus occasioned a war of more strife and bloodshed, probably, than 
any other war which has desolated the earth. 

"Slavery is still less susceptible of political character than was the Church. It is 
as fit at this raoinont for the lumber-room of the past as were, in 1793, the landed 
■wealth, tlie exclusive privilege, &c., of the Catholic Cliurch in France. 

" It behooves us to consider, as a self-governing people, bred and reared and prac- 
tised in the habits of self-government, whether we cannot, whether we ought not, 
revolutionize slavery out of existence, without the necessity of a conflict of arms like 
that of the Frencli Revolution." 

* * * * "That it (free labor) is the right, the capital the inheri- 

tance, the hope of the poor man everywhere ; that it is especially the right of Ave 
millions of our fellow-countrymen in the Slave States, as well as of the four millions 
of Africans there, and all our efforts, therefore, however small or great, whether 
directed against the interference of Governments from abroad, or against rebellious 
combinations at home, shall be for free labor." 

This document was not circulated on the mainland to any considera- 
ble extent, and was promptly disavowed by General Butler, then in 
Massachusetts. 

Willie these expeditions were in progress another was organized, 
with as much secrecy as possible in respect to its destination, under 
General Burnside.* The preparations commenced early in September, 
and about eleven thousand troops concentrated at Annapolis in Octo- 
ber, for drill and preparation. The great difficulties necessarily at- 
tendant upon combined expeditions caused siich delays, that General 
Burnside was not ready for sea until January 12th, when the com- 
bined land and naval forces sailed from Fortress Monroe in one hun- 
dred and twenty vessels The destination was kept secret until the 
expedition appeared ott' Hatteras. It was then announced to be 
Roanoke Islo J, Avhich, lying between Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, 
and separated by Croatan Sound from the mainland, completely com- 
mands the navigation of the inland seas of North Carolina, Scarcely 
had the fleet departed, when it was overtaken by one of those violent 
Btorms common to the coast at that season, and suttered much damage. 
The steamer New York, with a quantity of arms and stores, was 
lost. The Pocahontas went ashore and was lost, with seventy-five 



* Ambrose E. I?nrnsi<le was tiorn in Indiana, 
May '.'8a, 1S24: gradiiatod at West Point in 1S47 ; 
BiTvi'd in the Mexic;in vvar witli credit, and after- 
wards on tlio Mexican frontier, wliere bo was 
qnartorniaster of the boundary commission. In 
1S.')1 lie travelled twelve hundred miles throuf,'h 
the Indian country in seventeen days. He was 
subsequently stationed at Newport, but rcsii;ned 
his Commission in lS53, to enKiw;e in the manu- 
facture of a breech-loading rifle of his own in- 
vention. He then entered the service of the 
Illinois Centr.ll liailroad. Governor Sprufrue, 
on the outbreak of the War, made him colonel 
of a JJhode Island rcfiimcnt, and ho served as 
aetiu'^' l>rli.'adier at Bull linn; On the 6tli of 
Aiitrust he w.as made t)ripadier-general of volun- 
teers. A few montlis later, lie took char;:eoftho 
cxpeilition to Kocinoke Island, and after the occu- 
iiation of that place, captured Newbcm, Fort 
M.icon, and other important points in North 
Carolina. After the disaster on the Peninsula in 
lb62. he was ordered Noilh with the prcater [lart 
of hia army, aad commanded the left wing at 



the battle of Antictam. Soon afterwards he was 
placed in command of one of the three grand 
divisions of the Army of the Potomac; ami, 
on November 7tli, he succeeded General McCIcl- 
lan in command of the whole Army of the Po- 
tomac; fouaht the unsuccessful battle beforo 
Fredericksburg, December 13th, and was relieved 
of his command January 26lh, 1SG3. On March 
26th, ho was aiipointed to command the Depart- 
ment of Ohio, and in the fall conducted the cam- 
paiiin iu Eastern Tennessee, capturing Cumber- 
land Gap. Knoxville, and other places. In No- 
vember, ho successfully held Knoxville against 
Ixmsistreet's besieirinj; army, and on December 
14lh was relieved by General KosttT. In command 
of the Ninth Corps he participated in the cam- 
p.aign of isr)4 asainst Richmond, but having 
been censured for the failure of the assault, after 
the explosion of the mine in front of Petersburg, 
he was relieved ti-wards the close of the year by 
Generil Parke, and l» May, 1S65, resigned his 
commissioQ. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 207 

liorses ; and several other vessels were -oTecked, with more or less 
loss in stores and munitions. Much difficulty was encountered in pass- 
ing over the bar at Hatteras Inlet into Pamlico Sound, in consequence 
of miscalculations in regard to draft of water, and it was not until 
February that this was effected. The enemy held Roanoke Island, 
with a force of three thousand men. The place was strongly in- 
trenched, and was supposed capable of resisting any force that might 
be sent into the sound. On the 7th of February, the day after the sur- 
render of Fort Henry to the gunboats of Flag-officer Foote, an attack 
was commenced. The gunboats, under Flag-officer Goldsborough, 
having cleared an entrance into Croatan Sound, and driven off the 
rebel fleet, consisting of seven gunboats, the Federal troops, under 
Generals Foster, Reno, and Parks, effected a landing at night, beyond 
the reach of the rebel guns, and advanced at daybreak on the 8th of 
February, through a dense swamp, upon the principal iutrenchments, 
which extended across the only road leading through the island, and 
were protected on either flank by swamps and artificial obstructions 
of a formidable character. The main Federal column skirmished in 
front of these, until the rebel wings Avere simultaneously attacked by 
flanking parties, when with a determined rush it carried the works by 
storm. The enemy forthwith abandoned the place, and fled towards 
the upper end of the island, closely pursued. There Avere, however, 
no means of escape, 'and the whole force of nearly three thousand men 
surrendered at distretion. Among the killed on the side cf the Con- 
federates was Captain O. J. Wise, a son of Ex-Governor Henry A. 
Wise, who was shot while attempting to escape in a boat. H. A. 
Wise had been in command of the island, but had left it a few days 
before on account of iUness. With this island fell the fljefences of the 
enemy in that region. On the 9th a ])ortion of the fleet passed into 
Albemalre Sound and attacked the Confederate flotilla near Elizabeth 
City, capturing one and destroying four vessels. The troops, without 
encountering further resistance, took possession of Elizabeth, Edenton, 
and other towns, and the Union occupation of the Carolina sounds 
became well established. Thus almost simultaneously with the ])ene- 
tration of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the northwestern part of the 
proposed Confederacy, by the gunboats, the defences of North Carolina 
fell by the same means. The interior of that State and the rear of 
Norfolk were thus opened to the Union force. 

Little of interest occurred at Fort Pickens until September 1 3th, 
when Lieutenant Russell, with five launches, containing each thirty 
men, pulled across from Santa Rosa Island to the navy-yard, two miles 
distant, and, with singular audacity and address, burned the schooner 
Judith, fitting out as a privateer or blockad-erunner, under the guns of 
the yard. At midnight on the 8th of October, about twelve hundred of 
the enemy, under command of General Anderson, landed on Santa Rosa 
Island and surprised the camp of the Sixth New York Zouaves, who 
were driven out in confusion. A party of regulars arriving from Fort 
Pickens, and the Zouaves partially rallying, the rebels were in turn driven 
off, their departure being hastened by a heavy fire opened upon them at 
short range after they had embarked. The loss w^as not large on either side. 



208 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

In November, the force on the island was thirteen hundred men, 
nnder Colonel Brown. The enemy's force was rated at eight thousand 
men, occupying the navy-yard, with four long Dahlgren thirty-twos ; 
Fort McRea, with four columbiads and a number of heavy gnns ; and 
Fort Barrancas, with twenty-five Dahlgren thirty-twos. There were 
also fourteen batteries between these points, Avith one to four colum- 
biads each. Colonel Brown determined to open upon them, and he 
invited Flag-officer McKean to co-operate. On the morning of No- 
vember 22d, Colonel Brown began his fire. The enemy's batteries 
formed a segment of a circle, all nearly equidistant from Pickens. 
The steam frigates Niagara and Kichmond drew in as near to Fort 
McRea as soundings would permit. The fire of Pickens was incessant 
imtil dark. By noon the guns of McRea were silenced, and several 
other batteries ceased firing before sundown. The next morning Fort 
Pickens opened again, but many of the enemy's guns were silent, and 
at noon the village of Warrington and the navy-yard took fire, when 
the cannonade was brought to an end. Fort Pickens lost one gun, 
and six men wounded. The report of Colonel Brown dwelt at length 
upon the efficiency of rifled guns, and particularly of Parrott guns. 

The defences of the city of Galveston (Texas) were abandoned in 
the month of November, as not being available against the long range 
and heavy calibre of the blockading force. It is the most populous 
sea-port of Texas, and had m 1860 a population of eight thousand one 
hundred and seventy-seven. It is situated on an island at the mouth 
of Galveston Bay, about four hundred and fifty miles west by south of 
New Orleans, and two hundred and thirty miles southeast of Austin 
City. The island, which separates the bay from the Gulf of Mexico, 
is about thirty miles long from east to west, and about a mile and a half 
wide. The distance from the island across the bay by the railroad 
bridge to the mainland is about two miles. For the defence of the 
city, guns were placed during the year at the east end of the island, at 
Bolivar Point, and at Pelica'n S]Ht Island, commanding the bay. Its 
commerce under the blockade ceased entirely. The cause of the South 
was ardently espoused by the inhabitants, and numbers entered the 
army. No important occurrence of a hostile nature, however, took 
place here imtil August 3d, when a few shots were fired from the 
blockading schooner Dart at the batteries on Galveston Island. Tliis 
was intended as a sort of a reeonnoissance. Again, on the 5th, the 
steamer North Carolina opened her fire upon the batteries, and threw 
some shells into the city. A large number of persons having collected 
on the sand-hills, a little eastward of the batteries, a shell fell among 
them, killing one man and wounding three others. This led to a pro- 
test by the foreigii consuls resident in the city, addressed to Captain 
Alden, commandmg the blockading squadron, against bombarding 
without notice given. He, in reply, disclaimed the intention, but 
stated that he had been fired upon by the batteries first. Nothing 
further of importance took place until November 20th, when, after 
consultation of the citizens, it was thought impossil)le to defend the 
towTi, all public and private property of a movable kind was sent 
to Houston, and a Hue of signals established which should cause the 



HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOK 209 

concentration of troops on the first approach of an enemy ; no further 
events, however, occurred. 

At New Orleans, Captain G. IST. HoUins, of the Confederate navy, 
formerly of tlie United States navy, and Avho directed the bombard- 
ment of Greyton, Nicaragua, under the administration of Mr. Pierce, was 
engaged during the summer in fitting out a fleet, and among other ves- 
sels constructed a steam ram, called the Manassas, which was the hull 
of a steamboat, plated wdth railroad iron, and having a projection from 
her bow beneath the water-line, sufiicient to punch a hole in the hull 
of a Avooden vessel if striking her with force. The Federal blockad- 
ing force in the Mississippi, in October, consisted of the steamship 
Richmond, Captain John Pope, the sloops-of-war Preble and Vin- 
cennes, and the small steamer Water Witch. The Richmond, Octo- 
ber 12th, was lying at the Southwest Pass, taking in coal from a 
schooner, when, at four o'clock A. m., the ram was discovered close to 
the ship. It struck her abreast of the fore channels, making a breach 
in her side and tearing loose the schooner. Five planks were stove in 
the ship's side, tw^o feet below the water-line. Passing aft, the ram 
made an attempt to breach the stern of the ship. As she passed, the 
Richmond delivered her fire with all her port guns, but with what 
effect is not known. The sloops of war were at anchor a short dis- 
tance below, and were signalled to get under way. When the ram 
struck she sent up a rocket, and soon three large fire-rafts, stretching 
across the river, were seen rapidly approaching, towed by a propeller 
and some steamers. The squadron immediately got under Avay and 
drifted down the river. The Richmond, Preble, and Vincennes got 
ashore on the bar, and while there were attacked by the rebels, but 
without receiving any damage. But one shot took eflect, and that 
struck the Richmond on the quarter. They were beaten off by the 
Vincennes with two guns, she having thrown overboard the rest of 
her armament, with her chains, anchors, &c., to lighten her, as she 
w\as vei-y much exposed to the fire of the enemy. The fire-rafts soon 
grounded and burnt up. The Union vessels escaped w^ith no damage 
except to the Richmond, and no one was killed or wounded on the 
Federal fleet. 

_ The operations of the navy in blockading and in aid of the expedi- 
tion were now very eflective, and the complaints that had, at the com- 
mencement of the Avar, been more or less just, in relation to the 
eflectiveness of the blockade, subsided. It was generally admitted 
that the blockade was as effective as any had ever been, Avhile successive 
occupation of important points on the coast encoui-aged the hope that 
the South, cut off from intercourse with the outer world, would soon 
be reduced to submit, 

U 



'J 10 lllSL'OliV OF THE OUliAT KlOltKLLlOJT. 



oiiAPri:i; xvr. 

Army oC tlio PolotiiMC, — Vulnntoors. Union AiIvmhco. - lAMvinnvillo. — TVill's niiilT. — 
ij('i>i>nil Scoll lu'tivt'S. — MrClolliui in I'lunnianii. Driuiosvillo. — rr(ijj;i-i\MUno of 
Movi'iuont. — I'roBidonl'a rroolaniation. 

In l^lmplor XI. avo loll llio Army of tlio Potomao trnuliially aciniirliiL!: 
<list'i[)liiio aiul roiisolidalioii uiitlcr iho coimnainl t>f CJonoral IMrC'llollaii. 
Tlio ifiiitcrit'l and (liscinlino of llio aiiny meant imo im|)ri)Vi«(l, and bo- 
oamo nn>ro iHM-manonlly rllotMivo. Tlio tluoo-months' mi'M liad all 
rofirod. and (lu< nrw troops Mon> loarnlni*' (lioso diitioM and bocomins:: 
iiUMvtl to tlioso hardships that (hoy had voluntarily nndortaUou for tho 
•war. Tho ditloronoo botwoon throo-months mon, or tho militia, and 
V(ihintoors t'or the war was a distinction that had ^rinvn out, of our lonjjj 
]H>aoi>. In \lory, soon alt or tho rormalion ol' tho (Jovornmoiit, Avhoii 
tho hardships of war woro yot iVosh in tho minds of Iho pi'oplo, Con- 
i:ross had, in ooiisoquonoo of tho Avhiskoy roboUion, authori/.od tho 
l'ri>sid(Mil to oall forth tluMuilitia to suppress insurrootions, and to uso 
KUi'h niililia mitil thirty days aflor tho next, ini'Otinij o[' C\)n>;irss, no 
man to booompoUod to sorvo lon<jjor than throo months aftor his arrival 
at tho ]>laoo o\' ri>ndo/,vous in any ono year. In 1 SI '2-15 tho law was 
nnuMidod so as to riMjuiro tho mon to sorvo six months, but tho amond- 
luoi\l .appliod only to that war. I'lulor tho law as it stood, thoroforo, 
tho troops oallod our by IVlr. Lincoln could only sorvo throo months. 
Tho voluntoors who so oagorly filled up (ho ranks for throo years or 
tho war could nt>w dovoto tho nocossary tuno to acipiii'ini^- thotrado of 
war; and this (hoy woro doinjx under tho continued supervision of 
(uMU>r.al iMeC'lellau. AVhilo boiT\<j: eonstaiUly exorcised in tlio ilrill and 
in tho iiso of arms, (ho troops were employed in strenglhonini; aiul 
increasiiiLctho numerous >vorks around the city. The enemy meantime 
made no active denuMistration. He was in no force (o do so, and the tact, 
(hat ho was permitted with an army, probably scarcely nune than 
one-third so <;reat as Mct^loUan's, to eoop u[> the Federal troops within 
(ho delences o\' AVashington, was to many loval peoj^lo a source ot 
luorlilication. The majority, lu>wever, had uid)ouudiHl conrulenco m 
INK'CU'lIan, and yielded up tlieir scruples to what, they consideri>d his 
better judoiuent. Hence (he rebel outjiosts wore pushed slowly to- 
wards the Potomac, and in (he middle oi' September occupied Alun- 
Hon's Hill, in sio;ht of (ho C~'api(ol. Skirmishes continued svlono- tho 
line, of more in-, less importaiu'o. Towards tho close of 8ep(end>or tho 
enemy fcU back along his whole line towards Fairfax Courtdlouso, his 
inain body oecupyin-jc nearly (he san\e i>osi(ion as at Ibill Kun. On 
September -J.^th the Fnion (roops pushed forward and oe.cu{>ied Mun- 
son's and Tipton's Hills, and Fall's Church villaj.ce. Two adyanoo 
bodies of the l^nion (roops eame in(o collision by mistakiuij each other 
forjho enemy, near Fall's Church. An attack was made and auswered, 



IIIHTOflY OF 'J'HK OliKAT TiTJaaTJOTT. 211 

an'l lK:foro tlio error waH dincovorod t<;ri rrKin woro killcl airl ahont 
twenty wouridcd. On tho 9t,h of October General Hrnith'H diviHioa 
of the l.'nion troops, from the efiain bridj^e, occin/ied fiewinHville. A 
portion of the troopH under Iiri;.^afJier-<'>eneral rort-er al^o advanced 
and owM]>\<A Miner'n Hill, to the right of VaWn Church, and com- 
manding^ that \'\]\n</(: and Uarrel'H Hill, which )att/;r was in poSHe'-cion 
of n:b<;f pickets. On October IfJth Vienna wan occupif;d by tlie Union 
forces, and on tfie i Vth Fairikx (Joiirt-HouHe, the enemy retiring upon 
Centreville and Manaff.aH. 

On the »Olh of September, Genr-.ral McClellan JHHued an order of 
the da,y, containing regulationn for the troop«, and affixing names to the 
thir1,y-two fortificationH that had been erect,<-.d around Washington. 
I'hin was followed by the following regulation, which carries on it» 
face tho necessity for hn issue :— 

"<}«svM.At, ouur.R, so. 19. 

"]izA!>-f^vASi-ry.f;M AnvY of t7ik Tv/tomao, 

" TiiC attention of tliC ^.'-nf^rA rx,mm:>.ni\'\nn has rfscjntly lr»<;<!rj 'Jirc't'jd U* dfjf/re.ja- 
tion« of an iitutcmm (HmrafUjur tJiat have Uxifi commitUyi upon tlu; ^><TW>Mi and prop^ 
ftrtjr of citii^ifiH in VirKifia, ^.'y It"' troopH un'ior hiH cfMiutund. Tl.o prop<jrty of 
Inoffenwivo i»<!Ople tifiH bcon h,w]f:H?,\y aud violently taken from tTicm, tJjeir howw;^ 
broken oj><:ri, an'l in Komo \u?.i:).i>i-Mn humfA U, the grouri'). TJiO ff<:w:Tn\ in jjfsrfeo-tly 
aware or tfie fVj/,'t that tlief/j (iutra.f(';H are jif-.r^it-.tmUA hy a few bari men, anfJ do 
notrew^Tve the Haneaion of the rna«:-< of the arrny. ffe feeix vmMnul, therefore, that 
all offi^rs and Boldiers who have the i/it';reKt of Wie «<;ryice at heart v/ili vAdmlly 
unit*! their efforts with hj« in endeavoring tr^ »u])i^b'A» yTwAu-M* which diagram the 
name of a Boldier, 

"The (general commandinpf direet that in future all p^:r«on« (•xmnc.fr\f-A v/ith tliis 
army who are deteo-te/l in dej/redatin^ wf^m the prof^'irty of dtiz*;na Hhail U; arrexf^-d 
and hroiight t^i trial ; and he uhhiituh all vjnf>;med, that r.rimes of «neh enormity will 
a^Jmit of no remiaHJon of the death \x>u',i.U,y whieh the milit;iry law attoche.H to offencf;s 
of thi.", n;!tiire. "When 'U^yTfAiiX'uijti; are fy<rnmitf.ed on property in charge of a guard, 
tJic c/>iiir(iiiii(l(ir, liH well asi the other ruoju^iCT-A of the guard, will be held res!i<onaiblc 
for the Harne ag principals, and punishf^l a/'^yjrdingly. 

" iJy V/mmand of MaJoT-General McC/.kjxas. 

"S. WlfyUAiM, AnnMard Adjjv^lmity-Girri/a-al. 

"RiCHA/iO B. It WIS, Aidb-fJ/>-Carap:' 

Colonel John "VV. Geary, of the Pennsylvania Twenty-eighth Regi- 
ment, with detachments from his own, the 'Hiirteenth Massachusetts, 
and Third Wisconsin Regiments, in all four hundred men, crossed the 
Potomac at llaq^er's P'erry, October 8th, and captured twenty-one 
thousand bushels of wheat. While upon his return and on the '"'harles- 
ton road, near iiolivar H(;ightM, midv/ay l^etween the Potomac and 
the Shenandoah liivers, he was attacked, October J'ith, by a large Con- 




The National loss was four killed and seven wounded, and two prison- 
era. Colonel Geary took from the rebels one thir1,^-two-noiinder. 
The Union troopH subsequently fell back from the Virginia side of tho 
I'otomac. 



212 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

An event now took place which cast profonnd gloom over the 
country, not only because of the defeat of the Federal forces and the 
death of a gallant officer, but because of the disappointment which 
it caused to the hopes that had been excited through tlie growth and 
improvement of the army. Ball's Bkiff is the name of a part of the 
bank of the Potomac on the Virginia side, east of Leesburg. Oppo- 
site the Bluff and about one hundred yards distant is Harrison's Island, 
a long tract containing about four hundred acres, and about one hun- 
dred lind fifty yards broad. Between this and the Virginia shore the 
river runs with a rapid current. Between the island and the Mary- 
land shore the river is about two hundred yards broad, and not so 
rapid. A short distance above the upper end of the island is a ferry 
across the Potomac, called Conrad's Ferry, and about an equal distance 
below the island is Edwards's Ferry. The two hostile armies had for 
many mouths held the opposite banks of the river at this point. It 
was here that the Confederates had contemplated an irruption into 
Maryland to attack Washmgton. General Banks held the Maryland 
side of the river, from Great Falls to Edwards's Ferry ; from that point 
to Coniad's Ferry A\'as stationed the division of General Stone, with 
head-quarters at Poolesville ; next was the force of Colonel Lander, 
and then that of Colonel Geary. On the Virginia side the principal 
Confederate posts were Dranesville and Leesburg. As it was impor- 
tant to ascertain the strength of the enemy at Dranesville, General 
jMcClellan ordered General McCall to make a reconnoissance in that 
direction. This was executed October 19th, and McCall returned to 
his former position on the 20th, according to previous orders, reporting 
no enemy in Dranesville, nor within four miles of Leesburg. In con- 
sequence of this information, the following dispatch was sent by 
General McClellan to General Stone at Poolesville : — 

"To Bkigadier-General Stone, Poolesville: 

"General JlcClellan desires mo to inform you that General McCall occupied Dranes- 
ville yesterday, and is still there. Will send out reconnoissances to-day in all directions 
from that point. The general desires that you keep a good lookout from Leesburg, to 
see if the movement has the effect to drive them away. Perhaps a slight demonstra- 
tion on your part would have the effect to move them. 

"A. V. COLBURN, 

' ' Assistant Adjutant- General. " 

On the receipt of these instructions, General Stone sent Gorman's 
Brigade to Edwards's Ferry; detachments of the Fifteenth and 
Twentieth Massachusetts to Harrison's Island ; and a section of a 
Rhode Island battery, and the California and Tammany (New York) 
Regiments, under Colonel E. D. Baker, to Conrad's Ferry. A feint 
to cross the river was then made by Gorman's Corps in view of the 
eneniv. 

Soon after 1 a. m. of the 21st, Colonel Devens, with five companies 
of the Fifteenth Massachusetts, accompanied by Colonel Lee, Avith a 
detachment of the Twentieth Massachusetts, crossed from Harrison's 
Island to the Virginia side, and took position on the top of Ball's 
Bluff, which here rises abruj^tly some one hundred and fifty feet 
from the river. At the same time, in order to attract attention from 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 213 

Devens, General Stone directed Gorman to send two companies of the 
First Minnesota across the river, and throw out a party of horse on 
the Locshurg road. Meantime, General Stone, having received a re- 
port from Colonel Devens that no enemy was to be seen, ordered a 
battalion of the Massachusetts Fifteenth to cross and protect the 
flank of Colonel Devens, and Colonel Baker to be ready with his 
brigade to act as a re-enforcement, if necessary. At about 1 a. m. of 
the 21st, Colonel Devens, who had ]> wished reconnoissances towards 
Leesburg, encountered bodies of rebel infantry and cavalry, and fell 
back in good order to the bluff. As he had only about six hundred 
and fifty men under his command, he reported for further orders. He 
was directed by Stone to remain whore he was, and was promised re- 
enforcements. While waiting for these, he was attacked about noon 
by the enemy, who fired from the surrounding woods upon the small 
Federal force drawn up in an open field of about six acres. Some 
portions of the First California, the Massachusetts Twentieth, with 
some companies of the Tammany Regiment, and four guns, had now 
crossed the river, and at half-past two p. m. the firing in front be- 
came very brisk. At four o'clock. Colonel Baker, who had now as- 
sumed command, formed his line 'for acdon — the Fifteenth and Twen- 
tieth Massachusetts on the right, the California on the left, and the 
Tammany Regiment and the artillery in the centre. Signs of a large 
force of the enemy now became apparent, although none were visible. 
This force, numbering probably four thovisand men, pressing upon the 
one thousand nine hundred men under Colonel Baker with increasing 
vigor and more effective fire, induced a consultation among the Fed- 
eral officers, which resulted in the dctennination to stand. A retro- 
grade movement would bring the force to tlie steep brink of the 
river, where the rapid descent only led to a small boat and a scow as 
a means of transport over a SAvift clianncl. The only hope was to 
maintain the ground until troops could cross at Edwards's Ferry and 
force a way to their aid. Two companies were now pushed for- 
ward to feel the enemy in the woods on the left, and were met by a 
murderous fire, which was followed along the whole line of the ene- 
my, who, feeling their strength, closed in on both sides of the field 
with overwhelming force. The gallant Baker, in the act of cheering 
his men, fell dead. The command then devolved upon Colonel Cogs- 
well, of the Tammany Regiment. He had now no recourse but to at- 
tempt to regain the Maryland shore. The men retired in an orderly 
manner, closely pressed by the enemy. The small boat had disap- 
peared, however, and the larger one was swamped at the second time 
crossing. There was then no alternative but to swim or surrender. 
They chose the former, and, throwing their arms into the river, dis- 
persed, some up and down the bank, and others on logs, and sought 
to cross to Harrison's Island by swimming. In this attempt many 
were shot and more were drowned. The pieces of artillery were 
tumbled down the bank, but were taken by the enemy, with some 
cases of shot. Out of the total Federal force engaged, barely nine 
hundred returned to their camps, about half the missing having been 
taken prisoners on the river shore. The rebels, who were com- 



214: HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

raanded by General Evans, reported their loss at one hundred and 
fifty-five. 

While these events were taking place, General Stone was 
preparing to cross at Edwards's Ferry, but desisted on news ar- 
riving of the death of Colonel Baker, and the retreat of his troops. 
Orders were then received from General McClellan to hold the island 
and Virginia shore at Edwards's Ferr^ at all hazards. General Gor- 
man ])ro'ceeded to strengthen his position, and i-e-enforcements came 
fin-ward until there were four thousand infanty, with Rioketts's battery, 
and a detachment of cavalry, on the Virginia shore, behind five hun- 
dred feet of intrenchments. Further information caused a change of 
purpose, and the whole returned to the Maryland shore. The main 
causes of this disaster were a badly-chosen spot to cross, insufficient 
means of transportation, and want of a definite object in venturing 
into a position where retreat was nearly impossible, without positive 
knowledge of the enemy to be contended with. 

The Confederates now extended their batteries down the Potomac, 
the success at Ball's Bluff having caused a great increase of activity 
among them, as well as among their sympathizers in and about 
"Washington ; for which reason, on the 23d of October, the President 
suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the District of Columbia. 

The greatly advanced age and increasing infirmities of General 
Scott, and the growing comj)lications of the war, led to his retire- 
ment on the first of November from the position of commander-in- 
chief, when he was placed on the retired list, without z-eduction of 
pay and emoluments. Major-General George B. McClellan assumed 
command of the armies of the United States in his place by direction 
of the President. On the 2d of ISTovember McClellan was presented 
with a sword by the City Council of Philadelphia, and in the course 
of his reply remarked : — 

" It is for the future to determine whether I shall realize the expectations and hopes 
that have been centred in me. I trust and feel that the day is not far distant when I 
sliall return to the place dearest of all others to me, there to spend the balance of my 
life among the people from whom I have received this beautiful gift. Tlie v:ar cannot 
la-it long. It may he de-sjKrate. ' I ask in the future, forbearance, patience, and confi- 
dence. "With these we can accomplish all." 

At the same time the Confederate army in Yirginia was reorgan- 
ized. The State Avas constituted a department, comprising the three 
armies of the Potomac, the Valley, and Aquia, under the chief com- 
mand of General Johnston. General Beauregard commanded the 
Army of the Potomac, General Thomas J. Jackson that of the Val- 
ley, and General Holmes that of Aquia. With these new disposi- 
tions, the Union army being under command of General McClellan, 
and the Confederate army more efficiently organized, the opposing 
forces continued to face each other during many months of compara- 
tive inaction. On the 20th of December, however, quite a sharp action 
was fought at Dranesville. General McCall having ordered General 
Ord to proceed on the Leesburg pike, in the direction of Dranesville, 
to drive in the pickets of the enemy and procure forage, the Fed- 
eral forces, numbering about four thousand men, encountered a some- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 215 

what smaller body of rebels under General J. E. B. Stnart, whom 
they drove in confusion through Dranesville. The rebel loss was two 
hundred and thirty, that of the Federals sixty-nine. The winter 
passed away without the occurrence of any thing else of importance, 
m a military point of view, in that department. 

It had been the intention, when all the armies and expeditions were 
organized, and at their respective positions, that the whole should 
make a simultaneous movement upon the enemy. The President, 
with this view, issued the following proclamation : — 

THE PRESIDElSfT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER, No. 1. 

" Executive Mansion, WASHtNGTON, Januai-y 21, 1862. 

" Ordered, That the 22d day of February, 1862, be the day for a general movement 
of the land and naval forces of the United States agamst the insurgent forces. 

" That especially, 

" The army at and about Fortress Monroe, 

" The Army of the Potomac, 

" The Army of Western Virginia, 

" The army near Munfordsville, Ky., 

" The armyaud flotilla at Cairo, 

" And a naval force in tlie Gulf of Mexico, 
be ready for a movement on that day, 

" That all other forces, Ijoth land and naval, with their respective commanders, obey 
existing orders for the time, and be ready to obey additional orders when duly given. 

" That the heads of departments, and especially the Secretaries of War and of the 
Navy, with all their subordinates, and the Generel-in-Chief, with all other commanders 
and subordinates of the land and naval forces, will severally be held to their strict 
and full responsibilities for the prompt execution of this order. 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

The effects of these orders in Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as 
in Missouri, were apparent in the successes which, during the latter 
part of February, virtually restored those States to the Union. The 
Army of the Potomac was not, however, in the opinion of its com- 
mander, in a condition to move, not so much by reason of its own 
want of efficiency, as in consequence of the state of the roads in Vir- 
ginia. The mud, it was said, was so deep, that it was impossible to 
pass a large army in face of an active and strongly intrenched ene- 
my. There were days, indeed, in which the frost hardened the 
ground, and made it passable for artillery, but the continuance of this 
frost could not be depended upon. A sudden thaw might leave the 
army in an exposed condition. Such were the arguments which, in 
the early days of the war, were employed to excuse the " masterly 
inactivity" deemed essential to success. Grant had just demon- 
strated that troops could march and bivouac and fight in the most in- 
clement season of the year. But McClellan, with "forces far outnum- 
bering those of his adversary, lingered in his camps, and the winter 
wore away without any movement undertaken by the Army of the 
Potomac. 

On January 14th, 1862, Simon Cameron resigned the office of Sec- 
retary of War, and was succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton, who had 
held the office of United States Attorney-General during the last few 
months of Mr. Buchanan's Administration, and in that capacity had 
exhibited ability and uncompromising loyalty. 



216 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



CHAPTER XVn. 

Foreiprn Mission of the Confederates. — Mr. Seward's Letter of Instructions. — Earl 
Russell and the Confederates. — France Recognizes de facto Governnaents. — Foreign 
Recognition of the Belligerent Rights of the Soutli. — Mr. Seward's Reply. — Spain. 
— Mexico. — Monroe Doctrine. — The Trent Affair. 

When, early in 1861, it had become apparent that the attempted 
formation of a Southern Confederacy was inevitable, it was obvious 
that the first efforts of the leaders in the movement would be directed 
towards obtaining the aid and countenance of foreign nations, and 
that those efforts would be based upon the advantages which the 
South might have to offer to those who might first come forward to 
their assistance. To counteract these probable attempts, Mr. Black, 
Secretary of State under Mr, Buchanan, addressed, February 28th, a 
circular to all the ministers of the United States abroad. In this 
circular he stated that the election of the preceding November 
resulted in the choice of Mr. Abraham Lincoln, who was the candi- 
date of the Republican or anti-slavery party ; that every Northern 
State cast its whole electoral vote (except three in New Jersey) for 
Mr. Lincoln, while in the whole South the popular sentiment against 
him was almost absolutely universal. Some of the Southern States 
immediately after the election took measures for separating them- 
selves from the Union, and others soon followed their exampk. The 
result of the movement Avas the formation of what was styled the 
" Confederate States of America." He then proceeded to say that it 
was not improbable that persons claiming to represent those States 
would seek a recognition of foreign powers, and enjoined the minis- 
ters to exert themselves to the utmost to prevent the success of the 
application. " The reasons," he continues, " set forth in the Presi- 
dent's message at the opening of the present session of Congress, in 
support of his opinion that the States have no constitutional power to 
secede from the Union, are yet unanswered, and are believed to be 
luianswerable. The grounds upon which they have attempted to 
justify the revolutionaiy act of severing the bonds which connect 
them Avith their sister States, are regarded as wholly insufficient. 
This Government has not relinquished its constitutional jurisdiction 
within the territory of those States, and does not desire to do so." 

On the 4th of March, the new Administration came into power with 
a now President and a new cabinet, none of the members of which 
had ever before held such positions. Almost simultaneously with 
their advent to power the Confederate commissioners, Messrs. Yancey, 
Mann, and Rost, delegated to England, France, Russia, and Belgium, 
were appointed, and sailed for their destinations, to ask the recogni- 
tion of the Confederate States as a member of the family of nations, 
and to make with each of those powers treaties of amity and com- 



niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 217 

merce. Thoy at once proceeded on tlieir mission by way of Havana, 
On the 9th of March, Mr. Seward addressed a cii-cular to all the 
foreign ministers, in which he alluded to the instructions of his pred- 
ecessor, and stated that the President renewed those injunctions, and 
relied upon the exercise of the greatest possible diligence and fidelity 
on their part to counteract the designs of those who woiild invoke 
foreign intervention to embarrass or overthrow the Republic. They 
were instructed to urge upon the Governments to which they were 
accredited that " the present disturbances had their origin only in 
popular passions excited under novel circumstances of a very transient 
character ; and that while not one person of well-balanced mind has 
attempted to show that dismemberment of the Union would be per- 
manently conducive' to the safety and welfare of even his own State 
or section, much less of all the States and sections of our country, 
the people themselves still retain and cherish a profomid confidence 
in our happy Constitution, together with a veneration and affection 
for it such as no other form of government ever received at the hands 
of those for whom it was established." Mr. Dallas, the American 
minister, having submitted to Lord John Russell the representations 
contained in Mr. Seward's general circular, the minister replied, that 
the Queen's Government would he highly gratified if the difficulties 
could be settled, and that the time was not ripe for a decision in 
respect to doing any thing to encourage the hopes of the Confed- 
erates, whose commissioners were in London. On the 2d of May Mr. 
Dallas writes that Lord John Russell had remarked that although he 
had not seen the commissioners, he was not unwilling to do so unoffi- 
cially. The fact that the English minister was willing under any 
circumstances to grant an interview to the Confederate commissioners 
was very distasteful to the American Government, since intercourse 
of any kind Avith these men was liable to be construed as a recogni- 
tion; and, moreover, unofficial intercourse was the most injurious, 
since it left no means of information to the Government as to the 
points discussed. Mr. Adams, who replaced Mr. Dallas in May, was 
therefore instructed to desist from any intercourse whatever with the 
British Government as long as it should hold communications with 
the domestic enemies of this country. 

The negotiations with France tended to the same point. Mr. Faulk- 
ner, the American minister in Paris, in replying to the letter of Mr. 
Black, of February 28th, stated, that the French Government fully 
sympathized with the North, and regarded the proposed dismember- 
ment with no pleasure, and was not prejDared to look favorably upon 
the Confederacy. The French minister, M. Thouvenel, started that 
the French Government would not act hastily in the matter, that the 
maintenance of the Union was required by the best interests of 
France, but, at the same time, the practice and usage of the present 
century was to recognize a de facto Government when a proper case 
was made out. The minister, in conversation with JMr. Dayton, who 
succeeded Mr. Faulkner, stated, " that historical precedents were in 
favor of treating Southern vessels as those of a belligerent, and of 
applying the same doctrine to them as had always been upheld by 



218 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

the TTnited States." He dwelt upon the fact that during the Ameri- 
can Revolution Great Britain did not treat the privateers as pirates. 
He stated that an effective blockade would be fully recognized. On 
the 30th of May 'Mr. Seward instructed Mr. Dayton to protest against 
any communication, official or otherwise, between the French Govern- 
ment and the Southern commissioners, and to declare that the United 
States would not rest content to have the Confederate States recog- 
nized as a belligerent power by any foreign state or states ; also, that 
measures Avere preparing which " will terminate the unhappy contest 
at an early day, and be followed by benefits to ourselves and to all 
nations, greater and better assured than those which have hitherto 
attended our national progress." 

Meantime, Earl Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, had, on 
the 4th of May, held an interview with the Confederate agents. 
They urged that the ground of the present difficulty with the North 
was not slavery, but the high tariffs the South was compelled to pay 
on imported goods as a protection to New England interests, to the 
impoverishment of the South ; that the new Confederate Government 
had abolished the slave-trade forever, and had reduced all import 
duties, while the North had greatly increased the duties on imported 
goods. The Governments of France and England meanwhile came 
to an understanding that they would act together in regard to Ameri- 
can affiirs, and the other European States, being apprised of the 
agreement, were expected to concur in it. Following these events, on 
the 13th of May the Queen's proclamation appeared. This was on the 
day of the arrival of Mr. Adams, the new American minister, in Lon- 
don, and the proclamation was made without a previous inter- 
view with him. That document, in proclaiming the neutrality of 
the British Government, recognized the South as a belligerent 
power, and as consequently having the right to issue letters of 
marque and to authorize privateers. The other powers took the 
same course. On the 15th of June, the Biitish and French ministers 
at Washington had an interview with Mr. Seward, and proposed to 
read to him the instructions which they had received from their 
Governments. Mr. Seward declined to listen to them officially, until 
he should first know the nature of their contents. They were left for 
his perusal, when it appeared that they contained a decision, at which 
the British Government had arrived, to the effect that the country is 
divided into two belligerent parties, of which the United States 
Government is one, and that Great Britain assumes the attitude of a 
neutral power between them. Mr. Seward, consequently, declined to 
receive the papers officially, and in writing to Mr. Adams on the sub^ 
ject, remarked, in effect, that the Government held that although a 
state of internal commotion existed, such as had freqiiently been the 
case in other nations, the United States were still solely and exclu-. 
sively sovereign Avithin their own territories ; that the laAV of nations 
and existing treaties have the same force now as before ; that Great 
Britain could neither rightfully qualify the sovereignty of the United 
States, nor concede nor recognize any rights, or interests, or power of 
any party. State, or section, in contravention to the unbroken sover- 



mSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 219 

elgnty of the Federal Union; that although the Government was 
obliged to employ force to execute its laws, that fact did not justify 
other powers in intervening or acting as neutrals between the loyal 
and disobedient citizens. Earl Russell, on the other hand, observed, 
in conversation with Mr. Adams, that tlae great fact of a war of two 
sides existed. A number of States and several millions of people 
were in a state of actual war, their cruisers were on the sea, and 
their agents abroad. The fact was undeniable, and the embarrass- 
ment unavoidable. The only duty of the British Government in this, 
as in all preceding cases, he said, was to remain entirely neutral, and 
that was all that Avas contemplated by the Queen's jDroclamation. 

On the 17th of June, Mr. Seward addressed Mr. Dayton on the 
subject of the visit of the French and English ministers, to lay before 
him the views of their respective Governments, giving his reasons for 
not receiving the document, and trusting that fact need not disturb 
the good relations between the two countries. Mr. Seward said: 
" It is erroneous, so far as foreign nations are concerned, to suppose 
that any war exists in the United States. Certainly there cannot be 
two belligerent powers where there is no war. . . . There is, indeed, 
an armed sedition seeking to overthrow the Government, and the 
Government employs military and naval force to rej^ress it. But 
these facts do not constitute a war presenting two belligerent powers, 
and modifying the national character, rights, and responsibilities, or 
the character, rights, and responsibilities of foreign nations. The 
American people will consent to no intervention. Down deep in the 
heart of the American people — deeper than the love of trade, or of 
freedom — deeper than the attachments to any local or sectional inter- 
est, or partisan pride, or individual ambition — deeper than any other 
sentiment, is that one out of which the Constitution of this Union arose, 
namely, independence of all foreign control, alliance, or influence." 

Mr, Wright continued to represent the Government at the court 
of Prussia, until the arrival of his successor, Mr. Judd, Mr. Seward, 
in his letter of instructions to Mr. Judd, called his attention to the 
general circular, and stated : — 

'' This Government not only wisely, but necessarily, hesitates to resort to coercion and 
compulsion to secure a return of the disaffected portion of the people to their accus- 
tomed allegiance. The Union was formed upon the popular consent, and must always 
practically stand upon the same basis. The temporary causes of alienation must pass 
away. But to this end, it is of the greatest importance that the disaffected States shall 
not succeed in obtaining favor or recognition from foreign nations." 

Mr. Wright wrote, May 8th, that Baron Von Schleinitz gave the 
most positive assurances that the Prussian Government, from the 
principle of unrelenting opposition to all revolutionary movements, 
would be one of the last to recognize any de facto government of the 
disaffected States of the American Union. 

Mr. Sanford, who represented the Government at Belgium, wrote, 
May 26th, that the foreign minister had assured him that no applica- 
tion from the Southern commissioners would be entertained if made, 
but complained bitterly of the new United States tariff as very preju- 
dicial to Belgian interests. 



220 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

The interview of the United States ambassador with the Russian 
Government produced a very remarkable letter from Prince Gortcha- 
koff to the Minister De Stoeckl, at Washington, which he was 
directed to read to Mr. Seward. In it the Emperor's Government 
deplored the dangers that threatened the Union, and earnestly advised 
its maintenance. 

" In any event, the sacrifices which they might impose upon themselves to maintain 
it arc beyond comparison with those which dissolution would bring after it. United, 
they perfect themselves. Isolated, they are paralyzed. The struggle which unhap- 
pily has just arisen can neither be indefinitely prolonged, nor lead to the total destruc- 
tion of one of the parties ; sooner or later, it will be necessary to come to some set- 
tlement, whatever it may bo, which may cause the divergent interests now actually in 
conflict to coexist." 

On the 14th of August, after the news of the battle of Bull Run 
had arrived in Europe, the Southern Commissioners addressed a 
lengthy document to Earl Russell, in which, recurring to their inter- 
view of the 4th of May, they endeavored to give satisfactory evidence 
of the justice of their cause, and to show that the people of the South 
had violated no principle of allegiance in the act of secession. They 
then discussed the neutrality of the British Government, regretting 
that })rizes were not allowed to be carried into British ports. They 
set forth the j)roductive powers of the South, its great wealth, and 
the advantages of commerce that they offer. They stated that the 
object of the war was " to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves 
and our posterity ; that the party in power had proposed to ouar- 
•antee slavery forever, if the South would submit to the will of the 
majority — in other words, to the will of the North." They further 
stated, that it was the design of the ISTorth to resort to servile war 
b^ arming the negroes. Earl Russell replied, August 24th, simply 
reiterating the neutral position of Great Britain, stating that Her 
Majesty could not undertake to determine by anticipation the issue 
of the civil war, " nor can she acknowledge the independence of the 
nine States which are now combined against the President and Con- 
gress of the United States, until the fortune of arms, or the more 
peaceful mode of negotiation, shall more clearly determine the re- 
6j)ective positions of the two belligerents." 

The Spanish Government seemed inclined to favor the Southern 
cause, but was apparently held in check by the attitude of France and 
England. The following proclamation, issued in August, by the Cap- 
tain-General of Cuba, in some degree indicates her policy : — 

" In virtue of the proclamation by Her Majesty the Queen, I have determined, un- 
der date of August 1th, that all vessels occupied in legitimate commerce, proceeding 
from ports in the Confederate States, shall bo entered and cleared under tlxe Confed- 
erate flag, and slmll bo duly protected by the authority of the island. Foreign consuls 
will be notified that no interference on their part will be tolerated." 

This disposition on the part of Spain grew, to some extent, out of 
her relations with Mexico, which were becoming daily more compli- 
cated, and which, if the United States should adhere to their estab- 
lished policy in relation to the intrigues of foreign nations on this 
continent, would be likely to involve the two powers. 

The Government of Mexico had been, since 1860, in the hands of 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 221 

President Juarez, representing the Constitutional party, as oj)posed to 
the Church party, so called, because it included most of the priests, 
in whose hands was the greater part of the property of the nation, 
and who bitterly opposed all progress and freedom. To this Govern- 
ment Thomas Corwin was by the new Administration sent as minister, 
in 1861. In his letter of instructions to Mr. Corwin, Mr. Seward 
enjoined him to impress upon the Mexican Government that Mexico 
could not be benefited by the prostration of the Federal Union. 

" On the other hand, a condition of anarchy in Mexico must necessarily operate as 
a seduction to those who are conspiring against the integrity of the Union to seek ag- 
grandizement for themselves by conquests in Mexico and otiier parts of Spanish 
America." . . "You may possibly meet agents of this projected Confederacy busy in 
preparing some further revolution in Mexico. You will not faU to assure the Government 
of Mexico that the President never has, nor can ever have, any sympathy with such 
designs, in wJiaiever quarter they may arise, or whatever character they may take on." 

Mr. Corwin wrote. May 29th, " that Mexico was unwilling to enter 
into engagements that might result in war with the South, unless 
protected by aid from the United States." Again, " Mexico regards the 
United States as its only true and reliable friend in any war which 
may involve her national existence." . 

Meantime, General Miramon, the leader of the Church party, was at 
Madrid, seeking Spanish aid to restore his party to power in Mexico. 
These efforts ripened into the convention between France, Great Brit- 
ain, and Spain, entered into October 31st, 1861, for intervention in 
the affairs of Mexico, and to claim redress of wrongs. The fourth 
article of the convention provided that a copy of it should be laid 
before the United States Government, which should be invited to ac- 
cede to it. This was done, and Mr. Lincoln objected to the measures 
of the convention ; but owing to the existence of civil war the United 
States Government was unable to make, with effect, such an energetic 
protest as the occasion would otherwise have demanded. The Mon- 
roe doctrine, which had proclaimed that the United States would not 
view any European intervention, seeking to control the destinies of 
any American nation, otherwise than as dangerous to its own peace 
and safety, was still the sentiment of the American people. Mr. 
Seward, in a letter on the subject, remarked that the President relied 
upon the good faith of the allies in respect to their not seeking any 
permanent aggrandizement in that country, and argued that the estab- 
lishment of a monarchy in Mexico could not be permanently success- 
ful or prevent continued revolutions. 

The results of the national diplomacy thus far were, that the foreign 
nations, while expressing hopes for a restoration of the Union, had 
first acknowledged the belligerent rights of the South ; secondly, had 
refused to accede to the United States' proposition to consider their 
privateers as pirates ; thirdly, had intimated that the recognition of 
the South, as a nation, was only a question of time, and of proof of a 
certain degree of consistency on the part of the Southern Govern- 
ment ; fourthly, they perfected against Mexico a coalition, which many 
years before had failed through respect to the United States. These 
facts became apparent and fixed towards the close of September, when 



222 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

negotiations in relation to them were suspended. It was then that, 
under date of October 14th, Mr. Seward issued a circuhir to the Gov- 
ernors of all the States, stating that the disloyal citizens were making 
every effort to involve the country in a foreign war, and that every 
precaution was necessary to guard against it, and appealing to the 
individual States to perfect their defences with their own resources, 
the expenses to be a subject of future consideration with the Federal 
Government. This was speedily followed by an occurrence which re- 
newed in the most earnest and threatening manner the correspondence 
with foreign governments. 

The appointment of Messrs. Mason and Slidell by the Confederate 
States as ambassadors, the first to England, and the second to France, 
had been a source of some anxiety to the Federal Government. It 
was rumored that they had sailed in the ship Nashville, which ran 
the blockade from Charleston October 11th, and vessels were sent in 
pursuit. It seems, however, that the rumor was a feint, since the 
commissioners, with their families, embarked on board the Theodora, 
which left Charleston at nearly the same time as the ISTaslivillc, bound 
for Cardenas, it being their intention to take the British mail steamer 
from Havana. Accordingly, on the morning of the Yth of November, 
they went on board the steamer Trent, which runs between Vera 
Cruz and St. Thomas vid Havana. On the morning of the 8th, when 
the Trent was in the old Bahama Channel, the United States steamer 
San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, approached, and when within a furlong's 
length, fired a shot across her bow, at the same time hoisting the 
American flag. The Trent continued her route, when the San Ja- 
cinto, with her men at quarters and guns run out, fired a shell, which, 
bursting within one hundred yards of the Trent, brought her to. 
Captain Wilkes, on his own responsibility, then sent a boat on board 
with two officers and twenty armed men, and demanded the surren- 
der of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, with Messrs. Eustis and McFarland, 
their secretaries. Captain Moir, of the Trent, and the navy agent, 
Commander Williams, K. N., protested against the capture. The 
commissioners claimed the protection of the British ^i\v^ but the 
officer of the San Jacinto said they were the men he sought, and he 
would take them at all hazards. Commander Williams denounced 
the proceeding as an act of " wanton piracy." Three other boats 
then came up from the San Jacinto, with thirty marines and sixty 
sailors, who leaped on deck, sword in hand. The commissioners were 
then taken into the boats with as much show of force as was neces- 
sary, their families being left on board, and the Trent proceeded on 
her way. When the commissioners were on board the San Jacinto 
they drew up a protest against the proceedings of Captain Wilkes. 
The San Jacinto arrived at Boston a few days afterwards with the 
prisoners, who were transferred to Fort Warren. The public mind 
was greatly excited by the event. Congress voted thanks to Captain 
Wilkes, the Secretary of the Navy indorsed the proceeding, with the 
qualification that Captain Wilkes had not gone far enough, but should 
have captured the Trent, and a banquet was given to him in Boston. 
The capture caused the most earnest discussion in the United States, 



HISTOtlY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl?-. 223 

and a numl)er of the leading authorities, Theophilus Parsons, profes- 
sor of law in Harvard University, Edward Everett, and many others, 
volunteered opinions publicly upon the right of the United States to 
make the capture, urging, however, that the Trent should have been 
brought into port in order that the case might be adjudicated by the 
proper authorities. In England the news was received with the most 
intense excitement. Immediate preparations for war were under- 
taken on a large scale, and a demand for the release of the prisoners 
was made through the British minister. Lord Lyons. The event 
caused as much excitement in Europe as in England, and the French 
minister, M. Thouvenel, immediately addressed a letter to this Gov- 
ernment, in which he strongly advised the prompt restoration of tho 
men to British protection, and added : — 

" If to our deep regret the cabinet at Washington approve the conduct of the com- 
mander of the San Jacinto, there would bo a forgetfulness, extremely annoying, of 
principles upon which wo have always found the United States in agreement with us.** 

On the presentation by Lord Lyons of the British demand to the 
Government at Washington, it was assented to, for the reason, as stated 
in a communication from Mr. Seward,that Captain Wilkes's proceedings 
were irregular, in not capturing the vessel and bringing her into port 
for adjudication; and instructions were sent to Boston to deliver the 
prisoners to the representatives of the British Government. They 
were consequently sent on board an English steamer lying off Cape 
Cod, and in her conveyed to St. Thomas, whence they went to Eng- 
land, by the mail steamer, and arrived at Southampton January 30th. 
Thus passed away a danger, which at one time threatened the most 
serious consequences, and the effect of which had been heightened in 
England by the circular of Mr. Seward, before mentioned, addressed 
to the Governors of all the States, urging the importance of perfecting 
the defences of the States, in view of the possibility of a foreign war. 
This result of the affair produced the greatest disappointment in the 
Southern States, since it had been supposed that war would inevitably 
grow out of the capture between the United States and Great Britain ; 
the more so, that Congress, and one member of the cabinet, in his 
official report, had fidly indorsed the capture. When, therefore, the 
men were promptly surrendered, atid the chance of war ceased, great 
despondency overtook the Confederates, which was increased by the 
fact tltat this occurred at a time when the victorious armies of the 
North were in motion to drive them out of the Border States. 

The year 1862 thus set in most auspiciously for the Federal arms 
and prospects. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Age of Invention. — Change in Arms. — Springfield Rifle. — Enfield Rifle. — Repeating 
Arms. — The Rodman Gun. — Columbiads. — Parrott Gun. — Dahlgrens. — Table of Guns 
in Service. — Projectiles. — Batteries. 

In this age of invention the science of arms has made great progress. 
In fact, the most remarkable inventions have been made since the pro- 



224 HISTOKT OF TlIE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 

longed wars of Europe in tlie early part of the century, and the short 
Itafian campaign of France in 1859 served to illustrate how great a 
power the engines of destruction can exert. The improvement has 
been alike in small arms and in ordnance. In small arms the rifle has 
almost entirely superseded the old smooth-bore musket. This arm was 
one of tlie first forms of manufacture for fire-arms in the sixteenth cen- 
tury ; but the musket was preferred, on accoimt of its more speedy 
loading. The great skill of the American colonists in the use of the 
rifle during the Revolution brought the weapon again into notice, and 
when the percussion-cap was added, it gained much in public favor. 
Recently it has become so much improved, as to supplant not only the 
old musket, but to affect artillery also, thus changing the tactics of the 
battle-field. Since the " AYars of the Roses" in England, nine-tenths of 
all the battles in the w^orld have been decided by artillery and mus- 
ketry, without crossing a bayonet or drawing a sword. The cavalry, 
as an arm, has gradually lost ground, except in a defeat, when it can 
follow up a flying enemy. It never could break an infantry square 
even when the latter was armed only with pikes, and recent events 
have shown it cannot reach infantry in line. Artillery, however, 
played a more important part, untit the great improvements in rifles 
and rifle practice made it easy to silence guns by picking ofi" the gun- 
ners. In the text-book of the St. Cyr military school it is directed, 
that the l&re of artillery should cease when the enemy is distant twelve 
hundred yards. At Waterloo, the opposing armies were nearly that 
distance apart, and, as a consequence, were out of reach of all but solid 
shot from field-guns as they were then served. The improved small 
arms are now etiective at a mile, and troops can shoot each other at 
two thousand yards. From this it is manifest that the small arms 
which could kill gunners out of reach of cannon-shot had acquired the 
superiority, until guns were, in their turn, so improved as to restore 
their importance. 

The improvements in rifles are mostly in the ball, which is of conical 
shape, hollow at the base, and intended to expand so as to fill the 
grooves of the piece as it passes out. The Minic rifle, the invention 
of Colonel Minie, of the French army, was made on this principle, and 
it is said that it can be made efiective at a mile distance. The arm 
mostly used by the United States infantry is the Springfield rifle. 
This piece is forty inches long in the barrel. The bore is 0.58 inch in 
diameter, and the ball is a conical cylinder, hollow at the base, and 
weighs five hundred grains. The service charge of powder is sixty 
grains. The barrel has three grooves, which make one half, turn in the 
whole length. These guns, including bayonet, ramrod, &c., are com- 
posed of eighty-four- pieces, of which twenty-six are of steel, and two 
of wood. AH are made by machinery, each piece separately, and all 
so exactly alike tliat they may be used indiscriminately ; a number of 
injured guns may be taken apart, and a perfect rifle constructed from 
them. The immense advantage of uniformity is thus attained. This 
mode of manipulation is purely American, and similar machines were 
made in New England, and sent to England for the manufacture of 
the weapon, which is there called the Enfield rifle, because made at the 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 225 

Government armory at Enfield. The cost of the Springfield rifle is 
thirteen dollars and fifty cents for each gun, and fourteen dollars and 
ninety-thi-ee cents complete with the appendages. A great number of 
inventions of breech-loading and other weapons have been patented, 
but the American War Department has finally fixed upon the muzzle- 
loading piece with percussion lock. 

The inventions of repeating arms have been many, of which Colt's is 
the most famous. The principle is a revolving breech of six chambers, 
wliich are brought, in turn, in a line with tlie barrel by each successive 
movement of the lock. Sharpe's rifle is a breech-loading and self-prim- 
ing piece, invented in 1852. The barrel is made of cast steel bored 
out. As a carbine it is used in the cavalry arm. These revolving 
rifles, both Colt's and Sharpe's, of superior construction, have been 
fitted with telescopic siglits adapted for execution at long distances. 
The carbine is a weapon between the rifle and the pistol in weight and 
length; it is usually breech-loading, and is sometimes furnished with a 
bayonet in the form of a svrord, wliich may also be used as a side-arm. 
There are three of these favorably reported upon by the board of ofli- 
cers — Burnside's, Sharpe's, and Maynard's. The first was invented by- 
General Burnside, and was by him mantifactured at one time in Provi- 
dence. The chamber of this jjiece opens by turning on a hinge, and 
the cartridge is introduced in a case of brass, which, on the explosion, 
packs the joint and prevents the escape of gas. The objection is the 
difficulty in obtaining the cartridges. Sharpe's carbine is like the rifle. 
Maynard's has a fixed chamber with the joint closed by a metallic car- 
tridge case. There are a great number of repeating pistols issued to 
the cavalry and light artillery. When the war took place the scarcity 
of arms called into action numbers of private armories. The imported, 
and other breech-loading, self-j)riming, and other weapons were altered 
to conform to the Springfield pattern, which are alone furnished to the 
infantry, with cartridges prepared for service at the armories. 

The improvements in small arms were soon followed by attempts to 
perfect cannon, which, from being effective a long way beyond musket 
range, had come to be ineffective at a less distance than a practicable 
rifle-shot. The military maxim that " he who would live long must 
enlist in tlie artillery," found itself reversed, and great efforts were 
made to restore the etticiency of the guns. The metal used for casting 
guns of large calibre is cast-iron, but the strength of iron varies greatly. 
The metal was formerly not so well made as it is at present. The dif- 
ference in tenacity is very great in proportion to the uniformity with 
which the metal cools, and to effect this object great eflEbrts have been 
made. The first guns made were of wrought bars cased in hoops of 
the same metal ; one of these burst in 1460, and killed James II., of 
Scotland. In 1845, Commodore Stockton constructed a similar piece, 
wliich exploded, killing Mr. Upshur and Mr. Gilmer, members of the 
cabinet under Mr. Tyler, and wounding some others. The next step 
in making guns was to cast them hollow. The great ditficulty in this 
was to cause them to cool uniformly, and it was abandoned in 1729, 
for the process of casting solid and boring out the piece. This was 
continued down to a recent date, when Captain T. J. Rodman, of the 

15 



226 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

United States Ordnance Corps, conceived the design of cooling the 
piece cast hollow by the introduction of a current of water tlowing 
through the core, thus securing a uniform texture and maximum 
strength throughout. In proof of the efficiency of this mode, a pair of 
8-inch o'uns was made in the best maimer, one Ijy the old metliod bored 
out, which burst at the seventy-third discharge, and the oiher by the 
new method, which did not fail Avith fifteen hundred discharges, j^ 
number of experiments were made with simihir results. The gun 
known as the Union or Rodman gun is a 15-inch columbiad, and was 
cast in the new manner, under the direction of Captain Rodman — hence 
its name. This gun is at Fortress Monroe. Its length is 100 inches; 
length of bore, 105 inches; thickness of metal at junction of bore with 
chamber, 25 inches ; thickness at muzzle, 5 inches ; diameter of shell, 
14.9 inches; weight of shell, 320 pounds; charge, 17 pounds; solid 
shot weighs 450 pounds. 

CoLUMHiADS were invented by Colonel Bomford, United States 
army. Their peculiarity is, that they uniformly decrease in size from 
the breech of the muzzle, as in the case of tlie Rodman gun. They 
are used for throv,"iiig solid shot or shells. They were originally 
chambered, but are now made with a uniform bore, ordinarily of eight- 
inch and ten-inch. Larger gims have been made for trial, one of 
twelve-inch and one of fifteen-inch. The latter is tlie Rodman gun. 
A small diiference in the size of the bore of a gun, or, in other Avords, 
the diameter of the shot, makes a very great difterence in the weight 
of the shot. The i-ule is, that the weight increases in proportion to 
the cube of the diameter. Thus, a shot eight inches in diameter, sup- 
posing It to be a perfect sphere, will weigh sixty-nine pounds ; a ten- 
incli shot Avill Aveigh one hundred and thiity-six pounds; a tAventy- 
inch shot would Aveigh ten hundred and ninety ])ounds. Hence, a 
little increase in diameter causes an immense difterence in the size of 
the gun. 

Paiieott gun. This is named after its maker, Mr. Parrott, of West 
Point, who is, hoAvever, not the inventor. The piece is cast, and then 
upon the breech is driven a wrotvght-iron ring of four-inch tliickness. 
This is put over hot, and shrinks upon the gun. By this device, the 
gun, Avhich is rifled, Avill weigh less than a columbiad or Dahlgren of 
the same calibre, in the prot)ortiou of eleven hundred to fifteen hun- 
dred pounds. This for a field-piece is of great advantage. 

The Dahlgkengun Avas invented by Captain Dahlgren, of the 
navy. Its peculiarity is, that the thickness of the gun diminishes very 
rapidly from the breech, by Avitich means a larger calibre Aveighs much 
less than by the old plan. 

Whitavoetii gun. a number of batteries of these guns Avere re- 
ceived from England when the war broke out. They are loaded at 
the breech, but instead of being rified the bore is hexagonal, Avith a 
twist of one turn to five feet, to give tlie elfect of rifling. They are 
made of wrought iron melted and cast in moulds. Ttie projectile is 
hexagonal, made to fit the bore. It is of cas't inm. but sometimes of 
Avrought iron. The range of the gun is four thousand yards. 

Steel cannon were introduced in the United States m 1861. Their 



\ 



HISTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 227 

cliief a<3 vantage is their comparative lightness for field service, requir- 
ing a less power of draft, and being more manageable in heavy roads. 
They are forged under heavy steam hammers from puddled steel made 
especially for this purpose. The six-pounders are of 2.6 inches bore, 
and the twelve-pounders, 3.G7 inches bore. The latter weigh twelve 
hundred pounds each. They are rifled, one turn in twelve feet. 

MoETARvS are used for siege and naval service. The heavy siege 
mortar weighs seventeen thousand five hundred pounds, is fifty-three 
inches long, and thirteen inches depth of chamber. The shell weighs 
two hundred pounds, and with tw^enty pounds of powder may be 
thrown four thousand three hundred and twenty-five yards. 

HowiTZEEs are short guns, or mort-ars chambered and mounted on 
gim-carriages. They are used for throwing shells. Tlie diflcrence 
between a mortar and a howitzer is, that the trunnions of the former 
are at the end, and of the latter in the middle for mounting oii a car- 
riage. 

The United States " Ordnance Manual" gives the following kinds 
and calibres of guns used in the United States armies : — 

Calibre. Material. Weight Weight of shot Weight of shells. 

Field guns 6 lbs. brouze 884 6.10 

" " 12 " " 1,757 12.25 

Siege " 12 " iron 3,590 12.25 8.34 

" " 18 " " 4,913 18.30 13.45 

" " 24 " ' 5,790 24.30 16.80 

Sea-coast guns 32 " " 7,200 32.40 22.50 

" " 42 " " 8,465 42.50 31.30 

Moimtaiu howitzer. .12 " bronze 220 12.25 

Field " ..12 " " 788 12.25 

" " ..24 " " 1,318 24.30 

" " ..32 " " 1,920 32.40 

Siege « . . 8 inch. iron 2,614 65.00 

" " ..24 lbs. " 1,476' 24.30 

Seacoast " .. 8 inch. " 5,740 65.00 49.75 

" " -.10 " " 9,500 127.50 101.67 

Columbiads 8 " " 9.240 65.00 49.75 

" 10 " " 15,400 127.50 101. G7 

Mortars, light 8 " " 930 44.12 

" " 10 " " 1,852 88.42 

" heavy 10 " " 5,775 197.30 

The greatest change in weapons is in the projectiles. That for the 
Parrott gun is ft cast-iron body, around the base of which is fitted 
loosely a brass ring, which, by the explosion, is forced into the grooves, 
causing the projectile to follow the curves of the piece. The Whit- 
worth gun has a hexagonal jn-ojectile, which follows the turn of the 
"bore into which it is fitted. The three-pounder, with eight ounces of 
powder, has been known to throw five and a half miles. This range 
is obtained by the great twist given to the grooves, equal to one turn 
in five feet, or one and a half turns in the^^length of the gun. Tlie 
HoTCHKiss projectile is composed of three pieces, of which the conical 
head and base are made of cast iron, between which there is lead. 
The eftect of the explosion is to cause the lead to bulge out, and thus 
efiectually take the grooves of the gun. The Sawyek projectile is a 



228 niSTOEY OF the great EEBELLIOlSr. 

conical shell of cast-iron, with a brass cap screwed into the apex of the 
cone. By this the powder, fourteen ounces for a twelve-pound shell, 
is introduced. The percussion powder is under the brass cap. This 
shell has a coating of lead to take the grooves. The Schenkl projec- 
tile is a cast-iron bullet, in length about three times the diameter. Its 
posterior portion has a covering of pajjier-mache, which takes the 
grooves. The James projectile is a cast-iron cylinder with a conical 
head. It may be used either solid or as a shell. The middle of the 
cylinder is about three-fourths of an inch in diameter less than the two 
ends. In this portion there are openings to a cavity extending to the 
rear. The cylinder being enclosed in tin, with a canvas covering, hot 
lead poured into the cavity fills in imder the tin. On the discliarge, 
the lead, being driven forward, bulges out the tin, and forces the can- 
vas into the grooves. Owing to the disposition of the tin covering to 
peel off, these projectiles are not to be depended upon. 

Ordinaiy shells are hollow shot of cast-iron, filled with bullets and 
sulphur, and are fired by a fuse formed by boring into the filling, and 
cliarging the cavity thus formed with mealed powder of peculiar com- 
position, which is covered with a leaden or soft metal cap ; when it is 
to be discharged a ])ortion of this cap is removed, so as to form a 
greater or smaller aperture to the fuse, according to the distance it is 
to be throAvn before exploding. These fuses are graduated for five, 
ten, fifteen, or twenty seconds. The spherical-case shot is a thin shell 
of cast-iron, containing powder and musket-balls embedded in melted 
sulphur. Its shape is round for mortars and smooth bores, but elon- 
gated for rifle gt;ns. It is intended to burst fifty to one hundred and 
litty yards in front of, and fifteen to twenty feet above the object fired 
at. The time-fuse is a hollow cylinder of paper, wood, or metal, en- 
closing a composition graduated to the required time. The fuse is 
fired by the explosion of the piece. 

A field battery consists of six pieces, viz., four twelve-pounders and 
two twenty-four-pounders, or two twelve-pounder howitzers ; or four 
six-pounders and two twenty-four-pounders. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Situation. — Army of the Potomac— General McCIellan. — The Retreat of the 
Enemy from Manassas. — The Peninsular Campaign. — Yorktown. — McDowell's 
Corps Withdrawn. — Siege of Yorktown. 

The year 1861 had closed with gloomy prospects for the Federal 
arms. On all sides of the vast field of action, our armies had suflfered 
reverses, and the enemy had triumphed in many a hard-fought field. 
If there was a shade of disappointment on the public mind, there was 
no sign of despondency, nor any diminution of determination. But 
scarcely had the new year opened, when from every point of the com- 
pass came notes of success, and the advancing Union troops were vie- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



229 



torious in every conflict. Although the winter was unusually stormy, 
sixty days of vigorous effort sufficed to Avork an entire change in the 
aspect of aflairs, and impress the prestige of victory upon the Union 
flag. 

On the 1st of January, General Price was in triumphal possession of 
Southwestern Missouri; by the close of February lie was a fugitive iu 
Western Arkansas, with his army greatly reduced by capture and de- 
moralization, and Missouri was free from armed Confederates. 

On the 1st of January the enemy held a large portion of Kentucky, 
and confronted the Union forces on a line drawn from Columbus, on 
the western border of the State, through Bowling Green to the Vir- 
ginia line on tlie east. ZoUicoffer and Crittenden commanded Cum- 
berland Gap, the gateway into Virginia and Tennessee ; Johnston and 
Buckner at Bowling Green covered Nashville and threatened Louis- 
ville. General Polk, at Columbus, watched St. Louis and Cairo, and 
commanded the Mississippi. These threatening clouds were soon dis- 
persed when the Union troops resumed action. Within sixty days 
Kentucky was clear of Confederates. The immense line of hostile 
troops had been swept back into Alabama and Mississippi. Every 
strong place had been taken, the rebel armies dispersed, Nashville 
occupied, and Union authority was once more supreme in Tennessee 
and Kentucky. 

On the 1st of January, Burnside's Expedition still lingered in 
Northern harbors, while the enemy, warned by spies of its destina- 
tion, were preparing to receive it. Witliin sixty days it had crowned 
its triumph at Koanoke Island, and loyal North Carolinians were be- 
lieved to have rallied once more around the stars and stripes. 

All these successes had aroused the public enthusiasm, and strength- 
ened confidence in a 6|)eedy peace, as a consequence of the advance 
of the Grand Army of the Potomac, which had during many months 
been in the hands of General McClellan, gathering force and consist- 
ency to deliver the final blow at rebellion. That immense army had 
been the chief result of Northern efforts and resources, and it was re- 
garded in the public mind almost as the Old Guard had been in the 
imperial armies of France. Its advance was looked for as the crown- 
ing movement. 

When the Army of the Potomac had, in July, 1861, been compelled 
to fall back upon Washington in a state of disorganization, the Ad- 
ministration, dreading an assault upon the capital, summoned General 
McClellan to rally and re-form the broken columns. The undertaking 
was one demanding the abilities of an experienced commander. The 
young chief was comparatively an untried man, but his reputation, 
although resting only on the campaign of Western Virginia, had the 
prestige of success, which prondsed to retrieve the disasters of the 
Potomac. General McClellan * had been prominent among the gradu- 



* George B. McClellan is the son of an eminent 
physician of Philadelphia, and was btirn in that 
city on the 3d of Oeoeinber. 1S26. lie .'ntered the 
West Point Academy inlS42, graduated second in 
his class in 1S46, and was immediately called into 
active service as eecoud-lieutenant of a couijiajiy of 



sappers and miners. Captain Swift jnst organized 
by a special act of Congress : of this company the 
tirst - lieutenant was Gnstavus W. Smith, late 
Street Commissioner of New York, and now » 
major general in th'' Confederate army. The 
sappers and miners, seventy-one strong, sailed 



230 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



ates of a distinguished class at the Military Academy, had earned 
promotion imder Scott in Mexico, and liad enjoyed a commission of 
trust from the Government in relation to Cuba. He was fond of his 
pi'ofession, and had the advantage of youth on his side. In civil life 
he had earned reputation as an engineer of good administrative abili- 
ties; and at the breaking out of the war held the the position of 
General Superhitendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Kailroad, liaving 
previously served on the Illinois Central Railroad with fair reputation. 
Such was the man who, by the force of circumstances, had been called 
to the head of the army at a time of great national peril, and at whose 
disposal the Government placed the whole resources of the nation. 
The extent of these resources may be estimated from the official 
reports of the departments. The Secretary of War had reported the 
army at two hundred and thirty thousand men under arms ; in his report 
of December, the figures were raised to seven hundred and thirty thou- 
sand men in the pay of the Government. In other words, five hun- 
dred thousand men had, in six months, freely and eagerly rallied 
around the national standai*d. In July, 18G1, the national debt was 
reported to Congress by the Secretary, at ninety millions of dollars. 
In December, the amount had swollen to two hundred and fifty mil- 
lions of dollars, showing that one hmidred and sixty millions of dollars 
had been freely poured into the national treasury to concentrate, arm, 
equip, and feed the half million of men who were crowding into the 
ranks of the army under McClellan. The people and the public j)res8 
willingly gave him credit for all that they hoped he would accom- 
plish. Every element of success was at his command. There were 
gathered around liim crowds of eager volunteers, of the best physical 



from West Point on tho 24th of September, to 
take part in the Mexiciiii war, with orders to re- 
port to General Tuylor. At the battle of Con- 
treras, Lieutenant MeCIellan inana^'ed the how- 
itzers Iff Miiirruder's battery wilh jrreat ability. 
On tile -OUi uf August he distinguished himself 
at the battle of Chnrubnseo, for.wliieh he was pro- 
moted to a flrst-lieutenaucy. AtMolinodel Key 
and ('hepultepeo, liis gallantry secured him the 
rank of captain by brevet. The foUowingr year, 
li4S, he assuiiu'<l eoiiiiiuind of the sap[)ers and 
miners, a position which he held until InoI. It 
was during; this period thai. Captain MeC'lellan 
translated his te.\t-buok for the army, and intro- 
duced the bayonet exereiso in the United States. 
lu the fall of JSM he was appointed to sui>eri intend 
the building of K<ii-t Delaware. In the spring of 
li.j'i he joined <."a[>tain Marey in an cx[«dition to 
explore Ued lliver; and was afterwards ordered to 
Texas as a general engineer on the statf of Genera! 
I'ersifer F. Smith, and snrveyeil the rivers •■ind h.ir- 
h'>rs of that State. Next year ho aided in survey- 
ing the northern route for a Pacific railroad, and for 
his work was highly complimented by Jetf. Davis, 
then Secretary of War. Shortly after. McClellan 
ivas sent on secret service to the West Indies, 
Connected with the Cuban expedition, and on his 
return received a commission in tho V. S. cavalry. 
The war in the Crimea being at that time an ab- 
sorbing subject of interest, the U. S. Government 
sent a commission of three otlicers there to watch 
Its progress and perfect themselves in the art; 
of these otRcers McClellan was one, and theat>ility 
of Ilia report wheu ho returned added much to 



his repntation. In IS.'S" he resigned his commis- 
sion, and became Vice-President and Eneineer of 
the Illinois Central liailroad. Three years later 
we find him General Superintendent of the Ohio 
am! Mississippi Kailro;td, and be was thus engaged 
when civil war eanie upon us. Ohio immediately 
m.ide him major-general of her State forces, and 
shortly after, Pennsylvania offered him a similar 
po.sition. Ileorgunized the militia of Ohioquiekly 
nml thoroughly. On the T4th of May, the Federal 
Government tendered him the position of major- 
general in the U. S. .\rmy, and assigneil him to 
the Department of Ohio. Then flilloued his cam- 
paiirn in Western Virginia. After the disaster at 
JSuU Pun, he was called to Washington, to com- 
mand the Army of the PotonKio. On the 31st of 
Octobir, General Scott resigned, and General Mc- 
(.'lel?an was appointed to succeed him as geueral- 
in-chief of the armies of the Uniteti States. He 
organized the army with great ability, and when 
the advance took place, March Sth, he was re- 
stricted to tho command of the .Army of the Po- 
tomac. He subsequently conducted the campaign 
of the Peninsula, and in the midtJle of August 
conducted the Army of the Potomac back to Wash- 
ington, and for several days held command of the 
fortifications of Washington. At the close of 
Pope's Virginia campaign, ho resumed his old 
command, and fought the" battle of Antietam. On 
November Tth. lsy2, he was relieved by Riirnside. 
He was the Democratic candidate for President 
in ISM, and resiyued his commission iu the fail 
of that vear. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOiN-. 231 

development ; unbounded supplies ; the largest possible transporta- 
tion, railway conveyance, telegraphic communication, and uncon- 
trolled direction. Seven months had been spent in the organization 
and combination of these elements of success. As the recruits succes- 
sively arrived, they v\'ere organized and employed upon the extensive 
•works that continued to rise around the national capital, thus becom- 
ing inured to the hardships of the camp, while they were learning the 
duties of a soldier; and gradually, as the army increased in strength, 
it improved in military knowledge and efficiency. The great merit of 
Genera) McClellan as an r .-ganizer was conspicuous to all who had wit- 
nessed the condition of the army in July, and comipared it with the 
vast array that had since been instilled with the principles of soldierly 
life and discipline. 

The winter finally drew to a close, and the roads had become once 
more practicable for artillery and wagons. The right and left wings 
of the great National advance had successfully driven the enemy be- 
fore them, and the moment had arrived to crush the chief rebel army, 
Avhich for seven months had with impunity assumed to besiege the 
Federal caj^ital. The people were fully convinced that a new battle 
of Bull Run would result in such signal discomfiture of the enemy as 
would not only obliterate the former defeat, but open the way to 
Richmond. The political situation at home required a victory to sus- 
tain the Government, and the aspect of our foreign relations de- 
tnandttl some military progress to sustain the position of the American 
diplomatists. In a military view, it was of importance that the 
enemy should be crushed at Manassas, because the difficulties of fol- 
lowing an unbroken army beyond that point were fomiidable. The 
country had been devastated, the railways torn up, and the army 
could be sup2)lied only by slow-moving wagons, bringing daily sup- 
plies from Washington. 

The position of the enemy had not been materially changed since 
the day of the battle of Bull Run. His strength varied from forty 
thousand to seventy thousand men, the main body of whom held 
the positions of Manassas and Centreville, Avbich were connected by 
a temporary railroad laid on the sui-face of the ground, without 
grading. The works at Manassas were skilfully laid out, but had 
been constructed in a superficial manner, being simply dirt, trenches, 
and sand-forts, and were more formidable in appearance than in real- 
ity. The embrasures were intended for field-guns, but were destitute 
of floors. Five of them commanded the road to Centreville, extending 
on a line one and a half miles, and connected l)y rifle-pits deep enough 
to allow artillery to move behind them. There were substantial huts 
constructed for winter-quarters, sufficient to accommodate forty thou- 
Band men. The position of Centreville was naturally much stronger 
than that of Manassas, and the works were more numerous and better 
built. They consisted of eight or nine forts of a capacity of from four 
to' twelve guns each, extending in a line and surrounded by rifle-pits. 
There were never any guns regularly mounted, and when the place 
was evacuated, wooden guns, or " Quakers," as they were called, were 
found in the embrasures. 3Iuch scientific skill was displayed in the 



232 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 

design of all these works, and to a superficial eye tlicy appeared to 
form a complete system of defence, commanding the approaches for 
many miles round. An ordinary reconnoissance would have shown 
that they were intended to deceive rather than to be defended ; and 
it must be confessed they fully answered the purpose of their con- 
structors. In February, Generals Johnston, Smith, and Stuart held 
Centreville, having parties thrown forward to Fairfax and Leesburg. 
All these places were connected by telegraph with Manassas, which 
drew its supplies by two lines of railroads, one leading south to Gor- 
donsville, and the other leading to the rich valley of the Shenandoah, 
held by General Jackson, whose main force at Winchester, with his 
advance at Martinsburg, held Banks in check, and covered the rail- 
road to Manassas. On the other hand. General T. H. Holmes com- 
manded the Lower Potomac batteries, and General Walker, with a 
considerable force, held Fredericksburg. The whole force was esti- 
mated by General McClellan, at the beginning of March, at eighty 
thousand men, including some Virginia regiments, whose term of 
service was about to expire, but who had re-enlisted. 

The President's war order of January 27th, for a general movement 
of all the armies, was followed on the 31st by the following, having 
special reference to the Army of the Potomac : — ■ 

PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDER, No. 1. 

"Executive Mansion, "Washington, January 31f 1862. 
" Ordered, Tliat all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after providing 
safely for the defence of Washington, be formed into an expedition for the immediate 
object of seizing and occupying a point upon the railroad southwest of what is known 
as Manassas Junction — all details to be in the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief, 
and the expedition to move before or on the 22d day of January next. 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

To this order General McClellan promptly objected, embodying his 
reasons in an elaborate communication to the War Department, under 
date of February 3d. He admitted that, by attacking the enemy's 
right flank by the line of the Occoquan, it would be possible to "pre- 
vent the junction of the enemy's x-ight Avith his centre," to "remove 
the obstructions to the navigation of the Potomac, reduce the length 
of the wagon trans[)ortation," " and strike more directly his main 
railroad communication." But he objected to the plan generally, as 
involving " the error of dividing our army by a very difficult obsta- 
cle (the Occoquan), and by a distance too great to enable the two 
parts to support each other, should either be attacked by the masses 
of the enemy, while the other is held in check." And even should 
the execution of the plan proA^e successful, he thought the results 
"would be confined to the possession of the field of battle, the evacu- 
ation of the line of the Ui>per Potomac by the enemy, and the moral 
effect of the victory — important results, it is true ; but not decisive 
of the war, nor securing the destruction of the enemy's main army, 
f )r he could fall back upon other positions, and fight us again and 
again, should the condition of his troops ])ermit." On the other hand, 
he urged that the Lower Chesapeake Bay would afford the most avail- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlf. 233 

able base of operations, and that Urbana, on the Lower Rappahan- 
nock, was the point of binding which seemed to promise the most 
brilliant results. It was accessible by vessels of heavy draught, was^ 
but three marches from Richmond, and was neither occupied nor ob- 
served by the enemy. A rapid movement from Urbana would prob- 
ably cut off Magruder at Yorktown, and enable the Federal army to 
enter Richmond, before it could be re-enforced. Should Urbana not 
prove practicable as a base, he proposed Fortress Monroe. An ad- 
vance from either ])oint he considered preferable to the flank move- 
ment ordered by the President, and " certain by all the chances of 
war." 

This remonsti-ance had the effect of inducing the President to re- 
linquish his plan, and accept that of General McClellan. An addi- 
tional inducement was })robably afforded by the decision of a council 
of war held shortly afterwards, in which eight generals expi'essed 
themselves in favor of the advance on Richmond by way of Urbana, 
and four Avere opposed to it. 

In the latter part of February, a movement was commenced on the 
Upper Potomac, having for its oljject the recovery of that part of the 
track of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in Virginia then in pos- 
session of the rebels. On the 24th, Harper's Ferry was occu- 
pied by a detachment from General Banks's force ; and early in 
March, Charlestown, Martiusburg, Leesburg, and other important 
points were in the possession of the Federal troops. These move- 
ments had, it will be seen, an important influence upon subsequent 
t)perations. The reconstruction of the railroad was at once com- 
menced, and the work was rapidly and successfully pushed to its 
completion. 

The obstructions to the navigation of the Potomac caused by the rebel 
batteries erected at Cockpit Point, Mathias Pomt, and other places on 
the right bank of the river, had for months proved a source of mortifica- 
tion to the Government, as also of positive inconvenience and danger 
to the National Capital. Transports conveying stores for McClellan's 
vast army could not ascend to Washington without great danger ; even 
the passage of vessels of war was attended with risk. The city was, 
in fact, compelled to rely principally upon the single ti-ack of the 
railroad to Baltimore for communication with the outside world ; and 
in removing his army to Urbana, McClellan had, as a matter of course, 
determined to convey them first by rail to Annapolis, and thence 
transport them by water to their new base. To the President's 
urgent request that he would drive the enemy from these batteries, 
General McClellan had interposed various objections, the chief one 
being that such an operation would require the movement of the en- 
tire army, which would derange the plan of campaign he had already 
conceived. He was satisfied that the enemy would resist with his 
whole strength, and that the proposed movement to the Lower Ches- 
apeake would compel him to abandon all his positions along the Poto- 
mac and in front of Washington. But in the opinion of the President, 
backed by that of competent military authorities, there was no reason 
why an army, closely ai^proximating in numbers to two hundred thon- 



234 HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOX. 

sand men, should be longer hampered by such secmmgly trifling ob- 
stacles as the Potomac batteries, and on March 8th the following 
worder was issued : — 

PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER, No. 3. 

" Executive Mansion, March 8, 18G2. 

" Ordered, Tliat no changce of base of operations of the Army of the Potomac sli-all be 
made without leaving in and about Washmgton such a force as, in the opinion of the 
General-in-Chief and the commanders of all the army corps, shall leave the said ciiy 
entirely secure. 

"That no more than two army corps (about fifty thousand troops) of said Armyof the 
Potomac shall be moved en routs for a new base of operations, until tlie navigation of 
the Potomac, from ^^ ashington to tiie Chesapeake Bay, shall be freed from the 
enemy's batteries, and from other obstructions, or until the President shall hereafter 
give express permission. 

"That any movement aforesaid en route for a new base of operations, which may be 
ordered by the General-in-Chief, and wliich may be intended to move upon the Chesa- 
peake Bay, shall begin to move upon the Bay as early as tlie IStli Mnrcli inst., and the 
General-in-Chief shall be responsible that it so moves as early as that day. 

" Ordered, That the army and navy co-operate in an innuediate effort to capture the 
enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washington and the Cliesapcako Bay. 

" L. Thomas, Adjutant- General. Abraham Lincoln." 

Of the same date with this order was another, directing the Army 
of the Potomac to be organized into four cor]>s, the first to be com- 
manded by General McDowell, the second by General E. V. Sumner, 
the third by General Heintzelman, and the fourth by General Keyes. 
A fifth corps, under General Banks, Avas directed to be formed from 
his own and General Shields's Divisions. General James I. AVadsworth 
was at the same time apj)ointed commander of the forces left in the 
defences of Washington, and Military Governor of the District of 
Columbia. 

On March 9th, while these orders and preparations for driving the 
rebels from the Potomac and moving the army to the Lower Chesa- 
peake were occia])ying the attention of the authorities at Washing- 
ton, there suddenly came a rumor that the enemy had done of their 
own accord what McClellan had doubted his ability to make them 
do. In the evening, positive information reached head-quarters, that 
the eiiemy had retirecl in succession from Fairfax Court-House, Cen- 
treville, and Manassas, destroying their camps and the bridges in 
their rear as they departed. The news was felt to be that of a disas- 
ter. Washington was immediately in commotion. The telegraph 
from the head-quarters of General McClellan conveyed prompt orders 
to each division for immediate advance. Generals left at once to 
assume their commands, and before dawn a long line of wagons, ofli- 
cers, orderlies, cavalry, and infantry, began, amid a driving storm, to 
file across the Potomac to overtake the divisions already in motion. 
McDowell's advance-guard, under General Philip Kearny,* surprised 



♦Philip Kearny was bom in New York City, 
June 2, 1S15. On the Sth of March, 1S3", he re- 
ceived .% commission as second-lieutenant in 
Ids uncle's (Colonel S. W. Kearny's) repment, 
the Kirst U. S. Dragoons. Heinjc sent to Eu- 
rope to study French cavalry tactics, Lo vis- 



ited Africa, and became attached to the Chas- 
seurs tVAfriquf. He gained distinction during 
the campaiL'n ol 1S3S-40, and was decorated witli 
the cross of the Legion of Honor. During his 
absence he was promoted to flrst-lientenant, 
July, 1S09, and ou bis return was nj)pointed 



niSlOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



235 



a body of Confederate cavalry at Sawpits Station, on the Orange and 
Alexandria Railroad, and on Monday, the 10th, at noon, entered Cen- 
treville, which had been deserted by the enemy on the previous night. 
On the same day, General McClellan and staiFleft Washington, and 
established his head-quarters at Fairfax Court-House. Simultaneously, 
Colonel Averill, with the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, entered Manas- 
sas, Stuart's rebel cavalry retiring towards Strasbilrg, by way of the 
Manassas Railroad, to join Jackson. On the same day, Banks oecn- 

g'.ed AVinchester, and General Hooker, commanding on the Lower 
otomac, sent troops to occupy Shippinsport, Evausport, and Cock- 
pit Point. 

The aspect of affiiirs had thus rapidly changed. Tlio advance of 
General Banks, threatening the Confederate communications with the 
valley, had caused the position of Manassas to be no longer tenable. 
All the batteries on the Potomac were abandoned, and the enemy fell 
back to Gordonsville. This point has as much strategic importance 
as Manassas, since it commands the passage which connects the great 
and fertile valley of the Shenandoah by railroad with Richmond. The 
loss of that point Avould involve the cutting olf a large portion of the 
supplies for Eastern Virginia. It is also the point of intersection of 
the most important railroad connections south and southwest. The 
region lound Gordonsville is thickly wooded and broken, and perhaps 
better calculated for defence than that around Manassas. To this 
point the enemy fell back, having his advance on the line of the Rapi- 
dan, twelve miles in front. The North Aima and Sotith Anna Rivers 
tmite and form the Panumkey in the neighborhood of Hanover Court- 
House, in a country much broken, and admirably calculated for de- 
fence. In this neighborhood also the Central Virginia Railroad, which 
runs from Gordonsville to Hanover Junction, forms a junction with 
the Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, in a position of great 
strength. It was on this line from Gordonsville to Hanover Junction, 
covered by the Rapidan and the tributaries of the Mattapony and 
Pamunkey, that the Confederates had their new position, and on the 
10th of March General Lee Avas nominated to command in Virginia, 
and reorganize anew system of defence. 

The Union force which penetrated to Centreville and Manassas 
consisted only of a small advance-guard. The greater part of the 
army went no further than Fairfax Court-House, wliere pursuit was 
stopped. The object of General McClellan in marching his troops so 
far while his mind was still busily occupied with the project for trans- 
porting them to the Lower Chesapeake, was, as he has stated in his 



nide to General Macomb, November, 1S40, and 
to General Scott from December, is-tl, to April, 
1&44. In December, 1S46, he was promoted to 
captain, and commanded the First DraKOons in 
the Valley of Mexi' o. His bravery during the 
whole campaign gained him special praise fron\ 
General Scott, dn was, in August, 1848. brevetted 
major, with rank from August"2l), 1847, f(jr gallan- 
try, Ac, at Contreras and^ Churubusco, where he 
lost his left arm in a charge near San Antonio 
gate. lie resigned, 0ctober"9, 1S51, after having 
served some time in California, and went to 
Europe to resume his miHtiiry studies. During 



the Italian campaign of 1S59, he served as volun- 
teer aide to General Morris, a French officer, was 
attain presented with the cross of the Legion of 
lienor, and when the rebellion broke out in this 
country, he inmiediately returned home and ten- 
dered his services. He was appointed the com- 
mander of a New Jersey brigade, subsequently 
commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, 
with rank from May IT, 18G1, and durini; the 
operations on the Peninsuki, and in the camiiaign 
under Pope, headed a division. Ho was made a 
maior-general on the 4th of Julv. lSfi2, and was 
killed in the battle of Chantilly, September 3, 1862. 



236 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 

official report, to afford them an opportunity " to gain some experi- 
ence on the march and bivouac preparatory to the campaign." On 
the 11th he sent orders for the transports which had been assembhng 
at Annapolis to come to Annapolis, to embark the army from there for 
Fortress Monroe, which had now definitively been fixed upon as a base 
of operations against Richmond. 

Ever since the inception of the plan of going to the Lower Chesa- 
peake the President had striven to impress upon General McClellan 
the importance of leaving Washington well protected. The city, as a 
commercial centre or as a strategic point, possessed little importance ; 
but it was the capital of the nation, it contained the public oftices and 
archives of the Government, and was the residence of the chief 
officials from the President downwards. During all the winter and 
far into the succeeding summer Congress was in session there. Hence 
to allow such a city to fail, through negligence, into the hands of the 
enemy, would have produced a moral effect fir beyond the intrinsic 
importance of the place. It would in all probability have insured to 
the Southern Confederacy that recognition abroad for which they were 
so eagerly striving, and might have induced the North to relax her 
efforts to carry the war to a successful completion. It is not, there- 
fore, to be wondered that Mr. Lincoln, feeling the responsibility re- 
posed in him as the guardian of this important trust, was determined 
that the safety of the city should rest on no uncertain basis. He de- 
manded an adequate force of men, not merely to garrison the forts 
surrounding Washington, but to cover the approaches to it on the 
Virginia side ; and he was the more inclined to insist upon this, as 
General McClellan seemed disposed to convey the bulk of the army to 
a distant base, leaving the road from Richmond to the Potomac com- 
paratively open to an invading force. It might be true, as General 
McClellan urged, that while Richmond was threatened from the line of 
the James or the York Rivers, the rebels would never demonstrate in 
force against Washington ; but, in the opinion of the President, such a 
contingency was possible, and he was not disposed to risk the capture 
of the city by a sudden movement of the whole rebel army towards 
it, even if thereby the Confederate capital should fall into our hands. 
In other Avords, he declined to exchange capitals. 

But though the President had insisted that the national capital 
should be properly defended during the absence of the Army of the 
Potomac, he did not himself decide the numbers or quality of the 
troops who should perform that duty. His general war order of 
March 8th called for " such a force as, in the opinion of the General-in- 
Chief and the commanders of all the army corps," would leave the city 
entirely secure. On the 13th, as soon as practicable after the pro- 
mulgation of the order, a council of war, consisting of four of the five 
corps commanders (General Banks being absent), was convened by 
General McClellan at P\airfax Court-IIouse, at which the plan of 
movement from Fortress Monroe by way of the Yoi'k or James Rivers 
"was formally approved, on certain specific conditions, which were : 
First, that the enemy's vessel, the Merrimac, can be neutralized; 
second, that the means of transportation sufficient for an immediate 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 237 

transfer of the force to its new base can be ready at Washington and 
Alexandria to move down the Potomac ; third, that a naval auxiliary 
force can be had to silence, or aitl in silencing, the enemy's batteries on 
York River ; and fourth, that the force to be left to cover Washing- 
ton shall be such as to give an entire feeling of security for its safety 
from menace. .To the document embodying these conditions was ap- 
pended the following "note," or memorandum, with reference to the 
number of troops required to make Washington secure: "That wiih 
the forts on the right bank of the Potomac fully garrisoned, and those 
on the left baidv occupied, a covering force in front of the Virginia 
line of twenty-five thousand men would suffice (Keyes, ITeintzelman, and 
McDowell). A total of forty thousand men for the defence of the city 
would suffice (Sumner)." 

The Merrimac, which the first of the above conditions required to 
be neutralized, was a powerful iron-clad rebel ram, which, a few days 
previous to the meeting of corps commanders, had made a dashing and 
successful raid upon the Federal war vessels in Hampton lioads. 
Though she was ultimately driven off" by the timely arrival of the 
Ericsson iron-clad Monitor, she was still sufficiently formidable to 
occasion anxiety to the Federal authorities. Her career will be found 
elsewhere described. 

On the same day that the plan was decided upon, it was communi- 
cated to the Secretary of War, who urged its immediate execution. 
The President also approved of it, and gave the following directions 
for its execution : — 

" First. — Leave such force at Manassas Jiin#,ion as shall make it entirely certain that 
the enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and line of communications. 

" Second. — LeaveWasliington secure. 

" Third.— lloYQ the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base at 
Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there ; or, at ail events, move such 
remainder of the army at once, in pursuit of the enemy, by some route." 

On the 1st of March official reports showed that the troops in and 
around Washington, including those in Maryland and Delaware, com- 
prised an aggregate of two hundred and twenty-one thousand nine 
hundred and eighty-seven men, of whom one hundred and ninety-three 
thousand one liundred and forty-two were present for duty. Of this 
force, General McClellan designed to take with him to Fortress Monroe 
the corps of McDowell, Ileintzelman, Sumner, and Keyes, forming 
the Ai-my of the Potomac proper, and representing about one hundred 
and foi'ty thousand men. This would leave a little more than fifty 
thousand for the defence of Washington and the occupation of the 
lower Shenandoah Valley and other points in Virginia, and the cities 
and strategic positions in Maryland. Banks's Corps, estimated at 
thirty-five thousand strong, and then stationed along the Virginia side 
of the Upper Potomac, it was proposed to em[)loy, in part, in holding 
the position at Manassas, in accordance with the President's directions. 
The remainder of the corps was to maintain its present position, and, 
if circumstances should favor the movement, to advance up the Shen- 
andoah Valley and occupy Lynchburg and other important places. 
The folloNving order, limiting McClellan's command to the Array of 



238 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEDELLIOK 

the Potomac, besides creating two new departments, Avas issued before 
his return from Fairfax Court-House to Wasliington: — 

PRESIDENT'S WAR ORDER, No. 3. 

"Executive Mansion, Washington, March 11, 1862. 

" Mnjor-General McClellan having persoually taken the field at the head of the Arnay 
of tlie Potomac, until otherwise ordered he is relieved from the command of the other 
military departments, he retaining command of the Department of the Potomac. 

" Ordered, further, that the two departments now under the respective commands of 
Generals Ilalleck and Hunter, together with so much of that under General Buell as 
lies west of a north and soutli line indefinitely drawn through Kuoxville, Tennessee, be 
consolidated and designated the Department of the Mississippi, and tliat until other- 
wise ordered, ^Nfajor-General Ilalleck have command of said department. 

" Ordered, also, that the country west of the Department of the Potomac, and east 
of the Department of the Mississippi, be adepartment to be called the Mountain Depart- 
ment, au(i that tlie same bo commanded by Major-General Fremont ; and that all the 
commanders of departments, after the receipt of this order by them, respectively report 
severally and directly to the Secretary of War, and that prompt, fuU, and frequent re- 
ports will be expected of all and each of them. 

"(Signed) Abraham Lincoln." 

In view of the momentous campaign upon which the army was 
about to embark, its commander issued, on March 15th, the follow- 
ing address as an order of the day : — 

" SOLDIEKS OF THE ArMT OF THE POTOIIAC J — 

" For a lofig time I have kept you inactive, but not without a purpose. Ton were to 
be disciplined, armed, and instructed- The formidable artillery you now have had to be 
created. Other armies were to move and accomplish certain results. I have held you 
back that you might give the death-blow to the rebellion that has distracted our once 
happy country. * 

"The ])atience you have shown, and your confidence in your general, are worth a 
dozen victories. These preliminary resvdts are now accomplished. I feel that the pa- 
tient labors of many months have produced their fruit. The Army of the Potomac is 
now a real army, magnificent in material, admirable in discipline and instruction^ and 
excellently equipped and armed. Your commanders are all that I could wish. The 
moment for action has arrived, and I know that I can trust in you to save our country. 
As I ride through your ranks I see in your faces the sure prestige of victory. I feel 
that you will do whatever I ask of you. The period of inaction has passed. I will 
bring you now face to face with the rebels, and only pray that God may defend the 
riglit. 

"In whatever direction you may move, however strange my actions may appear to 
you, ever bear in mind that my fate is linked with yours, and that all I do" is to bring 
you v/here I know you wish to bo — ou the decisive battle-field. It is my business to 
place 3^ou there. I am to watch over you as a parent over his children, and you know 
that your general loves you from the depths of his heart. It shall be my care — it has 
over been — to gain success with the least possible loss. But I know, that if it is 
necessary, you will willingly follow me to our graves for our righteous cause. 

"God smiles upon us! Victory attends usl Yet I would not have j^ou th'nk that 
our ai:n is to be obtained without a manly struggle. I will not disguise it' from you that 
you have brave foes to encounter — foemen well worthy of the steel that you will use 
so well. I shall demand of you great, heroic exertions, rapid and long rriarches, des- 
perate combats — privations, perhaps. Wo vv'ill share all these together, and when this 
sad war is over we will return to our homes, and feel that we can ask no higher honor 
than the proud consciousness that we belonged to the Army of the Potomac. 

" Geo. B. McClellan. 

" Major- General Commanding." 

The army, wuth the exception of one of Sumner's divisions, left 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 239 

temporarily at Manassas, was now moved back to the Potomac and 
concentrated in tlie neighborhood of Alexandria, awaiting transporta- 
tion, which did not arrive so rapidly as was anticipated. Heintzel- 
man's C')rps got off first, followed by those of Keyes and Smnner, and 
on April 1 st, McClellau left with his head-quarters. McDowell's Corps, 
to whicli was assigned the advance of the expedition, owing to a dif- 
ficulty in embarking its divisions at once, remained in its encampment 
after the departure "of the i-est of the army. Just previous to leav- 
ing, the General sent the following communication to the adjutant- 
general : — • 

GENEKAL m'cLELLAIN^'s ORDERS TO ADJUTAXT-GEXEKAL THOMAS. 

" Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac, 
Steamer Commodore, April 1, 1SG2. 

" To Brigadier-General L. Thomas, Adjutant-General U S. A. : 

"General: — I have to reriuest that you will lay the followin.2;oommnnieation heforo 
the Honorable Secretary of War. The approximate numbers and positions of the 
tToops left near and in rear of the Potomac are about as follows- 

" General Di.^ has, after guarding the railroads under his charge, sufficient troops to 
give him five thousand men for the defence of Baltimore, and nineteen hundred and 
eighty-eight available for the Eastern Shore, Annapolis. &c. P'ort Delaware is very 
well garrisoaed by about four hundred men. Tlie garrisons of the forts around Wash- 
ington amount to ten thousand men, other disposable troops now with General Wads- 
worth being about eleven thousand four hundred men. The troops employed in guard- 
ing the various railroads in Maryland amount to some three thousand three lumdred 
and fifty-nine men. These it is designed to relieve, being old regiments, by dismount- 
ed cavalry, and to send them forward to Manassas. General Abercrombie occupies 
Warrenton with a force which, including Greneral Geary's at White Plains, and the cav- 
alry to be at their disposal, will amount to some seven thousand seven hundred and 
eighty men, with twelve pieces of artillery. 

" I have the honor to request that all the troops organized for service in Pennsyl- 
vania and New York, and in any of the Eastern States, may be ordered to Washing- 
ton. This force I should be glad to have sent at once to Manassas — four thousand men 
from General Wadsworth to be ordered to Manassas. These troops, with the railroad 
guards above alluded to, will make up a force under the command of General Aber- 
crombie to sometiiing like eighteen thotisand six hundred and thirty-nine men. It is 
my design to push G-eneral Blenker from Warrenton Tipon Strasburg. He should re- 
main at Strasburg long enougli to allow matters to assume a definite form in that re- 
gion before proceeding to his ultimate destination. The troops in the Valley of the 
Shenandoah will thus — including Blenker's Division, ten thousand and twenty-eight 
strong, with twenty-four pieces of artillery, Banks's Fifth Corps, which embraces tho 
command of General Shields, nineteen thousand six hundred and eightj'-seven strong, 
with forty-one guns, some three thousand six hundred and fifty-three disposable cav- 
alry, and the railroad guard, about two thousand one hundred men — amount to about 
thirty-five thousand four hundred and sixty-seven men. 

■^'Itis designed to relieve General Hooker by one regiment — say eight hundred and 
fifty men — being, with five hundred cavalry, thirteen hundred and fifty men on the 
Lower Potomac. To recapitulate : At Warrenton there are to be seven thousands even 
hundred :n\d eighty ; at Manassas, say ten thousand eight hundred and fifty -nine ; in 
the Shenandoah Valley, tliirty-five thousand four hundred and sixty-seven ; on the 
Lower Potomac, thirteen hundred and fifty — in all, fifty-five thousand four hundred and 
fifty-sk:. There would then be left for the garrisons in front of Washington and under 
General "Wadsworth, some eighteen thousand meu, exclusive of the batteries under in- 
structions. The troops organizing or ready for service in New York, I learn, will 
probably number more than four thousand. These should be assembled at Washington, 
subject to disposition where tiieir services may be most needed. I am, very respect- 
fullj', jour obedient servant, -GEa B. McOlellan, 

"Major- General Cmnmaiiding." 



240 IIISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 

Upon learning the dispositions of troops proposed by General Me- 
Clellan, General Wadsworth, who, on March 15th, had assumed com- 
mand of the defences of Washington, sent the following communica- 
tion to the War Department : — 

"Head-Quarters Military District of ■Washington, 
Washington, D. C, April 2, 18G2. 

Sir: — I have the honor to submit the following condensed statements of the forces 
left under my command for the defence of Washington,: — 

Infantry 15,335 

Artillery A 4,294 

Cavalry, six companies only mounted 843 

Total 20,47 7 

Deduct sick and in arrest and confinement 1,455 

Total present for duty 19,022 

" I have no mounted light artillery under my command. 

" Several companies of tlie reserve artillery of the Army of the Potomac are still 
here, but not under my command or fit for service. 

" From this force I am ordered by General McClellan to detail two regiments (pood 
ones) to join Richardson's Division (Sumner's Corps) as it passes through Alexandria; 
one regiment to replace the Thirty-seventh New York Volunteers in Heintzelman's old 
division ; one regiment to relieve a regiment of Hooker's Division at Badd's Ferry — to- 
tal, four regiments. 

" I am further ordered this morning by telegraph to send four thousand men to re- 
lieve General Sumner at Manassas and Warrenton, that he may embark forthwith. 

" In regard to the character and efficiency of the troops under my command, I have 
to state tliat nearly all the force is new, and imperfectly disciplined ; that several of 
the regiments are In a verj' disorganized condition from various causes which it is not 
necessary to state here; several regiments having been relieved from my brigades which 
have gone into the field, in consequence of their unfitness for service — the best regi- 
ments remaining having been selected to take their place. 

" Two heavy artillery regiments and one infantry regiment, which had been drilled 
for some months in artillery service, have been withdrawni from the forts on the south 
side of the Potomac, and I have only been able to fill their places with very new infan- 
try regiments, entirely unacquainted with the duties of that arm, and of little or no 
value in their present position. 

" I am not informed as to the position which Major-General Banks is directed to 
take; but at this time he is, as I understand, on tho other side of the Bull Run 
Mountains, leaving my command to cover the front, from the Manassas Gap (about 20 
miles beyond Manassas) to Aquia Creek. 

"I deem it my duty to state that, looking at the numerical strength and character 
of the force under my command, it is in my judgment entirely inaddiuate to, and unfit 
for, the important duty to which it is assigned. I regard it very improbable that tho 
enemy will assail us at this point, but this belief is based upon the hope that they may 
be promptly engaged elsewhere, and may not learn the number and the character of the 
force left here. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

"James S. Wadsworth, 
"Brig. -Gen. and Military Governor. 

"Hon. Secretary of War." 

This was referred by the President to the Adjutant-General of the 
Army and Major-General E. A, Hitchcock, with instructions to report 
whether the orders of the President, requiring the safety of the cap- 
ital to be guaranteed, had been complied with. Tliese officers, though 
declining to express an opinion whether the corps of General Banks, 
operating in the Shenandoah Valley, should be regarded as a part of 



inSTOEY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 241 

the force available for the protection of the immediate front of "Wash- 
ington, decided " that the requirements of the President, that the city- 
shall be left ' entirely secure,' not only in the opinion of the General- 
in-Chief, hut that of tlie ' commanders of the army corps ' also, had 
not fully been complied with." This report was made on April 2d, 
and on the succeeding day orders were sent to General JMcDowell, 
whose corps had not yet embarked, to remain in front of Washington 
until further orders. 

Meanwhile, on the 2d, McClellan arrived at Fortress Monroe, 
where were now concentrated the corps of Hcintzelman and Keyes, 
and part of that of Sumner. Owing to insufficient transportation, 
the troops arrived slowly, but a sufficient number having arrived on 
the 4th to enable General McClellan to commence his movement, on 
that day an advance towards Richmond was ordered. A week pre- 
vious General Heintzelman had made a reconnoissance towards York- 
town, which, he was informed, was defended by less than ten thou- 
sand men. But McClellan, upon hearing of the movement, ordered 
the troops to remain in the vicinity of Fortress Monroe. 

At daylight of the 4th, the army struck its tents and took up the 
march for Richmond, Heintzelman having the advance, and Keyes 
keeping along the James River road. At noon the advance, bemg 
about twelve miles from Yorktown, surprised a Confederate camp, 
called " Camp Misery," occupied by cavalry, where the Union troops 
encamped for the night. Resuming the march at dawn of the 5th, 
they reached the enemy's works at Yorktown at ten o'clock, from 
which the guns immediately opened fire. As the troops arrived they 
took ground, General Porter in the centre. General Sedgwick the 
extreme right, Generals Hamilton and Smith the extreme left. The 
batteries of Griffin, Third and Fourth Rhode Island, and Fifth Mas- 
sachusetts were got into position to reply to the enemy, and the 
cannonading continued until dark, with little loss on either side. 

On the following day much time was employed in reconnoitring 
the position of the enemy, and it was found to be one of considerable 
strength. Yorktown has been famous in American history as the 
scene of the crowning exploit of Washington in the war of the 
Revolution. It was there that the British commander. Lord Coni- 
wallis, with seven thousand troops, surrendered to Washington, and 
it was now once more about to sustain a siege unfortunate to the 
besieged party. Tlie peninsula of Yorktown projects into Chesa- 
peake Bay, and is washed on either side by the two great rivers of 
Virginia, the York on the nothern side and the James on the south. 
It runs in a northwesterly direction, is of irregular shape, and is 
indented with numerous bays. The York River is formed of the 
Pamunkey and Mattapony Rivers, wliich unite at West Point, about 
fifty miles above Yorktown. It flows in a broad, deep stream, until, 
opposite Yorktown, it narrows suddenly, bringing Gloucester on the 
northern shore within one-fourth of a mile of Yorktown, directly 
opposite on the southern shore. The river then spreads out into 
Chesapeake Bay. Gloucester being strongly fortified, any vessels 
that should attempt to pass would have to encounter the powerful 

16 



24:2 HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

batteries of rifled guns on both sliores, at little more than one-fourth 
of a mile distant. The batteries at Yorktown and Gloucester Point 
were erected on the very Imes held by the opposing armies in the 
Revolution, At this time, as api)ears from the report of the rebel 
commander, General Magruder, the combined garrisons of Yorktown 
and Gloucester did not exceed eleven thousand men, although, before 
the close of the siege, it was very largely re-enforced. 

It had formed part of the plan of the campaign for General Mc- 
Dowell, with his thirty-five thousand men, to follow McClellan 
down the Potomac, and, landing on Severn, north of Gloucester, to 
storm that place. He was then t(> ascend the river, cross the Pamun- 
key near West Point, and coming in between the enemy and liich- 
mond, shut them up in the Peninsula. At this point in the operations 
the President, acting on the report of Generals Thomas and Hitchcock, 
above referred to, withdrew the corps of McDowell from his com- 
mand, and also detached from it the command of General Wool, 
which had been promised to McClelkn. The latter, though fully 
aware of the decision of the council of corps commanders, and of 
the duty devolving upon him of leaving a sufficient force to garrison 
and cover AVashington, professed to be much surprised at this action 
of the President ; and the urgency with Avhich he now telegraphed for 
re-enforcements, drew from Mr. Lincoln the following letter : — 

" 'Washingtok, April 9, 1861 
" To Major-Goneral McClellan : 

" My Dear Sir : — Your dispatches complaining that you are not properly sustained, 
TV'hile they do not offend me, pain me very mucla. Blenker's Division was withdrawn 
before you left here, and you know the pressure under which I did it, and, as I thought, 
acquiesced in it, certainly not without reluctance. After you left, I ascertained that less 
than twenty thousand unorganized men, without a field-battery, were all you designed to 
be left for the defence of Washington and Manassas Junction, and part of this even was 
to go to General Hooker's old position. General Banks's Corps, once designed for 
Manassas Junction, was divided and tied up on the Hne of the Winchester and Stras- 
burg, and could not leave it without again exposing the Upper Potomac and the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad. This presented, or would present, when McDowell and 
Sumner should be gone, a great temptation for the enemy to turnback from the Rappa- 
hannock and sack Washington. My explicit directions, that Washington should, by 
the judgment of all the commanders of corps, be left secure, had been entirely 
neglected. It was precisely this that drove me to detain McDowell. I do not forget 
that I was satisfied with his arrangements to leave Banks at Manassas Junction. But 
when that arrangement was broken up, and nothing was substituted for it, of course I 
was not satisfied. I was constrained to substitute something for it myself. And 
now allow me to ask you, do you really think I could permit the line from Richmond 
via Manasass Junction to this city to be entirely open, except what resistance could 
be presented by less than twenty thousand unorganized troops ? This is a question 
which the country will not allow mo to evade. There is a curious mystery about 
the number of troops now with you. 

" I telegraphed you on the 6th, saying that you had over one hundred thousand 
men with you. I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a statement, taken, 
as he said, from your own returns, making one hundred and eight thousand then with 
you and en route to you. You now say you will have but eighty-five thousand when 
all those en route to you shall have reached you. How can this discrepancy of thirty- 
five thousand bo accounted for ? As to General Wool's command, I understand that 
it is doing precisely what a like number of your own would have to do if that com- 
mand was away. I suppose the whole force which has gone forward to you is with, 
you by this time, and if BO, I think it is the precise time for you to strike a blow. By 



HISTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLION-. 243 

delay the enemy will readily gain on you; that is, he will gain faster by fortifications 
and re -enforcements than you can by re-enforcements alone. And once more, let me 
tell you, it is indispensable to you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help. 

" This you will do me the justice to remember : I always insisted that going down 
the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas, was only shifting 
and not surmounting a difiBculty ; that we would find the same enemy and the same 
or equal intrenchments at either place. The country will not fail to note — is noting 
now — that the present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story 
of Manassas repeated. 

" I beg to assure you that I have never written or spoken to you in greater kindness 
of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you so far as in my most 
anxious judgment I consistently can. But you must act. 

" Yours, very»truly, Abraham Lincoln." 

Franklin's Division of eleven thousand men, belonging to Mc- 
Dowell's Corps, was, however, sent him, but was nearly fourteen days 
in reaching him. 

The distance between the York and James Rivers at Yorktown is 
about six miles, and the country is of a soft, marshy character, 
impassable for artillery in rainy weather, and in the hot season very 
unhealthy from the malaria of the swamps. The land is very fertile, 
and the people most wealthy. The city of Yorktown itself is com- 
posed of about thirty old-fashioned wood and brick houses, and the 
remains of the ancient fortifications are visible around it. After the 
battle of Big Bethel the Confederates set themselves to strengthen 
this position. The passage of the York River was regarded as very 
difficult, and such advantage was taken of the nature of the ground 
as to make the advance by land up the Peninsula a hazardous opera- 
tion. General J. B. Magruder had been in command nearly a year, 
and some two thousand blacks had been employed at Yorktown and 
Gloucester, with a force of about seven thousand men. An immense 
connected fortification, with numerous salient angles, mounted with 
heavy guns, with a lofty parapet difficult to scale, and a deep, dry 
ditch commanded the river, where was also a formidable water- 
battery. Running towards the right of the lines there was a long 
breastwork, not pierced for guns, but having in front a ditch of the 
same depth as that before the fort. This breastwork connected a 
redoubt of considerable magnitude, and another breastwork of the 
same description connected another redoubt beyond, still further to 
the left. On this redoubt there had been mounted a number of 
columbiads and Dahlgren naval guns, with one siege howitzer. In 
front of these works there is an immense area of open ground, which 
was completely commanded by the rebel guns. Trees which were of 
large growth had been cut down by the Confederates to_ give free 
range to their artillery. Deep gorges and ravines were inside and 
about these fortifications, furnishing good cover for the besieged 
against artillery fire, and rendering the position difficult to assault. 
To the left of the Yorktown road— the enemy's right— as the town is 
approached, other fortifications had been constructed. 

The position was deemed impregnable by its commander, and after 
reconnoitring, General McClellan set down before it to besiege it in 
form. 

There were crossing the Peninsula three main lines of defensive 



244 nisTOET OF the geeat eebellio:!^. 

works. The first of these commenced at a point on the York Eiver, 
and extended south until it met tlie head of Warwick River, which, 
running about four miles south, empties into the James. In the rear 
of this was another line of detached works, and still further in the 
rear a third line, extending in front of AVilliamsburg, In front of 
the first line of defence there were numerous detached works, from 
which the enemy were successively driven. The army gradually 
approached this line. Several skirmishes occurred, but nothing serious 
until the IGth of April, when it was ascertained that the enemy had 
thrown up a new battery on the Warwick, about one mile above 
Lee's Mills. This was the left of the 'Union lines held by General 
Keyes. General Brooks's brigade with Mott's battery moved forward 
to within twelve hundred yards of the new work. The ground on 
the Union side front of the work was open, but with woods on either 
flank. The batteries of Ayers, Wheeler, Mott, and Kennedy advanced 
to this open space in front of the enemy, and began a terrific fire at 
eight hundred yards distant. The Sixth Vermont, Colonel Lord, the 
Fourth, Colonel Stoiighton, and the Third, Colonel Hyde, approached 
both flanks of the enemy through the woods to reconnoitre. They were 
received with a telling fire of musketry, which drove them back. Four 
companies of the Third Vermont then made a rush at the stream, and 
attempted to ford, the water being waist deep ; but the fire of the 
enemy overpowered them. The Sixth Vermont left the woods on the 
right, in support of the Third, dashed across the stream, and actually 
entered the work ; but, not being properly supported, they were sub- 
jectedto a murderous fii-e from the rifle-pits, which drove them back 
Avith heavy loss. This action produced much sensation in consequence 
of the dauntless bravery displayed by the men, and the apparently 
useless nature of the sacrifice of life, and in the opinion of competent 
officers might, if properly conducted, have secured the Federal troops 
a lodgment on the right bank of the Warwick River. It has been men- 
tioned how weak the rebel garrison was at the arrival of the Federal 
army. It may now be added that evidence of that fixct was presented 
to the commander-in-chief, but had no efiect upon his determination 
to conduct regular siege operations. 

The idea of forcing the enemy's lines seems after this to have been 
abandoned, and the siege progressed very steadily with the immense 
resources at the command of General McClellan. The transports on 
the Chesapeake Bay brought supplies freely to either flank of his 
army on the York or James River, and to Ship's Point, which, after 
it was abandoned by the enemy, became an important depot. Lines 
of apjjroach were commenced against the place on a large scale, and 
batteries established to command important points. The enemy 
showed activity in his attempts to impede and destroy these works, 
and frequent encounters along the line tested the courage and address 
of the men. The front of our lines was occupied by sharpshooters, 
who were very efficient in picking off" the enemy's gunners, in some 
cases silencing the guns that most annoyed the trenchers. As suitable 
positions were reached, siege-guns were placed in battery. On the 
85th of Ai^ril, General Grover sent a portion of the First MassachU' 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 245 

setts to carry a lunette, wliicli the Confederates had constructed on 
the east side of the Warwick, near its head. This work, having a 
strong parapet and ditch six feet deep, was manned by two compa- 
nies of infantry, who deserted the place before the vigorous charge of 
the Massachusetts men. These operations were continued as the 
works progressed, aided by the occasional shelling of Yorktown and 
Gloucester by the gunboats. The enemy, in the mean time, con- 
tinually strengthened his works, constructing batteries to answer those 
erected by the Union troops, and on both sides the most formidable 
preparations were made for the final struggle which was now 
approaching. By the close of April, there had been constructed four- 
teen powerful batteries and three redoubts within breaching distance 
of the enemy's works. These contained ninety-six heavy guns in 
position ready to thunder against the opposing walls. Of the num- 
ber there were two 200-pounders, three 100-pounders, ten 13-inch 
mortars, forty-three 10-inch mortars, and twenty-five Parrott guns of 
difierent calibre. These were well supplied, and nearly ready for the 
attack on May 1st. 

On the other hand, the enemy had so strengthened his position as to 
deem it impregnable against any assaults from without, and re-enforce- 
ments were within reach from Richmond, to supply his three lines of 
defence. He had so fortified Yorktown and Gloucester, opposite, 
with the heaviest description of guns, commanding the narrow pas- 
sage up the York River, that it was deemed impossible for any vessels 
to pass. The naval officers decided the position too strong. If the 
York River could be forced, the position of Yorktown could not be 
held ; on the other hand, as long as the passage between Yorktow^n 
and Gloucester could be commanded, the works of Yorktown were 
good against any assaults of the besiegers. The Confederates there- 
fore continued the defence with a confidence that had been strength- 
ened by the results of the naval combat of March 8th, Avhcn the 
iron-clad Merrimac made havoc with the wooden ships in Hampton 
Roads, an event which not only created a great sensation in the 
North, but startled all Europe. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Iron-plated Ships. — Merrimac. — Federal Fleet. — Hampton Roads. — Destruction of tlio 
Cumberland and Congress. — Monitor. — Iron-clad Duel. — Repulse of the Merrimac. 

The mode of constructing wood vessels by plating them with iron 
had long engaged the attention of the maritime nations of Europe, 
and great expense had been incurred in constructing such vessels in 
France and England. The Confederate States were the first to em- 
ploy one in actual war. When Norfolk was abandoned in April, 
1861, it will be remembered that among the steamers left behind was 
the Merrimac, which was scuttled and sunk. The Confederates, how- 
ever, raised her, cut her down to the water's edge, and plated her 



246 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIf. 



with interlappcd railroad iron, placed sloping in such a manner that 
all shot must strike her at angles. She was provided with an iron 
beak for the purpose of crushing the sides of an enemy's vessel when 
run into. Her armament consisted of four eleven-inch guns on each 
side, and two one hundred-pounders at bow and stern. Nine months 
were spent in equipping her, and on the 8th of March, with a picked 
crew, under the command of Captain Buchanan,* formerly of the 
•United States service, she left Norfolk, and made her appearance in 
Hampton Roads. The National fleet then in the Roads embraced the 
Congress, fifty guns ; the Cumberland, twenty-two guns ; the Minne- 
sota, forty guns ; the Roanoke, forty guns ; the St. Lawrence, fifty 
guns; the gunboats Zouave, Dragon, and Whitehall, and some 
smaller vessels. These were all wooden vessels, very eificient of their 
class, and ably commanded. Of the larger vessels, only the Minne- 
sota and Roanoke were propelled by steam. The Cumberland and 
the Congress lay off Newport News, covering the entrance of the 
Nansemond and James Rivers, and blockading in the latter the Con- 
federate steamers the Jamestown and the Yorktown, or Patrick 
Henry, as she was called. These two vessels had been packet- 
steamers, running to New York, and were seized and converted into 
war-steamers at the outbreak of the war. The Minnesota, the St. 
Lawrence, and the Roanoke were at anchor near the Rip Raps, just 
without the range of the large rifled guns on Sewell's Point. 

Rumors in relation to the Merrimac and her state of forwardness 
had long been rife, when on the 8th, at 1 P. m., she was descried from 
the deck of the Minnesota, rounding Sewell's Point. Signal was im- 
mediately made from the Roanoke, Captain Marston, for the vessels 
to engage. The Minnesota slipped her cables, and made sail for the 
stranger. In passing Sewell's Point, her mast was injured by a rifle- 
shot, and the vessel grounded within one and a half miles of Newport 
News. The Merrimac, meantime, passed the Congress, and made 
directly for the Cumberland, which had promptly cleared for action, 
and which had opened fire upon her as she neared. The steamer did 
not reply till she struck the Cumberland under the starboard fore- 
channels, staving in her side, and pouring in her shot at the same 
moment. The guns of the Cumberland played upon her with great 
vigor and rapidity, but with no apparent effect. In ten minutes the 
water had risen to the main hatchway, in spite of the pumps, drown- 
ing out the powder-magazines. The ship then canted to port, and all 
hands sprang to save the wounded. The rapidly sinking ship how- 



* Franklin Bnchanan, the first commander of 
the Merrimac, was a native of Maryland, but was 
appointed to the United States Navy from 
Pennsylvania. He entered the service on the 
asth of January, 1815, and steadily advanced 
through the vaVioiis gradations of pr(>motion, 
Htitil, at the commencement of 1861. his name 
was No. 47 on the list of captains. While in the 
Onion service, he received nis captain's commis- 
sion on the 14th September, 1855. His total sea- 
Borvice had bei-n about sixteen years and a half, and 
hts total service under the tJnited States Gov- 
ernment over forty-six years. When he resigned, 
lt« -was Commandant of the Navy-Yard at Wash- 



ington — a post of honor, and one which he had 
held for a length of time. Upon finding that 
Maryland did not secede from the Union, he asked 
to be restored to his commission, and, his request 
beins; refused, he entered the rebel naval service. 
He commanded the Merrimac in the action of 
March 8th, in which he was severely wounded; 
and. upon tlie evacuation of Norfolk, blew up the^ 
Tesscl. Subsequently, he was miide admiral, and 
commanded the rebel fleet in the action in Mobile 
Bay, Aujjust 6, 1864. where he was captured in his 
flag-ship,' the ram Tennessee, so severely wounded 
that his leg had to be amputated. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION 247 

ever, cut short, tlieir efforts, carrying; down a number of helpless 
heroes, and her guns delivered their last fire as the water closed over 
them, her flag still flying in defiance of her foe. The loss in men was 
about one hundred. All the papers having gone down with the frig- 
ate, it was dilficult to ascertain the actual loss. The utmost gallantry 
was displayed by Lieutenant JMorris and his officers, who earned im- 
perishable renown. The Avhole affair lasted fifteen minutes. The 
Merrimac then attacked the Congress, Captain W. Smith, throwing 
shot and shell into her with terrific effect. The Congress returned 
the fire with the utmost energy and alacrity, but the missiles glanced 
from the iron plates like hailstones, while the heavy shot of the 
steamer completely riddled the Congress. On seeing the fate of the 
Cumberland, the Congress, with the assistance of the Zouave, was 
run ashore. The Patrick Henry and the Jamestown then came down 
the river and took part in the fight, firing into the Congress with 
great precision. The Congress could only bring to bear her two 
stern guns, which were soon disabled, amid frightful slaughter. 
There being no prospect of any relief, her colors were hauled down at 
half-past three o'cloclc Lieutenant Parker was then sent on board 
by Captain Buchanan, to take possession, remove the wounded, and 
fire the ship. 

While these events were taking place, the shore batteries at New- 
port News were not idle. General Mansfield, in command, had been 
notified of the approach of the Merrimac, and made preparations to 
receive her. "When she ran into the Cumberland, she was within a 
mile of the shore batteries, and by General Mansfield's order, she Avas 
ojDened upon with four columbiads, one James forty-two-pounder, 
three eight-inch siege-howitzers, and two light rifled cannon. The 
shot from all these fell upon her as harmlessly as hailstones. She paid 
no attention to them, but kept up her work of destruction. When 
the Congress had struck her flag, the steamers Beaufort and Raleigh 
ran alongside to take off the Avounded — the flag of truce flying on 
the Congress. General Mansfield, observing this, ordered Captain 
HoAvard, Avith two rifled guns, and Captain Brown, Avith two compa- 
nies of the Twentieth Indiana, to open upon the steamer from the 
beach, six hundred yards distant. The steamers then drcAV out of 
range, and the Merrimac again opened fire upon the Congress Avith 
hot shot, until she burned to the water's edge. The conflagration 
lasted through the night, throwing its lurid glare upon the surrounding 
bay and strand. Her fifty-four shotted guns discharged in turn as 
the flames reached them, until the final explosion of the magazine 
closed the grand spectacle. ^ A shot from one of the guns sunk a 
steamer at the wharf Lieutenant J, D. Smith, of the Congress, was 
killed, and a great many others. The gunboat Zouave, Avhile tending 
the Congress, was riddled Avith shot, without, however, losing any men. 

The Merrimac, Avhich had been placed under the command of First 
Lieutenant Catesby Ap R, Jones, in consequence of Captain Bu- 
chanan having been wounded, accompanied by the JamestoAvn and 
Patrick Henry, now bore down upon the Minnesota, Avhich was 
aground in a locality which prevented the Merrimac from coming 



248 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 

within a mile of her. She took, however, a position on the starboard 
how, and the otlier two steamers on the port how. The latter were 
driven off with ease, hut the broadsides of the Minnesota made no 
perceptible impression on the Merrimac. In the mean time the St. 
Lawrence, Captain Purviance, got under way to aid the Minnesota, 
but grounded ; she, however, opened upon the Merrimac, and received 
a shot in retui-n, doing much damage. It was now seven o'clock, and 
the Confederate steamer withdrew towards Elizabeth River, with the 
intention of renewing the conflict in the morning. This delay, per- 
haps made necessary by the state of the tide, was fatal to her further 
service, since in the night arrived a new enemy which was to prove 
her match. 

The ]Monitor was constructed by Captain Ericsson, and differed 
materially from any vessel before constructed. Her length was one 
hundred and seventy-four feet on deck, and her breadth forty-one 
feet. Her hull floated eighteen inches above the water, and was 
covered with six inches of wrought-iron plates. Her deck was 
plated with two inches of wrought iron. A wrought-iron turret, 
twenty-one and a half feet outside diameter, nine feet high, and nine 
inches thick, was placed near the centre of buoyancy. In this 
turret were mounted two eleven-inch Dahlgren guns. The turret re-- 
volvcd, and was turned around with great facility by steam, its move-- 
ments being controlled by the commanding officer inside. As she 
went into action, there was nothing above her deck but the turret 
and a shot-proof pilot-house, and when she was anchored outside a, 
fort or battery, the jiilot-house was lowered below the deck. In that 
position, if she was boarded by the enemy, they could not get below 
nor into the turret, and her decks could be swept by her own guns 
loaded with canister. 

This vessel made her trial trip in New York Bay, March 3, with 
success ; her speed was six and a quarter knots, the engines ma- 
king sixty-five revolutions. She sailed for Fortress Monroe under 
command of Lieutenant John L. Worden, a ndreported for duty at two 
A. M. March 9, amidst the most anxious preparations for the expected 
renewed attack of the Merrimac in the morning. Her appearance on 
the scene was greeted by the awful explosion of the magazines of the 
Congress, whose flames had lighted the entrance of the Monitor into 
Chesai)eake Bay. Her singular and diminutive a})pearance, which was 
described by the enemy as that of a " cheese-box ui)on a plank," was 
not of a character to create much confidence in the minds of those 
who had witnessed the terrible efficiency of her gigantic rival on the 
previous day, but she was at least a friend in the hovir of need. 

At six o'clock on the morning of the 9th, the Merrimac was again 
eeen coming round Craney Island, accompanied by the Yorktown and 
Jamestown, and immediately she ran down for the Minnesota, still 
aground, but prepared to receive the enemy. An eleven-inch shot en- 
tered the Minnesota under her counter, doing great damage. Captain 
Van Brunt signalled the Monitor to attack the enemy, and that vessel 
immediately closed in upon the Merrimac, delivering her fire at close 
«[uarters with great rapidity, and receiving in exchange whole broad- 





COM DAVID D, POR TER 



LIEUT, JOH N L WORDEN. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 2-^9 

glcTes from the enemy -witli apparent indifference. She plied her shot 
with great assiduity, seeking to drive them through the port-holes of 
her gigantic enemy. This extraordinary encounter lasted some hours, 
presenting the strange spectacle of two vessels, thirty or forty yards 
apart, armed with the most destructive weapons of modern warfare, 
pounding away at each other, without being able to inflict material 
injury. "^The shots, any one of which would have been fatal to the 
best wooden ship afloat, rolled off from each combatant like dew- 
drops from a leaf. From that hour the naval history of the world 
dates a new era. The relative military strength of nations was 
changed. Navies, blockades, defences, and even commerce, as an 
element of naval strength, Avere henceforth to assume new characters 
and to change their relative importance. As the thunder of those 
guns rolled across the Atlantic, foreign powers at once perceived that 
the day of wooden vessels had passed away, and that iron-plated ships 
were to replace the enonnous three-deckers that had previously been 
their bulwarks of defence on the sea. 

The question of vulnerability being sufiiciently tested, the Merri- 
mac no longer fired upon the Monitor, but turned her attention to the 
Minnesota, which delivered without the slightest effect, though every 
shot hit, a broadside which would have sufliced to blow out of water 
the most formidable timber-built ship in the world. The Merrimac 
in return fired one shell from her rifled bow gun, which knocked four 
rooms into one, exploded some charges of powder, and set the ship 
on fire. The second went through the boiler of the gunboat Dragon, 
which was attempting to tow the shij) off. The boiler exploded, 
blowing up the vessel, and killing and wounding six men. All the 
guns of the Minnesota were actively employed, together with those 
of the Monitor, and the gunner reported that sixty shot had struck 
and rolled harmlessly from the sides of the enemy, which now got 
aground through the ebb of tide. In this position she withstood the 
utmost eftbrts of the combined fire. Soon she got off and stood 
down the bay, followed by the Monitor. She suddenly turned, how- 
ever, and ran full speed into her diminutive antagonist, inflicting no 
perceptible damage, and receiving from her a shot which penetrated 
the roof The fierce conflict between the two was then renewed until 
the Monitor hauled oft" for the purpose of hoisting more shot into her 
turret. This was practically the termination of the fight, as the 
Merrimac retired soon after towards Craney Island, apparently in a 
disabled condition. Thus closed one of the most remarkable naval 
actions in the history of the world, when the amount of damage done 
is taken into consideration. Two frigates carrying seventy-two guns 
were destroyed ; two others carrying ninety guns, and several gun- 
boats were disabled, and a number of men were killed and wounded 
at the shore batteries. The loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was 
two hundred and sixty men. This havoc displayed the capabilities 
of an iron-clad steamer of ten guns ; and the A'essel of such capa- 
bilities was withstood for two hours by a much smaller one of two guns. 
Five times did the Merrimac attempt to ram the Monitor, but the low 
deck of the latter caused the iron prow of her assailant to run over 



250 mHWHtf" Qf TTTR ghhat nzizLuoy. 



it, and did not. tln aefoie , ^mct stolid rei^; :__. -... r_e to-srer of tlie 
Monit C'T "was struck nine tines. The vessel reoe-red in all tyrenvy- 
tvc' sh:>t. one of Trhick dsemsnged. the pilot-hoTise. "breaking a bar nine 
"bx T-sTrlTe iuciies of the best ■srroiig-Lt iron, and -wotLD'dmg Captain 
^ I'T ieiL Three men vere tnc>cked doTm "by the ooacussioii of the 
sLcT arainst the sides of iLe mrret. The uproar on "board the Mom- 
tC'T "Wiii xerriSc : Vfaeai the gTxns reeciled. ihe noise of the massrve 
jiendiLuirx^ i:Tr -^-ngnT>g byaad closifig tLe ports, rexefbrrated throngt- 
o"Qt iLr Tes«.r". : the stnkiTig of sh-ot against tLe sides and tie turret, 
the hn^fzl i,.is>e of Ler oim guns, the -B-Mzzing of shot oxer the decks, 
a^ the €x^o£2<^ of tbe eaoxm»&as rrBe-sLells irLen tLex struck, made 
& tenable £a. 

Hie tii^T a^ppemaee dittos siipinfr, m d^e&oe <af t^ rSeet, gaxe 
gieat eause of T^caang. The eoBBeqastees wbidli odglit Laxe fol- 
kjired from the SQcctss of the MeixiBaae strongly imj^ressed all n^li- 
tary naen. General McCIellan t^egrap^ed to iiaxe the defences of 
the cities of Long Island Sound and otier places immediately looked 
to. and General "^ool tel^raphed that tie tir_;^'- ' - ^•earance of the 
Monitor had saxed Fortress Monroe. Daily ^ . ns "were enter- 

tained of her reappearance, hm siie iiad su5ta__r-< ^.*__aire in the col- 
5sion •with tiie Monitor and from, tbe bursting of c>ne of her guns, 
-vrLic-'h req-oired repair, and it iras not -until the lltb April that she 
agiiii. Irft^orL Ctn that day. at 7 a. m_, she passed out of the Kliza- 
betii Rixer. accompanied by the YorkT.o-«m and Jamesio-vra, and four 
other sraTil'oats. When half vay berween SeTirell's Point and 2v'e v- 
pir: ~ '\- Se-et stop]:»ed, "srith the exception of the Tortto-wn 

ani ~a and a ing : these eontinned their course, and taking 

tiosse>-:. -ii ^-f t^wo brigs and a schooner, toired them off Trithont the 
sligh:t-f: resistance l»enig offered. The other ~c-??fl5 ir: tlr l^arbcT 
ma.je '^^ ?.l.i. to escape. The fieet remaine : ■ i. f otir 

o'elorh. — ":_:7. the Merrimac fired three shot, x-j . : ; : . to by 
the -- . ^ and Oct.orara. Soon afrerwards the fieet returned np 

the Z-^ '-^ Rixer. This exploit created mnch feeling in the Xorth, 

sinc-e it "sras exident that if the enemy eonld come out and eapture 
TTnion xessels tmder the guns of Fortress Monrc»e, -srithotit any reast- 
ance fr'om cur fleet, the great resources of the Army of the Pen- 
ins tila Trere at his mercy. It began to be exident, hovexer, that the 
Merri::.:.:- dre-sr too much •water to be xeiy efficient in the •sraters 
ari'tiiii Fortress Mc»nroe, -where the other iron-dads began to assemble 
in strength, and by the elc«e of April there yrere so many formi- 
da"'t>le xessels there coij central ei •with the object of engagincr and run- 
ning; her doim, that she became xerx warx in her moxements. 



HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 251 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Evacuation of Yorktown. — Retreat of the Enemy. — Pursuit. — Battle of Williamsburg. 
— West Point. — Advance of McClellan. — Fort Darling. — Repulse of the Gunboats. 

An event now occurred which changed the current of interest, and 
which was fraught with the gravest consequences. The city of New 
Orleans was mainly defended by the formidable batteries of Fort 
Jackson, on the south side of the Mississippi River, and Fort St. 
Philip on the opposite side, by rafts laden with pitch and turpentine, 
aiid intended to be fired, and by chains across the river. It was 
deemed quite impossible for gunboats to pass ; but on the 25th April, 
news was received that the Union gunboats had, on the jirevious day, 
forced their Avay up the river, and it became at once apparent to the 
rebels that the York River, although defended by the Yorktown and 
Gloucester batteries, was no longer safe. The Monitor, the new iron- 
clad Galena, the Naugatuck, and other impervious vessels, could force 
the pass.ago, and, as a consequence, Yorktown, how well soever it 
might be able to hold out against the land force, was no longer 
tenable. It was in fact turned. The Confederate generals, Davis, 
Lee,' and Johnston, decided upon the evacuation, although General 
Magruder opposed it. The movement commenced May 1st, and con- 
tinued through Friday and Saturday, under cover of a heavy cannon- 
ade, and the fact of the evacuation was disclosed only by some de- 
serters who came into camp on Sunday morning, May 4th, when the 
following dispatches Avere sent to Washington : — 

" HEAD-QrARTERS, ArMT OF THE POTOMAC, 

" May 4 — 9 A. M. 
" To Hon. E. M. Stantox, Secretary of War : 
" We have tlio ramparts. 

"Wo havn guns, ammunition, camp equipage. &c. 

"We hold the entire line of his woi'ks, which the engineers report as being very strong. 
"I have thrown all my cavalry and horse artillery in pursuit, supported by in- 
fantry. 

" I move Franklin's Division, and as much more as I can transport by water, up to 
West Point to-day. 

'' No time shall be lost. 

" The giuiboats have gone up York River. 

" I omitted to state tliat Gloucester is also in our possession. 

" I shall push the enemy to the wall. 

" Gborge B. McClellan, Jfa/or- {Jena-trf.** 

This dispatch was followed by two more of the same day : — 

Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomao, 
"Jfey 4— 11.30 a. m. 
"To Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

"An inspection just made shows that the rebels abandoned in their works at York, 
town, two three-inch rifled cannon, two four-and-a-half-incsh rifled cannon, sixteen thirty- 



252 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

two-pounders, six forty-two-poiinders, nineteen eight-inch cokimbiads, four pine-inch 
Dahlgrens. one ten-inch cohimbiad, one ten-inch mortar, and one eight-inch siege 
howitzer, with carriages and implements complete, each piece supplied with seventy- 
six rounds of ammunition. On the ramparts there are also four magazines, which have 
not yet been examined. This does not include the guns left at Gloucester Point, and 
their other works to our left. George B. McClellan, Jlajor- General." 

Head-Quarters, Armt of the Potomac, 
^' May 4 — 7 p. m. 
" To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" Our cavalry and horse artillery came up with the enemy's rear-guard in their in- 
trenchments about two miles this side of Williamsburg. 

" A, brisk tight ensued. Just as my aide left, Smith's Division of infantry arrived 
on the ground, and I presume carried the works, though I have not yet heard. 

"The enemy's rear is strong; but I have force enough up there to answer all 
purposes. 

" We have thus far taken seventy-one heavy guns, large amounts of tents, am- 
munition, &c. 

" All along the lines their works prove to have been most formidable, and I am 
now fully satisfied of the correctness of the course I have pursued. 

" The success is brilliant, and you may rest assured that its effects will be of the 
greatest importance. 

" There sliall be no delay in following up the rebels. 

"The rebels have been guilty of the most murderous and barbarous conduct, in 
placing torpedoes within the abandoned works, near wells and springs, and near flag- 
Btaffs, magazines, telegraph offices, m carpet-bags, barrels of tiour, &c. 

" We have not lost many men in this manner — some four or five killed, and per- 
haps a dozen wounded. I shall make the prisoners remove them at their own peril. 

"George B. McClellan, J/cybr-Ge«eraZ." 

The Federal army had just been thirty days hcfore YorktoAvn, which 
time the enemy had gained for tlie perfection of the defences of Kich- 
/nond. It had also prolonged operations into the hot season, which 
to iinacclimated per.sous is often fatal amidst the swamps of the 
Peninsula. 

The pursuit of the enemy was at once commenced. Generals 
Heintzclman, Hooker, and Kearny, with their commands, preceded 
hy artillery and cavalry, started in pursuit on the road to Williams- 
burg, hoi)ing to overtake tliem before reaching that ])oint. The 
swampy roads were, however, almost impassable, and the enemy's 
rear-guard availed itself of every favorable opportunity for a stand ; 
at the same time the gunboat flotilla passed up the York River to 
overtake the enemy at West Point, at the junction of the Rapidan 
and Pamunkey Rivers. The division of General Franklin was already 
embarked, with a view to land in the enemy's rear. General 
McClellan remained at Yorktown to send forward these troops, who, 
it was hoped, might be able to perform the duty originally intended 
for McDowell. They had not been disembarked since their arrivaL 
The iron-clad steamer Galena, Avith the Aroostook and Port Royal, 
passed up the James River, pressing the enemy on his left flank. 
General Heintzclman was charged with the ptirsuit on the Yorktown 
road. Casey and Couch, of Keyes's Corps, went forward by the road 
from Warwick Court-House. 

General Stoneman's cavalry brigade came up with the enemy's 
rear-guard two miles and a half from Williamsburg, at the junction 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 253 

of two roads, one leading to Hampton and the otlier to Yorktown, 
by which the Union troops advanced. The rebels were strongly 
posted behind earthworks, and a cavalry skirmish occurred, with un- 
important results. The enemy's main work was Fort Magruder, at 
the junction of the road, on either side of which were redoubts, 
thirteen in number, extending across the Peninsula and connected by 
rifle-pits. By dark on the 4th, Hooker arrived in front of the works, 
after incredible toil in getting his guns through the twelve miles of 
mud which extended between Yorktown and the battle-field. It was 
only by the most strenuous exertions that the artillery was got for- 
ward ; the supply trains did not get through, and the men, with no 
other food than that contained in their haversacks, and Avorn out with 
toil, lay on their arms all night amidst a drenching rain, which turned 
the soft quicksands of the Peninsula into a slough. 

The enemy's woi'ks occupied an elevated plain, sloping east and 
south. Approaching from the south either by the Yorktown or Hamp- 
ton road, they were concealed by a heavy forest, but a belt of a mile 
in breadth in front of the works had been cleared, in order that an 
enemy's approach might be seen in season. Fort Magruder had sub- 
stantial parapets and deep ditches, and commanded the Yorktown and 
Hampton roads, while the neighboring redoubts commanded the 
ravines which were not swept by its guns. Early on the 5th, General 
Hooker made his dispositions for an attack, and at half-past seven 
A, M. General Grover was directed to take his brigade into action. 
He immediately sent the First Massachusetts into some felled timber 
to the left of the road, with orders to skirmish up the cleared land and 
then turn their attention to the gunners of the fort. The Second New 
Hampshire had the same duty on the right ; the Eleventh Massachu- 
setts and the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania were sent further to the right 
xmtil they should gain the Yorktown road. Webber's battery was 
then sent to the front of the felled timber, where, exposed to the fire 
of Fort Magruder and two adjoining redoubts, it received such a 
storm of shot that the men were driven back. Volunteers were then 
called for, and a number sprang forward to work the guns. Marshall's 
battery then took jiosition on the right of Webber, supported by the 
Fifth New Jersey. The remainder of Patterson's Brigade protected 
the left of the road. Meantime the Eleventh Massachusetts and the 
Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania had reached the Yorktown road, and were 
advancing on it to clear it of obstructions. The battle was now 
general, but the enemy was constantly strengthening his right and 
pressing hai-der upon Grover, who, re-enforced by part of Taylor's 
Excelsior Brigade, was enabled to hold his own until one o'clock, 
when the remainder of Taylor's Brigade was ordered up, and the 
Eleventh Massachusetts was recalled from the right to further 
strengthen the left, where Taylor's men were falling short of ammuni- 
tion. The enemy was now re-enforced by Longstreet, and at the same 
time made a vigorous attack upon the Federal batteries in front, by 
which five guns were captured. At about four o'clock, General 
Kearny with his division reached the field, replacing the exhausted 
lines of Hooker, which were withdrawn from the contest. The loss 



254 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 

in Hookei- s Division was one thousand two hundred and forty killed 
and wounded. While the left was thus engaged, General Hancock's 
Brigade was deployed on the extreme right, under the supervision of 
General Keyes, and took possession of two of the enemy's outer 
works. He then formed in line of battle in an open field, and opened 
upon Fort Paige. The enemy, perceiving that he was unsupported, 
attempted to get in his rear; as they advanced they were met by a 
brilliant bayonet charge, which drove them back effectually. During 
the night of Monday heavy Federal re-enforcements were moved to 
the front, but as the rain continued, and the roads were made worse 
by th*e movement upon them, it was impossible to get up the supply- 
trains, and the troops suffered for want of food. In the morning the 
Confederate army was seen drawn up in front of WilUamsburg, but 
beyond the forts, which it was soon discovered had been abandoned. 
The enemy were already in motion, to the rear, and before their de- 
serted^ works were occupied they were already beyond the city, 
inarching to- the northwest. There were no guns captured in the 
forts. The enemy reported his killed and wounded at two hundred 
and twenty, and that he captured six hundred and twenty-three 
prisoners and eleven field-pieces. These results gave General McClel- 
lan, who arrived on the field at five o'clock on Monday, great satisfac- 
tion, as appears from his dispatch as follows : — 

"Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac, ) 
"Wii,hiA.iiSBVKG,YiUGiiiiA, Tuesday, May 6. ) 
° Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" I have the pleasure to announce the occupation of this place as the result of the 
hard-fought action of yesterday. 

" The effect of Hancock's brilliant engagement yesterday afternoon was to turn the 
left of their line of works. He was strongly re-enforced, and the enemy abandoned the 
entire position during the night, leaving all his sick and wounded in our hands. His 
loss yesterday was very severe. 

"We have some three hundred uninjured prisoners, and more than a thousand wounded. 
Their loss in killed is heavy. The victory is complete. I have sent cavalry in pur- 
suit. 

"The conduct of our men has been excellent, with scarcely an exception. 

"The enemy's works are very extensive and exceedingly strong, both in respect to 
position and the works themselves. 

" Our loss was heavy in Hooker's Division, but very little on other parts of the field. 

" Hancock's success was gained with a loss of not over twenty killed and wounded. 

" The weather is good to-day, but there is great difficulty in getting up food on account 
of the roads. Very few wagons have yet come up. 

" Am I authorized to follow the example of other generals, and direct the names of 
battles to be placed on colors of regiments? 

" We have other battles to fight before reaching Richmond. 

"G. B. McClellan, 
^^ Major- General Commanding.^' 

The enemy retreated beyond the Chickahominy, to which stream 
the cavalry pursued them, finding no fortifications, but capturing 
Bome prisoners and guns. 

There is but little doubt that the battle of Williamsburg was, on 
the Federal side, one of the most poorly managed actions of the war. 
The place was strong and well fortified, and if the enemy fought 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 255 

there at all, he would, it was to be supposed, do so In great force. Hence 
he should have been attacked by the main body of the Union army. 
Instead of this, however, the battle was commenced and fought by 
different corps, without concert of action, and without any general 
order. The cavalry of Stoneman overtook the enemy's rear-guard, 
under circumstances which forced the enemy to send back his infan- 
try, already far in advance, to rescue them. Hooker attacked, and 
was severely handled. Kearny came to his rescue, outranked him, 
and continued the battle, which was sustained by the operations of 
Hancock. General McClellan did not arrive on the field until the 
hardest fighting of the day was ended. In the night, the enemy re- 
sumed his retreat. The Union loss was several thousand men, and 
the enemy had gained time for his trains to move on. 

The division of General Franklin arrived at "West Point on the 
afternoon of the 6th, and was immediately landed on the south side 
of the Pamunkey River, half a mile below West Point. The enemy 
disappeared on the approach of the Federal gunboati, and on the 
same evening, part of General Sedgwick's troops, under General 
Dana, arrived. On the morning of the 7th, these troops landed, and 
immediately advanced to drive the enemy, who were assembling in a. 
piece of woods above. The latter, however, pressed so heavily on 
the left, that the Federals were forced back with some loss, until 
they came within range of the gunboats, the vigorous fire of which 
threw the enemy into confusion, and they retired. General Franklin 
then completed his landing, and further arrivals of troops from York- 
town and Fortress Monroe strengthened the position, which became 
an important base for the movement upon Richmond. 

The enemy retired slowly and in good order towards Richmond, 
skirmishing as they went, while the main body of the Federal army, 
under McClellan, followed slowly over the heavy roads. On the 9th 
of May, his head-quarters were twelve miles from Williamsburg, and 
Stoneman defeated the enemy's cavalry at New Kent Court-House ; 
on the 10th, the enemy, under Longstreet, evacuated Cumberland, on 
the Pamunkey, which was occupied by the Federal cavalry. On the 
following day, May 11th, the cavalry advance reached White House, 
a station of the Richmond and York Railroad, on the Pamunkey, 
twenty miles from Richmond. A junction was now effected with 
Franklin's Corps, and, on the 14th, nearly the whole of the invading 
army was concentrated at Cumberland, on the Pamunkey, near 
White House. The troops were now permitted to rest, put their 
arms in order, recover from their fatiguing march, and recruit from 
their short rations. The advance was again ordered for the 19th, 
when the indefatigable Stoneman occupied Cold Harbor, ten miles 
northwest of Richmond, by turnpike and by New Bridge, over the 
Chickahominy, eight miles from Richmond. There was now no 
enemy north of the Chickahominy. In the march from Yorktown, 
innumerable hardships, as they seemed to a raw army, had been over- 
come, and great labors had been performed; roads had been con- 
Btructed, bridges built, and the enemy driven before them. The men 
were now recruited, and eager again to advance. 



256 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

Soon after the evacuation of Yorkto wn, the rehels retired from 
Norfolk, and blew up the Merrimac, thus kaving the river open to 
the Union war-vessels. The gunboats Aroostook, Galena, and Port 
Royal, with the Naugatuck and the Monitor, immediately moved up, 
getting aground occasionally, but meeting no opjDOsition until within 
eight miles from Richmond, at Ward's Bluff, crowned by Fort Dar- 
ling. At that point were constructed two batteries of piles, sunken 
Steamboats, and sail-vessels, secured by chains, and the banks of the 
river were lined with rifle-pits. The Galena ran up to the barrier, 
swung across the stream, and opened upon the fort. The Monitor 
ran above her, but her guns could not be elevated to reach the fort, 
which was two hundred feet high. The Naugatuck's one-hundred- 
pounder gun burst, and she was consequently disabled. The wooden 
vessels kejjt out of range around a bend in the river. The Galena, 
after four hours' firing, expended her ammunition, and hauled off with 
thirteen killed and eleven wounded. The sides of the Galena, which 
sloped with the view of causing shot striking her to glance off, were 
found to present only a fairer mark for shot from elevated points, and 
were too thinly armored to resist heavy metal. This was one of the 
• first practical lessons in gunboat armor. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

Taking of Norfolk. — Chickahominy. — Position of Enemy. — Hanover Court-House.— 
Battle of Fair Oaks. — Advance of the Reserves, — Retreat of the Enemy. 

The evacuation of Yorktown was immediately followed by another 
event which had imj^ortant results. Norfolk, Virginia, had been held 
by the Confederates since the surrender to them of Gosport Navy- 
Yard with its vast military stores. It was the only naval depot then 
possessed by them, and also the only harbor of refuge for the Merri- 
mac. It had long been threatened on the south by the corps of Gen- 
eral Burnside, who held Elizabeth City and "Weldon, North Carolina, 
and it was but inadequately defended by General Huger with a small 
force. It was therefore determined to land troops, under cover of the 
gunboats, and capture the place. The point selected for landing the 
troops was inspected by President Lincoln, who, on the 8th of May, 
went across from Fortress Monroe to a spot (Willoughby's Point) about 
one mile below the Rip Raps. On his return, a dozen transports were 
loaded with troops, and at daylight of the 10th landed at the appointed 
place. The main body of the troops, under Generals Mansfield and 
vYebber, pushed directly for Norfolk, while General ^^'ool and staff re- 
mained to su))erintend the disembarkation of the remainder of the 
force, all of whom wci'e landed and in motion before noon. The har- 
bor defences at Sewell's Point and Craney Island had been shelled on 
the previous day by the fleet under Flag-officer Goldsborough, and 
the Confederate commander abandoned Norfolk on the landing of 



HISTORY OF TIIE GEE AT REBELLION 257 

the troops. As the latter approached, they were met by the mayor 
and other officials, who surrendered to General Wool, on his promise 
to respect j^rivate property. He issued the following proclamation : — 

•' Head-Quarters, Department of Vfrginia, ) 
" XORFOLK, May 10, 1862. ) 
" The city of Norfolk having been surrendered to the Government of the United 
States, military possession of the same is taken in behalf of the National Government 
by Major-Geaeral John E. Wool. 

'■Brigadier-General Viele is appointed Military Governor for the time being. He v/ill 
see that all citizens are carefully protected in all tlieir rights and privileges, taking the 
utmost care to preserve order, and to see that no soldiers are permitted to enter the 
city except by his order, or by the written permission of the commanding officer of his 
brigade or regiment, and he will punish summarily any American soldier who shaU 
trespass upon the rights of any of the inhabitants. 

" (Signed) John E. "Wool, Major- General." 

By the evacuation of Norfolk, the important works on Craney 
Island and the Elizabeth River, wliich had barred the ascent of the 
James, also fell into the hands of the Federal troops. 

This event was followed by the destruction of the Merrimac, on 
the morning of the 11th, by order of Commodore Tatnall. He stated 
that the pilots had assured him that if she was lightened she could bo 
taken up James River. He accordingly threw her armament over- 
board, but without effecting the desired results. Being now disarmed, 
and having no place of refuge, she was set on fire, and shortly ex- 
ploded. A court <^f inquiry subsequently stated that her destruction 
was unnecessary ; tnat she could have been taken up James River to 
Hog Island, where, the channel being narrow, she could eifectivcly 
have prevented the ascent of the enemy's vessels. Martial law was 
proclaimed at Norfolk, and the following proclamation issued : — 

"Norfolk, Va., May 10^ 1862. 
" The occupancy of the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth is for tlie jirotection of the 
public property and tlie maintenance of the public laws of the United States. Private 
associations and domestic quiet will not be disturbed, but violations of order and disre- 
spect to the Government will be followed by the immediate arrest of the offenders. 

"Those who have left their homes under the anticipation of any acts of vandalism, 
may be assured that the Government allows no man the honor of serving in its armies 
who forgets the duties of a citizen in discharging those of a soldier, and that no indi- 
vidual rights will be interfered with. 

'• The sale of liquor is prohibited. The offices of the Military Governor and of the 
Provost- Marshal are at the Custom-IIouse. 

"(Signed) Egbert L. Viele, 

^^ Bri'jadier- General U. S. A.., and Military Governar." 

Immediate steps were taken to strengthen the Union position. A 
force was pushed forward to Suflblk, twenty-two miles from Norfolk, 
which forms the junction of the Seaboard and Roanoke, and Norfolk 
and Petersburg Railroads. By the occupation of this point a junc- 
tion might be effected, by means of the former road, with General 
Burnside, who was supposed to be at Weldon, North Carolina. An 
internal route of communication was also established via the Dismal 
Swamp Canal between Burnside and McClellan. The occupation of 

IT 



258 HISTORY OE THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTiT. 

Norfolk apparently fiirnislied a new basis for advance south of James 
River, while it relieved Burnside, in North Carolina, of an enemy on 
his flank, and enabled him, in case of a projected march upon Rich- 
mond, to give assistance to McClellan. 

The advance of the army from Yorktown had been directed upon 
West Point for the purpose of forming a junction with Franklin's 
Corps, as well as to take advantage of the nature of the ground, 
which was less swampy on the York than on the James River. The 
Chickahominy River has its origin in Henrico and Hanover counties, 
and passmg five miles to the north of Richmond, takes a south- 
easterly course through extended swamps, and empties into the 
James River thirty-five miles below Richmond. The river thus 
forms a curve, covering Richmond to the north and southeast. 
Numerous bridges cross the stream, which is liable to sudden over- 
flows. The Federal army marched to the north of this stream, and 
a junction being made with Franklin, the base of operations was 
fixed at White House, which is connected with Richmond by rail- 
road. On the 20th of May the advance under Stoneman was at 
Gaines's Mills, eight and a half miles north of Richmond, and one 
and a half north of New Bridge. The pickets of the enemy occupied 
the opposite bank of the river, but there were apparently few troops 
in the neighborhood. The army held diflferent points of the Chicka- 
hominy, at greater or less distances from the enemy's capital. Head- 
quarters were at Cold Harbor, on the turnpike, ten miles north of 
Richmond. 

The army was now thoroughly rested, and once more impatient of 
inaction. The commissary arrangements were completed, and trains 
of artillery were brought to the front. Two provisional corps under 
Generals Fitz John Porter and Franklin had been recently created by 
taking divisions from the corps already organized, making five corps 
in all, besides the cavalry division of Stoneman. In order to communi- 
cate with the gunboats on James River, it was necessary to send by land 
through the enemy's pickets, who swarmed in the country between 
the Chickahominy and the James. Lieutenant F. C. DaA'is was 
detailed with ten men to make the attempt, and the perilous expedi- 
tion was successfully performed. Rumors were now current that 
Beauregard was in Richmond with troops, arrived on their way from 
Corinth. The corps of McDowell, which had been detained by the 
President, was at Fredericksburg, with pickets thrown forward in 
the direction of Richmond. The re-enforcements that McClellan had 
received were considered by that general not sufficient to make good 
the waste by cannon and disease, and by the garrisons left at York- 
town, Williamsburg, and other points. To unite with McDowell 
would, however, insure success. For tliis ]iur])Ose, on the 22d May, 
the Sixth Pennsyh'ania Cavalry was detached from the reserves, to 
reconnoitre the Pamunkey towards Hanover Court-House. In con- 
sequence of their report, Porter, with his division, marched rapidly 
upon that point where the railroads coming from Fredericksburg and 
from Gordonsville cross the river en roiite to Richmond. The enemy 
held the place, under General Branch, the same who had been (March 



260 inSTOKY OF TIIE GEE AT EEBELLION". 

14th) driven out of Newbern, IST. C, by General Burnside; but 
Porter easily defeated him, capturing a gun, five hundred prisoners, 
and the control of the bridges. He was now within fifteen miles of 
McDowelPs pickets, and a single day's march would have united the 
two armies ; but just at that juncture orders came from the Secretary 
of War to burn the bridges thus captured, and for McDowell to 
proceed by forced marches to the Shenandoah Valley to succor Banks, 
who was hard pressed by a rebel column under General T. J. Jack- 
son. The latter, by the celerity of his movements, had amazed all 
the commanders and disquieted the Government. There being no 
longer any hope of a junction with McDowell, it became necessary to 
hold both banks of the Chickahominy, which, from the shifting 
nature of its bed, was difficult to bridge. In a short time several 
good bridges were in process of construction to facilitate the j^assage, 
and enable each wing to support the other in case of emergency. 

The different corps of the army continued to j)ress the enemy upon 
the Chickahominy, and on the 23d Naglee, of Casey's Division of 
Keyes's Corps, crossed at Bottom's Bridge, and, after a sharp struggle, 
made good his position three miles in advance on the Williamsburg 
road. On the 25th, Stoneman advanced from New Bridge up the 
river, and occupied Ellison's Mills, driving out the enemy under 
Howell Cobb. The Eighth Illinois was then sent three miles farther 
to destroy the bridge of the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad. 
The village of Mechanicsville, five miles from Richmond, was then 
occupied by the extreme right of the army. 

There are three roads which cross the Chickahominy at different 
points converging upon Richmond. The most southerly of these is 
the Williamsburg road, which crosses at Bottom's Bridge, and passes 
through Seven Pines, seven miles from Richmond. Running parallel 
to this, and three-fourths of a mile to the north, is the Richmond and 
York River Railroad, which, crossing at the railroad bridge, passes 
through Fair Oaks, six miles from Richmond. Still farther to the 
north, a road crosses New Bridge, and approaches Richmond at an 
angle with the railroad; this is known as the Nine-mile road. A 
cross-road runs nearly parallel with the Chickahominy River from 
a house known as Old Tavern, near New Bridge, on the Nine-mile 
road, crossing the railroad at right angles with it at Fair Oaks, to 
Seven Pines on the Williamsburg road. The railroad runs from 
White House, the base of the army supplies, to Richmond direct; 
and Fair Oaks Avas obviously a strategic point to be defended at all 
hazards, since the railroad afforded the most ample means of bring- 
ing forward supplies under all contingencies. Why the enemy left 
the railroad whole when he retired was a ]u-oblem ; but as he had 
done so, every advantage was to be taken of it. 

On the 25th of May, the Fourth Corps, Keyes, and the Third 
Corps, Heintzelman, both under the latter, were ordered to advance 
to Seven Pines. An intrenched camp, consisting of a lunette and 
supporting abatis, was found one-fourth mile in advance of this station, 
and Casey's Division of Infantry, with twenty pieces of artillery, 
were placed in it, supported by Couch's Division. Further down the 



niSTOET OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOI^. 261 

railroad were the two divisions of Heintzelman's Corps. The position 
of the army was now that of the letter V, with its point at Bottom's 
Bridge. The right wing, on the north of the Chickahominy, con- 
sisted of the corps of Sumner, Franklin, and Porter, and was extend- 
ed from Bottom's Bridge to Mechanicsville. The left, on the Rich- 
mond side of the river, was composed of the four divisions of Keyes 
and Heintzelman, disposed one behind the other, from Fair Oaks to 
Bottom's Bridge. The uncertain and shifting stream which ran 
between these two wings Avas being bridged, in order that both 
might communicate for mutual support. This was the state of affairs, 
May 31st, when General Casey's Corps was stationed as fol- 
lows : On the right, Naglee's Brigade, extending across the railroad 
and approaching a point on the river, where General Sumner had 
erected the Grape-Vine Bridge ; in the centre, AVorrell's second 
Brigade (formerly General Keim's), extending from jSTaglee's left 
across the Williamsburg road; and on the left. Palmer's Brigade. 
General Couch's Corps was mainly on the Williamsburg road, in 
the rear of Casey. The corps of Casey was by no means full, its 
strength being estimated at about six thousand men. About noon, 
the enemy, under General Hill, with the brigades of Rhodes, Gar- 
land, Rains, and Anderson, made a rapid advance, and attacked the 
intrenched camp with great fury, taking it completely by surprise, 
and in the words of General Richardson, "brushed away the division 
of Casey like chaff." The division of Couch had hardly formed in 
order of battle ere the enemy were upon him with fierce yells, 
delivering at short range a deadly fire, which was received with 
steady courage and with a stubborn resistance, that caused the 
advancing column to swerve to the right, Abercrombie's Brigade 
supported Naglee, that of Devens sustained Worrell, and General 
Peck supported Palmer on the left. The enemy, in accumulating 
numbers and mad with fancied success, was pushing between Heintzel- 
man and the river, and his success in this movement would be fatal 
to the army. Our men stood to their task with a constancy the 
oldest veterans could not excel, and which neither the evidently 
superior numbers of the enemy, their determination to win, nor the 
deadly fire of their sharpshooters, could shake. Nevertheless, the 
swelling throng of the enemy's columns seemed still to outflank our 
exhausted line, and at six o'clock disaster was imminent. Sedg- 
wick, of Sumner's Corps, now appeared coming from the bridge which 
he had built, and went into action to the support of Couch, whose 
left the enemy had just turned, thereby, with a strong column, pene- 
trating between him and Heintzelman, two miles, in the rear on the 
railroad. It appears that General Birney, of Kearny's Division, had 
been ordered by General Heintzelman to advance on the railroad in 
the direction of Couch one mile, and he did so, but immediately 
received orders from Kearny to return to his original post. This 
movement and counter-movement left the opening for the enemy. 
For this General Birney was relieved of his command, but he was 
reinstated at the request of General Kearny. Meantime, Sedgwick's 
men coming up, excited with the march, with the din of battle and 



2G2 HISTORY OF TirE GREAT REBELLION". 

the pride of anticipated victory flaming in their eyes, went eagerly 
to work, and at once smote the head of the enemy's advancing 
column with a storm of canister-sliot from the few pieces that had 
been laboriously dragged through tlie miry roads. The enemy 
staggered heavily back under this withering shower. The situation 
was fatal to them. The division, closing up " shoulder to shoulder," 
in line of battle, moved up with resistless vigor, and the shaken line 
of the Confederates was driven back eft'ectually. Their forward 
impetus was lost at the first fire, and the long line of avenging 
bayonets presented by the Union front imparted a retrograde move- 
ment to his steps that was not recovered. The rebel repulse was 
o:reatly aided by the confusion occasioned by the wounding of their 
commanding general, J. E. Johnston, of which, had the Federals 
been aware of it, great advanta2:e might have been taken. He was 
succeeded by General Gustavus\y. Smith. Richardson's Corps then 
arriving on the left of Sedgwick, connected with Birney's Brigade of 
Ileintzelman's Corps, the breach was thus closed and the position 
made secure for the night. The opportune arrival of Sedgwick alone 
saved the army from total disaster, since the gallant troops who had 
so long borne the brunt of overwhelming numbers, were in danger of 
being overpowered. They could not much longer have held out. A 
delay of half an hour would have insured total defeat. The enemy 
captured almost every thing belonging to Casey's Division, camp 
equipage, and a number of guns. There had been a severe storm of 
rain, on which the enerny had counted to cause the river to rise so as 
to prevent the crossing of Federal re-enforcements. The rise did not 
take place as soon as was calculated upon, and that saved the army. 

On Sunday morning, June 1st, at dawn, the Confederates occupied 
the camps of Casey's and Couch's Divisions, having their left on the 
railroad near Fair Oaks. To our right, on the other side of the rail- 
road, the divisions of Generals Richardson and Sedgwick were formed, 
in a semicircle, with their left resting on General Hooker's right, at 
the railroad, and their right flanking the enemy. These divisions 
were composed of parts of the brigades of General Burns, General 
French, General T. F. Meagher, with four batteries of artilleiy. 

General Hooker's Division was camped in the wood on the Williams- 
burg road, occupying the centre, and a little in advance of the right 
and left wings. On the left the remaining portions of Couch's and 
Casey's Divisions rested, v.'ith reserves of fresh troops extending to 
our extreme left, near the middle road, under General Keyes. 

At seven o'clock, General Heintzelman ordered Hooker to drive the 
enemy from a wood on the extreme left. The attack was commenced 
by Hooker leading the Fifth and Sixth New Jersey, near the railroad, 
supported on the right by the brigade of Birney, now under the com- 
mand of Colonel Robert Ward. General Sickles's Brigade followed, 
and a portion of it having, by order of Hooker, gone to the left of 
the Williamsburc!; road, the artillery found the ground too boggy to 
get through. The brigade of Sickles, finding the enemy showing a 
firm front before them, after some ineffectiial firing formed a line, and 
with fixed bayonets performed a charge that won the admiration of 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK. 263 

both friend and foe, and with a determination and vigor that at once 
settled the matter in that quarter. The Seventy-first and Seventy- 
third New York showed that the bayonet was the true mode of 
Av inning ground with little loss. The example was followed on the 
right, and the ground trembled beneath the tread of a long line of 
men, before whose deadly bayonets the enemy's line scattered in con- 
fusion. The biting fire which the enemy poured upon them as they^ 
advanced did not for an instant check or retard the irresistible 
attack. They cleared the woods at once, and the enemy retired, 
leaving the Union troops masters of the field. About an hour after 
the firing had ceased. General McClellan arrived on the field. 

On Monday General Hooker was ordered to make a reconnoissance 
in force to the front, and he did so to within four miles of Richmond 
Avithout resistance, when he was recalled by General McClellan. For 
this McClellan has been severely censured. All accounts go to show 
that when the enemy retired towards Richmond after their defeat of 
June 1st, they were in a complete state of demoralization, throwing 
away muskets, accoutrements, and whatever might impede their prog- 
ress ; and according to the testimony of many officers engaged in 
the battle, as given ])efore the Congressional Committee on the Con- 
duct of the War, the army could have pushed on to Richmond with 
little resistance. This was one of the many occasions dui-ing the war 
when the golden opportunity was needlessly thrown away. 

During this battle the balloon was overlooking the strife, and was 
in telegraphic communication with General McClellan at his quarters. 
The losses on both sides were as follows : — 





Killed 


Wounded. 


Missinsr. 


Totjil. 


Coiifederate, 


681 


4,303 


814 


5,798 


Union, 


890 


3,627 


1,222 


5,7:!9 



The losses in the Third and Fourth Corps, reported by General 
Heintzelman, were three thousand eight hundred out of eleven thou- 
sand engaged. The enemy also, according to General Johnston's 
report, claimed to have captured ten pieces of artillery, six thousand 
muskets, besides colors, tents, and camp equipage. 

The following are the dispatches foi'warded by General McClellan 
from the field : — 

" Field of Battle, June 1, 12 o'clock. 

" "VVo have had a desperate battle, in which tlie corps of Generals Sumner, Heintzel- 
man, and Keyes have been engaged against greatly superior numbers. 

" Yesterday, at one, the enemy, taking advantage of a terrible storm, which had 
flooded the valley of the Chickahominy, attacked our troops on the right flank. 

'■ General Casey's Division, which was in the finst line, gave way unaccountably and 
disunitcdiy. This caused a temporary confusion, during which the guns and baggage 
were lost ; but Generals Heintzelman and Keyes most gallantly brought up their 
troops, which checked the enemy. 

" At the same time, however, I succeeded, by great exertion, in bringing across 
Generals Sedgwick and Richardson's Divisions, who drove back the enemy at the point 
of the bayonet, covering the ground with his dead. 

" This morning the enemy attempted to renew the conflict, but was everywhere 
repulsed. 

" We have taken many prisoners, among whom is General Pettigrew and Colonel 
Lorhig. 



264 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

" Our loss is heavy, but that of the enemy must bo enormouB. 
"With the exception of General Casey's Division, the men behaved splendidly. 
" Several fine bayonet charges have been made. The Second Excelsior liegiment 
made two to-day." 

The following address was read to the army on the evening of the 
3d, at dress parade, and was received with an outburst of vociferous 
cheering from every regiment : — 

" Head-Quarters Army op the Potomac, ) 
'' Camp near New Bridge, Va., June 2. ) 

" Soldiers of the Army op the Potomac :— I have fulfilled at least a part of my 
promise to you. You are now face to face with the rebels, who are held at bay in 
front of the capital. The final and decisive battle is at liand. Unless you belie 
your past history, the result cannot be for a moment doul^tful. If the troojis who 
labored so faithfully, and fought so gallantly at Yorktown, and who so bravely won 
the liard fights at Williamsburg, West Point, Hanover Court-House, and Fair Oaks 
now prove worthy of their antecedents, the victory is surely ours. f 

"The events of every day prove your superiority. Wherever you have met the 
enomy you have beaten him. Wherever you have used the bayonet, he has given way 
in panic and disorder. 

" I ask of you now one last crowning effort. The enemy has staked his all on the 
issue of the coming battle. Let us meet him and crush lum here, in the very centre 
of the rebeUion. 

" Soldiers, I will be with you in this battle, and share its dangers with yon. Our 
confidence in each other is now founded upon the past. Let us strike the blow which 
is to restore peace and union to this distracted land. Upon your valor, discipline, and 
mutual confidence the result depends. 

" (Signed) George B. McClellan, 

" Majw- General Commanding.'''' 

This first dispatch of General McClellan gave great offence in two 
particulars: one was in not giving General Sumner proper credit, 
and the other in the censure cast upon Casey's Corps. As a conse- 
quence of this, the following dispatches were sent forward : — 

"New Bridge, June 5, 10.30 a.m. 
"To Honorable E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

"My telegraphic dispatch of .Tune Ist, in regard to the battle of Pair Oaks, was in- 
correctly published in the newspapers. I send with tliis a correct copy, which I request 
may be pul;lislied at once. 1 am the more anxious about this, since my dispatch, as 
published, would seem to ignore the services of General Sumner, which'were too val- 
uable and brilliant to bo overlooked, both in the difficult passage of the stream and the 
subsequent combat. The mistake seems to have occurred in the transmittal of the 
dispatch by the telegraph. 

"(Signed) G. B. McCleixan, 

" Major- General Commanding.'" 

"the corrected dispatch. 

"Field of Battle, 12 o'clock, Jvm 1. 
"Honorable E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

" Wo have had a desperate battle, in which the Corps of Sumner, Heintzelman, and 
Keyes have been engaged against greatly superior numbers. Yesterday, at one 
o'clock, the enemy, taking advantage of a terrible storm, which had flooded the valley 
of the Chickahominy, attacked our troops on the right bank of the river. Caaey'a 
Division, which was the first lino, gave way unaccountably and discreditably. Thia 
caused a temporary confusion, duiing which smne guns and baggage were lost, but 
Heintzelman and Kearny most gallantly brought up their troops, which checked the 
enemy. At the same time, however, General Sumner succeeded, by great exertions. 



niSTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



265 



in bringing across Sodgwick'g and Richardson's Divisions, which drove back the enemy 
at the point of the bayonet, covering the ground with his dead. This morning the 
enemy attempted to renew the conflict, but was everywhere repulsed. 

" We have taken many prLsoners, among whom are General I'ettigrew and Colonel 
Loring. Our loss is heavy, but the loss of the enemy must be enormous. With the 
exception of Casey's Division, our men behaved splendidly. Several fine bayonet 
charges have been made. The Second Excelsior made two to-day. 

"(Signed) 0. B. McClellan, General Commanding." 

" IlEAD-QuARTpmS AEMY OP THK POTOMAC, June 5. 
" Honorable Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" My dispatch of the first inst., stating that General Casey's Division, which was in 
the first line, gave way unaccountably and discreditably, was based upon olhcial state- 
ments made to me before I arrived upon the field of battle, and while 1 was there, by 
several commanders. From statements made to me subsequently by Generals Casey 
and Naglee, 1. am induced to beUeve that portions of the division behaved well, and 
made a most gallant stand against superior numbers; but at present the accounts are 
too conflicting to enable mo to discriminate with certainty. Wlien the facts are clearly 
ascertained, the exceptional good conduct will be properly acknowledged. 

"(Signed) " GEontJK B. McClkllan, 

" Major- General Co'inrruinding." 

The dispatch correcting the omission in relation to General Sumner 
being altered in relation to the conduct of Casey's Corps, to read 
" discreditahly " instead of " disunitedly " makes the censure more 
severe : nevertheless, on the same date, portions of the divinion are in 
the other dispatch relieved from censure. The result was, that Gen- 
eral F. J. Peck superseded Casey, who was given some employment 
at White House in the rear. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

General Jackson's Movement. — Battle at Winchester. — Advance of Banks. — Shields 
ordered to join McDowell. — Retreat of Banks. — Front Royal. — Banks driven across 
the Potomac. — Mountain Department. — Fremont supersedes Rosecrans. — Battle at 
McDowell. — Fremont's Corps ordered to support Banks. — The Object of Jackson's 
Raid. — Fremont's Movement. — Retreat of the Enemy. — Harrisonburg. — Cross Keys. 
— Escape of Jackson. — McDowell concentrates at Fredericksburg. — Formation of the 
Army of Virginia under Pope. 

When General Jackson,* in the beginning of March, fell back 
before the advance of Banks, thus uncovering the communication by 



* Thoma.s Jonathan Jackson was born in Clarks- 
t)ur(;, Virginia, January 21st, 1S24, and grailuat^-d 
at West Point in 1846. lie was successive-l)' 
brevetted captain and major, for pallant conduct 
in the Mexican war ; and in 1S02 resitrned his com- 
mission and became profes.soi- of mathematics in 
the Military Institute of Vir^rinia. At tlie out- 
break of the rebellion he was appointed brifradier- 
general in the Confederate army, fouplit at IJiill 
Kun, where he earned the sobriquet of "Stone- 
wall" Jackson, and durin? the winter of 1861-62. 
commanded at Winchester. In Manfh, 1862, he 
was defeated near that place by Shields, and in 
May conducted his celebrated campaign of the 
Shenandoah Valley, driving Banks across the Po- 



tomac, anil subsequently escaping from the com- 
bined forces of Hanks, Fremont, and McDowell. 
In June he joined the rebel army at Uichmond, 
and jmrticipated in the seven days' fighlinfr. In 
the succeeding August, lio lought the battle of 
Cedar Mountain, and took a prominent part in tho 
second J5ult liun campal^'n, after which he led tho 
rebel invasion of Maryland, captured Harper'rf 
Kerry. September l.^lh.und two days later fought 
at Anlietani. He commanded the rebel right 
wing at the battle of Fn-derh-ksburg, December 
l;}tli, was swin after appoint, d a lii-utenant-geu- 
eral. and at the battle ol ChanoolloriivilU'. May 2d, 
IbWi. was ni<rrt<illy wounde<l, while leading a Bu«- 
cesttful flank. luovement. He died May 10th, 



266 IIISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

Mancassas Gap between the Confederate army and the resources of 
the Valley, the whole force of the enemy, in front of Manassas, fell 
back to the Rai^pahannoclc, abandoning Fredericksburg, and that in 
the Valley retreated towards Staunton. The retreat of Jackson was, 
however, slow. He abandoned Winchester on the 12th of March, 
and it was occupied by General Banks with his advance, on the same 
day that General McClellan assumed the command of the Army of 
the Potomac. On occupying Winchester, General Banks issued an 
order forbidding all depredations and marauding. This order had 
become necessary, since the people of the fertile but unfortunate 
Valley were exposed to the alternate operations of both armies. The 
mission of Jackson in the Valley was at that time to cover the 
retreat of that part of the rebel army, which, coming from Centreville 
by way of Strasburg, was destined to operate near Staimton, and to 
protect the road from tlie Valley to Gordonsville, to which point the 
main body of the Confederates had retreated. That object having 
been effected by the 15th of March, the subsequent movements of 
Jackson were at his own discretion. On the 17th, a force under 
General Shields left Winchester in pursuit of the enemy, who retired 
towards Strasburg. His rear-guard was overtaken near Middletown, 
and with four guns it disputed the ground foot by foot. The main 
force of Jackson was at Mount Jackson. On the 20th, Shields's recon- 
noitring f )rce returned to Winchester. The division of General Wil- 
liams, forming one-half of Banks's command, at the same time moved 
off towards Battletown, through which a good turnpike runs from 
Winchester to Centreville. This movement led Jackson to suppose that 
nearly the whole army of Banks was about to re-enforce McClellan. 
To prevent this, he determined to attack Winchester. Accordingly, 
four regiments of infantry made a forced march from Mount Jackson 
to Strasburg, and advanced thence, on Saturday, the 22 d, to the 
battle-ground within thi-ee miles of Winchester. This rapid march 
of thirty -five miles in two days was without supply trains, and the 
advance appeared in front of the Union pickets in the aftei-noon of 
Saturday. 

About four miles in advance of Winchester, on the turnpike to 
Strasburg, through Middletown, is the village of Kernstown. A mud- 
road branches from the turnpike about midway between Winchester, 
and runs to the right over Cedar Creek. The Fourteenth Indiana 
was on Saturday picketed on the turnpike half a mile beyond Kerns- 
town, and at half-past two discovered the enemy's cavalry under 
Ashby, reconnoitring the woods on both sides of the turnpike, and 
Bteadily advancing. The Union troops then fell back, pursued by the 
cavalry, occasionally facing about to fire upon the pursuing enemy. 
General Shields * ordei-ed up four companies of infantry to support the 



* .Tames Shields was born in County Tyrone, 
IrelaTid, in 1810. lie emigrated to the United 
States in 18'2G, settled in '^Illinois, and became 
Judge of the Supreme Conrt of that State. He 
■was brigadier-general of volunteers in the Mexi- 
can war. was promote*! to be uiHJor-general, and 
was wounded at Cerro Gordo and .Chapultepec. 



S»Vii«quently he was U. S. Senator from Illinois | commission. 



and Minnesota. At the outbreak of the rebellion 
he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers^ 
succeeded Genend Lander in command of his 
brigade, in March, 1862, and soon after defeated 
Jaclison at Winchester. His troops were sulise- 
quently worsted in .an encoupter w'th Jackson, 
June 9th. In the succeeding year ha resigned hii 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 267 

Fourteenth Indiana, and hold the enemy in check until he could brinsj 
forward his division. A battery of artillery was also ordered forward 
to assist in checking the now advancing enemy. While directing 
this battery, Shields was wounded in the arm by the splinter of a 
shell. He, "however, remained on the field until dark, when the troops 
began to arrive. The enemy were now in advance of KernstoAvn, and 
about three miles from Winchester. They, however, did not press 
the attack, but bivouacked for the night. "This respite was _ not un- 
welcome to Shields, who was waiting for the return of Williams's 
troops to re-enforce him, although these did not arrive until after the 
action. The Union forces engaged in the battle embraced, with the 
exception of five hundred menj only the division of Shields (formerly 
that of Lander), composed of the brigades of Kimball on the right, 
Tyler in the centre, and Sullivan on^the left. Inasmuch as Shields, 
in consequence of his wound, did not appear on the field. General 
Kimball assumed command. The enemy's centre was a little to the 
left of the turnpike, at the village, and his left extended one and three- 
quarter miles west of the road, his right wing about one mile to the 
east of it, Tlie mud-road branching fro^m the turnpike passed through 
his left centre. Beyond this there was a grove of trees, and still 
farther a ridge of hills crowned by a stone wall about breast high. 
At eight o'clock, a. m., on the 23d, the enemy opened Avitli four guns, 
which were replied to by six. The batteries were then re-enforced on 
both sides. The enemy's guns were so well served that it became 
necessary to storm them, and the infantry columns of tlie first and 
second brigades were massed for an attack upon the enemy's left. 
General Tyler moved his column on the mud-road until he came in 
front of the stone wall, from which at two hundred yards distance he 
received a deadly fire ; but his imwavering troops pressed on wnthout 
reply until Avithin fifteen yards, when they delivered their fire with 
such eifect that the enemy fell back across the field, unmasking as 
they did so two six-pound guns, the canister from w^hich tore open 
our ranks with great havoc, without stopping the advance of the 
men, who speedily captured one gun with its caisson. Two other 
brass guns were now unmasked with such effect that our troops 
were forced back, iipsetting the captui-ed gun as they left it. The 
Fifth Ohio and Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania now formed, and ad- 
vanced with the bayonet. In the desperate encounter the Ohio regi- 
ment lost its standard-bearer five times in a few minutes. The Four- 
teenth and One Hundred and Tenth Indiana now advanced at the 
quick in support, and the enemy fell back again, leaving the captured 
gun. It was now seven o'clock p. ii., and the firing began to lessen. 
The cavalry in pursuit of the enemy captured about two hundred 
prisoners. The men slept upon the battle-field, and awoke to pursue 
the enemy on the morning of the 24th, who, however, retired^ on 
being attacked. At nine o'clock General Banks arrived on the field 
from Harper's Ferry, and assumed command. The Union loss in this 
battle was one hundred and thirty-two killed, five hundred and forty 
■wounded, forty-six missing — total, seven hundred and eighteen. The 
loss of the enemy was estimated at nine hundred, of whom two 



268 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEE AT EEBELLIOIS^ 

hundred and thirty-six were prisoners ; two guns and four caissons 
were captured. The enemy had been re-euforced at ten o'clock, 
Sunday morning;, by General Garnett, and claimed that his whole 
force was then six thousand, of whom three thousand were engaged. 
General Shields reported his own command at eight thousand. 

The enemy retired beyond Stra^burg, wliich ))l:ice General Banks 
held on the 25th March. The enemy continued in the neigliborhood, 
occasionally liaiassing the outpost, until, on the 1st April, General 
Banks resumed his forward movement to Woodstock, whicli was de- 
fended by Ashby's cavalry and the shells of the eneir.y. On the samo 
day the advance passed through the town, and on the 2d it drove the 
enemy's rear-guard over Stony Creek, near Edenburg. The enemy 
destroyed bridges as he retired, and Banks rebuilt them with great 
labor, as he followed. On the 11th, his advance under General Shields, 
who was so far recovered of his wound as to appear on the field in a 
carriage, was in occupation of Edenburg, head-quarters remaining at 
Woodstock. The enemy continued at Mount Jackson. 

The enemy's cavalry continued busy under Ashby, and frequent 
attacks were made on the lines of communication. On the 17th, 
Mount Jackson was occupied by the Union forces, Shields and Wil- 
liams making a combined attack upon it, and pushing their pickets five 
miles beyond. New Market was occupied at the same time. The 
advance of Banks's column pressed, on the 18th April, close upon the 
heels of Jackson's retiring troops, which continued their retreat in the 
direction of Staunton. On the 20th, General Banks telegraphed as 
follows : — 

" New Market, April 20, 9 a. m. 
i' To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

"The fliffht of Jackson from the valley by the way of the mountains, from Harrison- 
burg towards Stannardsville and Orange Court-IIouse, on Gordonsville, i.s conOrmed 
this morning by our scouts and prisoners. 

"N.P.Banks, 

^'' Major- General Co'tnmanding.''^ 

The advance pushed on under General Williams, who held Harrison- 
burg on the 24th, and his scouts captured some prisoners nine miles 
beyond. Banks, whose head-quarters were at New Market, visited 
Harrisonburg on the 29th, and while there received news of the cap- 
ture of New Orleans, an event whifh, by its influence upon the fate of 
Yorktown, would, it was supposed, have a great efiect upon liis own 
position. The forces under Banks were now about sixteen thousand 
men. 

At this time Jackson, who had been falling back before Banks, 
formed a junction with General E. Johnson, who had fallen back from 
the Mountain Department before the advance of Milroy, who, on the 
23d of April, had followed him to within seven miles of Stamiton. 
The enemy supposed that the Union forces under Fiemont and ]>anks, 
meeting at Staunton, would attempt to drive the Confederates before 
them until thoy could form a junction with McDoAVell east of the 
mountains, and then throw their combined forces upon Richmond. 
On the other hand, the Union generals anticipated that on the fall of 



IIISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 269 

Yorktown, large forces would be released from its defence, and that 
vrith those re-enforcements, Jackson would sweep the valley and threat- 
en Washmgton. This proved to be partially the case, Yorktown fell on 
the 5tli of May, and on the 7th, Jackson advanced with a strong force 
against Milroy, driving him back to the mountains. He then rapidly 
returned to the Shenandoah Valley, where his force, by concentration 
with Johnston and Ewell, now amounted to twenty thousand men. In 
this state of affairs, General Banks fell back, his retreat being hastened 
by an order received for General Shiclds's Corps of ten thousand men 
to join McDowell, whose corps had been weakened by the withdrawal 
of Franklin's Division to re-enforce McClellan. Accordingly, Shields 
left New Market, May 12th, and reached Fredericksburg on the 21st. 
At the same time, Colonel Geary, who, on leaving Leesburg in March, 
had been charged with guarding the Manassas Railroad between the 
Junction and Front Royal, a length of fifty miles, and which had been 
destroyed by the enemy retiring before ]\[cClcllan's advance in March, 
was also detached from Banks, and ordered to report to General Mc- 
Dowell. With these deductions, Banks's force was reduced to about 
six thousand men, and he withdrew before the advancing enemy to 
Strasburg, which General Williams was ordered to hold as the key of 
the Valley. The Manassas road, which was essential to the safety 
of Banks's Corps, and its communication with Washington, had been 
i-epaired, and was reopened May 16th, between Manassas and Front 
Royal. On that day, Colonel J. R. Kenly, with one brigade of Wil- 
liams's Division, was sent from Strasburg, by General Banks, to take 
command at Front Royal, with instructions to retain the troops under 
Major Tyndell, belonging to Geary's command. The troops numbered 
about fourteen hundred men for the protection of the town, which is 
indefensible without a very large force. The army of Banks had noAV 
retrograded fifty miles from' its advanced position, and the enemy 
were cautiously advancing up the Valley. 

The force of Colonel Kenly, at Front Royal, consisted of his own 
regiment, the First Maryland, seven hundred and seventy-five men, 
with detachments from other organizations. There were also a few 
companies scattered between Front Royal and Strasburg. On the 
23d of May, the enemy in large force suddenly appeai*ed at one o'clock 
p. M., and captured Kenly's pickets before alarm was given. Colonel 
Kenly immediately drew up his force ; the infantry in line a half mile 
in rear of the town ; the artillery on a crest commanding the approach 
to the bridges, supported by five companies. Three companies were 
in the fort. These soon fell back before the advance of Ashby's 
cavalry, supported by five regiments of infantry. After a severe 
struggle of two hours, the men were ordered to retire across the river. 
This was done, and the smaller of two bridges destroyed. The enemy 
were upon them, however, before the destruction of the other was 
effected. An attempt was now made to prevent their crossing, but 
the cavalry and two infantry regiments forded the stream. The com- 
mand now retreated, but was overtaken Avithin three miles by the 
enemy's cavalry, when a fearful fight ensued, resulting in the dcstruC' 
tion of the command, and the wounding and capture of Colonel Kenly. 



270 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

When this disastrous news reached Strasburg, it was deemed 
greatly exaggerated, but a regiment was scut to re-enforce Keuly. 
Fugitives from the field soon came in, however, confirming the worst 
tidings. Orders w^ere immediately given to halt the re-enforcements, 
and detachments of troops under experienced ofliccrs were sent in 
every direction to explore the roads leading from Front Royal to 
Strasburg, Middletown, and Winchoster. It was soon found that the 
enemy's pickets v/ere in possession of every road, and his main body 
moving in the rear of his pickets, in the direction of Strasburg. The 
advance posts on the Woodstock road, however, found no sign of the 
enemy, from which it seemed evident that his whole force was moving 
to cut ou the division from Winchester. Banks's troops were put in 
motion at three o'clock a. m. of the 24th, the trains in front with 
Colonel Donnelly, Colonel Gordon in the centre, and Colonel Hatch 
with the rear. The column had advanced but three miles, v\^hcn 
the enemy, in possession of Middletown, attacked the train and 
drove it back in confusion. The troops immediately took the front, 
and after a most severe skirmish resumed the march. In this afiair, 
Colonel Abert, with the Zouaves d'Afrique, were cut off from the 
main body. The column pushed on, encountering several combats 
and sustaining losses, until it reached Winchester, where an attack 
was made during tlie night on the Union left. The numbers of the 
enemy continued to augment, and after a sharp conllict of five hours 
the march was resumed to Mai-tinsburg. At Martinsburg the column 
halted three hours, and arrived at the Potomac at sundown, forty- 
eight hours after the reception of the first news of the attack upon 
Front Royal. This was a distance of fifty-three miles, of which 
thirty-five were made in one day. The loss was thirty-eight killed, 
one hundred and fifty-five wounded, seven hundred and eleven miss- 
ing ; total, nine hundred and five. On the 26th, General Banks tele- 
graphed : — 

" WiLLiAMSPORT, May 26. 
"lion. Edwin' M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

" "VVe believe that our whole force, trains and all, will cross in safety. The men are 
in fine spirits, and crossing in good order. The labor of last night was fearfuL The 
enemy followed us last night on our march, but has not made his appearance this 
morning. The news of our movements south has unquestionably caused them to look 
out for their safety. Your dispatch was read to tlie troops this morning amid the 
heartiest cheers. N. P. Banks, Major- General Co'innianding." 

The enemy did not follow with much vigor beyond Winchester, 
although a cavalry force harassed the retreat nearly to Martinsburg. 

When General McClellan was transferred frcnn the command of 
Western Virginia to the chief command on the Potomac, July, 1861, 
General Rosecrans Avas appointed to succeed him in Virginia, and he 
continued in that command until the 29th of March, when he was 
superseded by General Fremont. The latter, it will be borne in mind^ 
was deprived of his command in Missouri, November 8th, and remained 
till the latter part of IMarch in retirement, although great exertions 
were used to procure for hira a new appointment. It was finally 
determined to annex Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky to the Depailr 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 



2n 



ment of Western Virginia, and erect it into " the Mountain Depart- 
ment," of which General Fremont* was assigned the command, and 
on the 29th of March he arrived at Wheeling. On the same day, 
General Rosecrans took leave of the troops in a general order. The 
northern portion of the new department Avas called the Railroad 
District, and the command conferred upon Brigadier-General Kelly, 
In the beginning of April, General Fremont's head-quarters were at 
Wheeling ; and General Schcnck's Division was at Moorfield, west of 
Hunting Mountain, on the road to Winchester. He was employed in 
building bridges that had been destroyed, and in restoring communi- 
cation with the Valley that had been interrupted by tlie enemy. 
General Milroy was at Franklin, forty miles farther soulh, whence 
several roads cross the mountains to the Shenandoah Valley, one run- 
ning to Staunton, another forty miles to Harrisonburg, a third fifty 
miles to New Market. The enemy, three thousand five hundred 
strong, constructed fortifications, with rifled cannon, on the crest of 
the mountain commanding these routes, and also threatened him at 
Monterey on the south, and menaced his communication with Schenck 
at Moorfield. On the 13th of April, they drove in his pickets at 
Monterey, and after a sharp skirmish i-etired. On the 17th, Schenck 
sent through an expedition from Moorfield, which restored the com- 
munication. The enemy under Johnson then fell back from the 
mountains, followed by Milroy, who on the 23d came up with his 
rear-guard ten miles east of the mountain, and at the limit of the 
department, inflicting loss upon him. He sent scouts within seven 
miles of Staunton, to which place the enemy had retired. General 
Cox, who had been operating in Giles County to reach the Tennessee 
and Virginia Railroad, advanced on Parisburg, April 30th, and after 
three sharp engagements drove the enemy out of Greenbrier, Mercer, 
and Giles Counties. 

Little change took place in the position of afi;urs in this quarter un- 
til, soon after "the fall of Yorktown, May 5th, a sudden augmentation of 
the enemy's forces was apparent, and they resumed the oifensive. On 
the 7th May, Johnson advanced against Milroy, who fell back on the 
road to Franklin until he reached McDowell, which is situated at the 
foot of the mountain. The v/hole force of Milroy consisted of six 



* John Charles Fremont was horn in Savannah, 
Geor^'ia, on thn 'ilst of January, 1S13. His failicr 
■was aFrencliinan, who hadsettk'tl in Norfollc, Vir- 
ginia, as a teacher of the French language. His 
mother was a native of Virginia. When lifteen years 
of age he entered Charleston College, and made 
f.'oo<l progress, until expelled for some irregularity. 
lie then procured a situation as private teacher of 
mathematics. In 1S33, he was appointed instruc- 
tor in the same branch, on board the U. S. sloop- 
of-war Natchez, and sailed in that vessel on a 
cruise for two years. In 183S, he was appoiated 
lieutenant of topographical engineers. Afterwards 
lie was connected with several expeditions. His 
llocky Mountain explorations and adventures in 
the then unknown region lying between them and 
the Pacific Ocean ore fresh in the minds of the 
public. He was made Governor of California, in 
1846, and in the following year, holding then the 
rank of lieutenant-colonel of mounted riflemen, 



ho was tried on charges preferred by General 
Kearny, coiiiinanding in California, and dismissed 
the service. The sentence was remitted by Presi- 
dent Polk, but Colonel Fremont declined the 
executive clemency, and resigned his commission. 
He was elected Smatorof the United States, from 
Culiioi-nia, in 1S50. In 1S56, he was nominated 
for President, but was defeated by Mr. Buchanan. 
When the reb'dlion broke out Mr. Fremont was 
in Europe, and hastened home to tender his 
services. He received the appointment of 
maior- general of the Western Department, in 
which capacity he served until recalled on the 2d 
of November. Subsequently ap[iointed to the 
command of the Mountain Department, he was 
relieved at his own request upon being placed 
under General Pope. He resigned his commission 
of general in 1S64. and in the same year was nomi- 
nated candidate for President, but eventually re- 
tired fi-om the canvass. 



272 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

regiments. Of these, one regiment was sixteen miles in advance to- 
wards Staunton, two were ten miles in advance, and the remaining 
three were at McDowell. The pickets of the advance regiment wej;e 
driven in at noon of the 8th, by the approaching force of Johnson. 
It fell back upon the other two, and all retired upon McDowell, closely 
followed by the enemy, who came up by six in the evening, and imme- 
diately attacked. Milroy disposed his forces in front of the mountain 
in an effective manner, with his guns on elevated ground in the rear. 
The onset of the enemy was firmly met, and the battle was general 
until seven o'clock when Schenck's column appeared on the ground, 
after a march of thirty-four miles through Franklin, which it had left 
at ten and a half o'clock a. m. These exhausted men were, by some 
mistake, exposed to a severe attack at great disadvantage. The battle 
raged with renewed vigor, the enemy pressing on with fresh troops, 
until nine P. m., when, it appearing that the rebels were in superior 
force, orders were given to retire. The retreat was directed upon Frank- 
lin, the enemy following closely and skirmishing vigorously for two or 
three days. Meantime, Fremont Avas advancing with his whole force 
upon FrankHn, which place he reached on the 13th, having been joined 
by the division of Blenker. Upon learning this, the enemy retired as 
rapidly as he had advanced. 

On the 24th May, General Fremont received a dispatch from the 
War Department, directing him, with his entire conmiand, to march 
to the support of General Banks, and by twelve o'clock m that day 
the whole aimy of over twenty thousand men were on the move. 
No one outside the general's confidential advisers, of course, knew the 
object of the move. 

The march for the first twenty miles was slow and hard. The roads 
were rutted as deep as they could be, and the heavy artillery was 
dragged along with great difficulty — many of the pieces requiring six, 
eight, and even ten horses. On the night of the 3 1st, the advance un- 
der Milroy reached a position four miles from Strasburg, and on the 
same day, Gcnei'al Shields, as the advance of McDowell, coming from 
Fredericksburg on the same errand, reached Front Royal. Thus 
Milroy, driven back from Staunton on the 7th of May, when the 
troops of Jackson swept down the Valley, swooped upon Kenly at 
Front Royal, and drove Banks over the Potomac, had in the space of 
eighteen days marched more than one hundred miles, again appeared 
in Jackson's front, as the advance of Fremont, forming a junction, but 
too late, with Shields and McDowell to drive back the invader. 

The sudden irruption of Jackson caused great alarm in Washington. 
The numbers of his troops were greatly exaggerated, and it was sup- 
posed that he intended to attack the capital, and carry the war into the 
Free States. The real object of his movement may in some degree be 
indicated in the following : — 

" IIead-Quartees Department of Northern Virginia, ) 
May 27, 18G2, 9 o'clock 15 minutes. ) 

" To General T. J. Jackson : 

"General: — I have just received your letter of yesterday, by Lieutenant Boswell. 
A copy of a dispatch telegraphed by that officer from Staunton reached me tljis morn- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIST. 273 

ing. After reading, I wrote to yon by a special messenger, suggesting a movement 
threatening Washington and Baltimore, unless the enemy still has in your vicinity 
force enough to make it rash to attempt it. He has no force beyond the Potomac to 
make it dangerous; only what he has on this side need be considered. 

" You cannot, in your present position, employ such an army as yours upon any 
enterprise not bearing directly upon the state of tilings here, either by preventing the 
re-enforcements to McCleUan's army, or by drawing troops from it by divisions. These 
objects might be accomphshed by the demonstrations proposed above, or by a move- 
ment upon McDowell, although I fear, by the time this reaches you, it will be too late 
for either. The most important service you can render the country is the preventing 
the further strengthening of McClellan's army. If you And it too late for that, strike 
the most important body of the enemy you can reach. You compel me to publish or- 
ders announcing your success so often, that you must expect repetition of expressions. 
" Yours very truly J. E. Johnston." 

At nearly the same date as this dispatch, General McClellan con- 
tinued calling for re-enforcements, representing that the force of the 
enemy in his front was superior to his own, and that the force under 
General McDowell would do more for the protection of Washington, 
if sent to his army, than in any other position in which it' could be 
placed. In a letter written on the 21st of May, he asks that General 
McDowell's Corps be sent him by water rather than by land, as the 
more expeditious mode, and that he and his forces be explicitly placed 
under his orders, " in the ordinary way." He closes his letter by say- 
ing:— 

"I believe there is a groat struggle before this army, but I am neither dismayed nor 
discoiu-aged. I wish to strengthen its force as much as I can ; but, in any event, I 
shall fight it with all the skill, and caution, and determination that I possof^s. And I 
trust that the result may either obtain for me the permanent confidence of my Govern- 
ment, or that it may close my career." 

In reply to the request of General McClellan that General Mc- 
Dowell should join his forces by water, the President states, on the 
21st of May:— 

" McDowell can reach you by land sooner than he could get aboard of boats, if the 
boats were ready at Fredericksburg, unless his march shall be resisted, in which case 
the force resisting him will not be confrontmg you at Richmond. By land he will 
reach you in five days after starting ; whereas, by water, he would not reach you in 
two weeks, judging by past experience. Franklin's single division did not reach you 
in ten days after I ordered it." 

Preparations were accordingly made for General McDowell to leave 
Fredericksburg, on the 25th of May, to join General McClellan. Just 
at that time, however, Jackson commenced his expedition down the 
Shenandoah Valley, and General McDowell, together with General 
Fremont, from Western Virginia, was sent to the^ssistance of General 
Banks, and to intercept Jackson in his retreat. Upon being informed 
of this, General McClellan replied that the movement of Jackson was 
probably intended to prevent re-enforcements being sent to him. The 
President replied, giving him information as to the condition of afiairs 
in the Valley, and closed by saying : — 

" If McDowell's force was now beyond our reach we should be utterly helpless. Ap- 
prehensions of something like this, and no unwillingness to sustain you, has always 
been my reason for withholding McDowell's force from you. Please understand this, 
and do the best you can with the forces you now have." 
18 



274 HISTORY or tiie gkeat eebellion. 

The Government immediately ordered the concentration of Mc- 
Dowell and Fremont in aid of Banks, and at the same time tele- 
graphed to Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, for fifty 
thousand additional troops for the defence of the capital. The order 
was promptly complied with. It reached New York on Sunday, and 
on Monday mornmg the Seventh militia regiment was already on its 
way to Washington, and Avas immediately followed by other regiments. 
Fremont moved northward along the road which debouches in the val- 
ley by Brent's Gap, north of Strasburg. Seven days were occupied 
in this laborious march of one hundred miles, over the worst possible 
roads, and the time so consumed enabled Jackson to make good his 
retreat. McDowell's Corps coming from Fredericksburg reached 
Front Royal on the same day, and prepared to advance up the Luray 
Valley. 

Jackson, aware of these movements on his flanks, and finding that 
B.anks had got his troops across the Potomac, immediately began to 
retire. The emergency required all his skill and activity. In a few 
hours, the forces of McDowell and Fremont, advancing on both 
flanks, would form a junction and close tlie door behind him. On the 
29th, he sent back his trains and prisoners. On the morning of the 
30th, his advance left camp and reached Middletoun at night. On 
Saturday morning he was in Strasburg, his train having previously 
passed through. On the same day, Ewell, with the rear-guard which 
had been threatening Harper's Ferry to the last moment, marched 
thirty-four miles and encamped at Middletown. The corps of Fre- 
mont, having made a long forced march over bad roads w^ithout means 
of transportation, were not in a condition to press the enemy who was 
thus slipping ofi'. On Sunday, June 1st, Jackson turned fiercely upon 
Fremont's advance luider Milroy, which, after six or eight hours' can- 
nonade, fell back, exhausted of ammunition. During this combat, 
Jackson's main column was filing to the rear. On Monday morning, 
June 2d, Milroy having been re-enforced by Blenker and part of Bay- 
ard's Brigade, of McDoAvell's Corps, pushed on to Strasburg, but fomid 
it evacuated. Jackson was already near Woodstock. The Union ad- 
vance overtook the rear-guard under Ewell at about on mile and a 
half from Strasburg. The enemy occupied a strong position, well de- 
fended by artillery, and a cannonade of some hours jn-oduced no 
marked results. In the aftei-noon, Ewell retreated through AVood- 
stock, closely pursued by Fremont's advance, which reached Mount 
Jackson on the afternoon of the 5th, driving out the enemy's pickets. 
The pursuit of our cavalry was delayed by the removal of a few planks 
from a little bridge just outside the town, which gave the enemy's 
pickets time to cross the river, about a mile distant, and fire the bridge 
behind them. 

The rear-guard of the enemy, about three thousand men, drew up 
on a hill a mile or so from the river, resting there with provoking cool- 
ness. They put a section of artillery into position, and ^irew two or 
three shells at us, which fell short. W^e returned the fire with howit- 
zers and Parrott guns, but without reaching them or disturbing their 
equanimity. 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIO]!^. 275 

A pontoon bridge, replacing the bridge burnt by tlie enemy, was 
completed, and paii: of General Fremont's force crossed Jmie 4th, and 
at two o'clock on the Tth reached Harrisonburg, on the heels of the 
retiring enemy. A cavalry force Avas sent forward to reconnoitre. It 
was met by a sharp encounter of infantry, resulting in a repulse of the 
First New Jersey Cavalry and the capture of Colonel Wyndham. 
General Bayard was sent forward to support the cavalry, and his at- 
tack was successful, driving out the enemy, and capturing his camp 
and stores. The Pennsylvania " Bucktail " Regiment suff'ered severely 
in this encounter, being driven back with a loss of fifty -five, among 
them its Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, who was wounded and captured. 
Genei'al Fremont made the following report of the affair : — 

" Head-Quarters, Army in the Field, IIarrisonbdrg, ) 
''June 7, 1862—9 P.M. ) 

i' lion. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of "War: 

" The attack upon the enemy's rear, of yesterday, precipitated his retreat. Their 
loss in killed and wounded was very severe. 

" Their retreat is by an almost impassable road, along which many wagons were 
left in the woods, and wagon-loads of blankets, clothing, and other equipments are 
piled up in all directions. 

" During the evening, many of the rebels were killed by shells from a battery of 
General Stahl's Brigade. 

" General Ashby, who covered the retreat with his whole cavalry force, and three 
regiments of infantry, aud who exhibited admirable skill and audacity, was among the 
killed. 

" General Milroy made a reconnoissance to-day, about seven miles on the Port Re- 
public road, and cUscovered a portion of the enemy's forces encamped in the timber. 

(Signed) "J. C. Fremont, Major- General." 

The reported death of Ashby fortunately proved no delusion. On 
the 8th, the pursuit was renewed, and seven miles beyond Harrison- 
burg the enemy was discovered posted in a wood, at a place called 
Cross Keys, five miles from the river at Port Republic, where there 
was a bridge, over which lay the line of the enemy's retreat, and which 
it was the business of Shields's Corps, coming up the Luray Valley, to 
destroy. When the position of the enemy was descried, the Union 
troops were formed on a lino of two miles. General Schenck on the 
right, General Milroy in the centre, Blenker on the left, with the bri- 
gades of Stahl and Bayard in reserve. In this order they advanced 
down into the valley and up the slopes, Avhere the enemy were posted. 
The left became first engaged, and, after being rather severely handled, 
retired to a stronger position. The right encountered the most stren- 
uous efforts to turn its flank, but resisted Avith heroic resolution against 
all the assaults of the enemy. With the approach of night, the com- 
bat ceased. The troops encamped on the field, the Union troops biv- 
ouacking where they first formed line. The enemy, who had previous- 
ly sent his trains forward, decamped during the night, and by ten 
o'clock the next morning, which was foggy, he had crushed Shields's ad- 
vance, passed the bridge, and burned it. The Union loss in the affair 
was one hundred and twenty-five killed, five hundred wounded and 
missing. General Fremont's report was as follows :— 



276 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



"Head-Quarters, Mountain Department, j 
"Port Republic June 9 — 12 m. J 

" To Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of "War : 

" There was no collision with the enemy after dark last night. This morning we re- 
newed the march against him, entering the woods in battle order, his cavalry appear- 
ing on our flanks. General Blanker had the left, General MUroy the right, and 
General Schenck the centre, with a reserve of General Stahl's Brigade and General 
Bayard's. The enemy was found to be in full retreat on Port Republic, and our ad- 
vance found his rear -guard barely across the river, and the bridge in flames. Our ad- 
vance came in so suddenly that some of his oflRcers, remaining on this side, escaped 
with the loss of their horses. 

" A cannonading during the forenoon apprised us of an engagement, and I am in- 
formed here that Jackson attacked General Shields this morning, and, after a severe 
engagement, drove him down the river, and is now in pursuit. I have sent an officer 
with a detachment of cavalry, to open communication with General Shields. 

" This morning, detachments were occupied in searching the grounds covered by 
yesterday's action at Cross Keys, for our remaining dead and wounded. I am not yet 
fully informed, but think that one hundred and twenty-five will cover our lost in kiUed, 
and five hundred that in wounded. The enemy's loss we cannot clearly ascertain. He 
Vi-as engaged during the night carrying off his dead and wounded in wagons. This 
morning, on our march, upwards of two hundred of his dead were counted in one field, 
the greater part badly mutilated by cannon-shot. Many of his dead were also scattered 
through the woods, and many had been already buried. A number of prisoners had 
been tal^en during the pursuit. 

" I regret to have lost many good officers. General Stahl's Brigade was in the hot- 
test part of the field, which was the left wing. From the beginning of the fight, the 
brigade lost in officers five killed and seventeen wounded ; and one of his regiments 
alone — the Eighth New York — has buried sixty-five. The Garibaldi Guard, next after, 
suffered most severely, and following this regiment, the Forty-fifth New York, the 
Bucktail Rifles, of General Bayard's and General Miiroy's brigades. One of the Buck- 
tail companies has lost all of its officers, commissioned and non-commissionei. 

" The loss in General Schenck's Brigade was less, although he inflicted severe loss 
on the enemy, principally by artillery fire. 

"Of my stafi" I lost a good officer killed. Captain Nicholas Dunnka. 

" Many horses were killed in our batteries, which the enemy repeatedly attempted to 
take, but were repulsed by canister fire generally. 

"I feel myself permitted to say that all our troops, by their endurance of this severe 
march, and their splendid conduct in the battle, are entitled to the President-s com- 
mendations, and the officers throughout behaved with great gallantry and efficiency, 
which requires that I sliould make particular mention of them, and which, I trust, 
will receive the particular notice of the President as soon as possible. I wUl send in 
a full report, but in this respect I am unable to make any more particular distinction 
than that pointed out in the description of the battle. Respectfully, * 

"J. C. Fremont, Major- General Commanding." 

" Head-Quarters, Mountain Department, ) 
"Harrisonburg, Va., J^iiwe 10. \ 

" Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" In my dispatch of yesterday, I omitted to state that Colonel Cluseret's Brigade, 
consisting of the Sixtieth Ohio and Eighth A'irginia, afterwards supported by the Gari- 
baldi Guard, formed our advance, and commenced the battle of Cross Keys by sharp 
skirmishing, at nine o'clock in the morning. During the day they obtained possession 
of the enemy's ground, which was disputed foot by foot, and only withdrew at even- 
ing, when ordered to retire to a suitable position for the night. 

" The skill and gallantry displayed by Cluseret, on this and frequent former occasions 
luring the pursuit in which we have been engaged, deserve high praise. 

" Respectfully, 

(Signed) "J. 0. Fremont, Major- General." 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 277 

While Fremont was thus pressing Jackson in the valley west of the 
Massanutten Mountains, Shields's Division, forming the advance of Mc- 
Dowell, had been pushing through the Luray Valley, but, as we have 
seen, too late to shut the upper door of the valley at Port Republic, 
as Fremont had been too late to shut that at Strasburg. On the 31st, 
a part of the division reached Front Royal under Bayard, and joined 
Fremont's forces. On June 1st, the division of Ord, composed of 
Ricketts's and Hartsford's Brigades, arrived, and found there a detach- 
ment of Shields's Division, the main portion of which had already 
Inarched up the valley. 

While Shields's advance joined Fremont, his main body kept along 
the south fork of the Shenandoah River, the leading brigade being 
under command of Colonel Carroll. At six o'clock on Sunday morn- 
ing, June 8th, the advance reached Port Republic. Colonel Carroll 
at once rode into the town, and, after a sharp skirmisij, captured an 
aide of General Jackson. He determined to hold the bridge instead of 
burning it. At this time the battle was in progress at Cross Keys. 
At night, General Tyler, with the Third Brigade and twelve guns, 
arrived and took command. In the morning it was proposed, under 
cover of the fog, which was very heavy, to burn the bridge, but it was 
deemed impossible. When the fog cleared away, at six o'clock, it 
appeared that the enemy had, in the night, planted twenty guns, over- 
looking the place. From these he opened with great energy. A line of 
battle was formed ; Carroll on the I'ight, Tyler on the left. The enemy, 
now coming from Cross Keys, Avhich they had left in the night, with 
an overwhelming charge drove back Tyler's force. After sustaining a 
severe struggle against overwhelming niunbers until ten o'clock, Tyler 
ordered a retreat, Carroll covering the rear. The enemy jjressed 
heavily on the broken columns, which fell into disorder, and retired 
rapidly, closely pushed by Jackson, who had burned the bridge to pre- 
vent being followed by Fremont. While these events were taking 
place, the brigade of Kimball was twenty-five miles distant, at Colum- 
bia Bridge, and that of Ferry still farther in the rear, and, therefore, 
not within supporting distance. After a retreat of ten miles, the 
weary column met Shields advancing to its relief, and five miles farther 
the rest of his couniiand was met, when the whole retired upon Luray, 
and Fremont retired upon Mount Jackson. 

On the 26th of May, Colonel Miles, who occupied Harper's Ferry, 
sent forward a battalion to re-enforce Banks at Winchester, but Banks 
had then reached Williamsport, and the troops returned to Hai-per's 
Ferry, the command of Vv'hich was assumed the same day by General 
Saxton, whose force was raised to about seven thousand strong through 
the arrival of re-enforcements. With these General Saxton occupied 
Bolivar and Maryland Heights, and sent a small force to reconnoitre 
Loudon Heights, where a force of the enemy Avas reported. The com- 
mand of Ewell, forming the advance of Jackson, was kept very active, 
and demonstrated as if to cross into Maryland, while preparations 
were made for a retreat, which began on Saturday, May 31st, and Avas 
pushed thirty-four miles to Middletown the same night, as has been 
previously related. Towards noon on the same day, a reconnoitring 



278 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

party, sent forward by Saxton, discovered that the bird had flown, but 
General Saxton did not deem it prudent to follow. On Monday, June 
2d, General Sigel assumed command at Harper's Ferry, and proceeded 
to organize his force, for which many regiments had been recruited. 
Considerable delay occurred in the forwarding of these regiments, and 
Sigel remained inactive, while General Banks was exerting himself to 
recuperate his shattered column. Fremont, when he fell back to 
Mount Jackson, formed his line across the valley from the Massanutten 
Mountain, with his right on North Mountain, south of Mill Creek. 
The lines of the enemy were five miles distant. Complaints were 
made against the conduct of Fremont's troops, particularly those of 
Blenker's Division, whose destructive propensities distinguished neither 
frienil nor foe. General Fremont, therefore, on the 13th of June, 
issued an address, denouncing "the excesses and wanton outrages 
up(jn property. There seems," he said, " to be an organized band of 
stragglers and plunderers who precede and follow the army, having 
outrage and plunder for their especial occupation." He ordei'ed that 
all parties detected in these outrages should be shot. 

The enemy were now once more receiving re-enforcements, and 
Mount Jackson, exposed on either flank, being no longer tenable, 
Fremont fell back to Strasburg, where extensive fortifications were 
erected. The force in the valley was now, June 20th, well concen- 
trated. Fremont at Strasburg, Banks at Middletown, and Sigel a few 
miles east of it, on the liill towards Front Royal. Shields was again 
on his way to Fredericksburg with McDowell's Corps, the valley 
dangers being now, it was supposed, passed. The fii'St brigade of 
Williams's Division, formerly commanded by Donnelly, was now imder 
General Crawford, who had been assistant-surgeon at Fort Sumter 
under Anderson. The brigade was disposed on the road from Win- 
chester to Front Royal, replacing Kenly's, which had been destroyed 
in the Confederate advance in May. There had been, when the Union 
troops followed Jackson up the valley, a large accumulation of stores 
at Front Royal ; the threatening appearance of the enemy now in- 
duced the withdrawal of those stores, Avhich Avere sent to Winchester. 
In this position of aflfairs, a new change was made in the command of 
the department. On June 23d it was ordered that the forces under 
Major-Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDowell should be consolidated 
into one army, called the Army of Virginia, and Major-General Pope 
was especially assigned, by the President, to the chief command. The 
forces under General Fremont constituted the First Army Corps, to 
be commanded by General Fremont. The forces mider General Banks 
constituted the Second Army Corps, to be commanded by him. The 
forces under General McDowell constituted the Third Army Corps, to 
be commanded by him. 

The order was received in camp June 26th, and Fremont, under 
whom Pope had served in Missouri, unwilling to be commanded by a 
junior officer, asked to be relieved of his command, and this request 
"was promptly granted in the following order : — 

""War Department, June 1*1, 1862. 
" Major-Greneral Jolin C. Fremont liaving requested to be relieved from the com- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 279 

mand of the First Army Corpf? of the Army of Virginia, because, as he says, the posi- 
tion assigned him by the appointment of Major-General Pope as Gommander-in-Chief 
of the Army of Virginia is subordinate and inferior to those heretofore held by him, 
and to remain in the subordinate command now assigned would, as he says, largely 
reduce his rank and consideration in the service. 

" It IS ordered that Major-General John C. Fremont be relieved from command. 

" Second, that Brigadier-General Rufus King be, and he is hereby assigned to the 
command of the First Army Corps of the Army of Virginia, in place of General Fre- 
mont, relieved. 

" By order of the President. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of ]T ar." 

On the receipt of this dispatch, General Fremont turned over his 
command to Brigadier-General Schenck, and left for New York. 
General King declined the command of the Fii'st Corps, preferring to 
remain with his division, and General Sigel was assigned to the com- 
mand. 

This brief campaign of Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley at once 
made his name famous in America and Europe, and, by preventing the 
junction of McDowell with McClellan, had a most important influence 
upon the operations before Richmond. In all probability it saved that 
city for the time being, and paved the way for disaster to the Union 
arm>!. Jackson himself, after giving his troops a few days' much- 
needed rest, moved towards Richmond, where we shall presently see 
him, at a critical moment, overwhelming the Union right wing by a 
flank attack. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Continued Operations against Richmond. — Combat of Juno 25th. — McClellan's Dis- 
patch. — Mechanicsville. — Gaines's Mills. — Change of Base to the James River. — 
"White Oak Swamp. — Malvern Hill. — McClellan Addresses the Troops. — Jefferson 
Davis's Address. — Close of Campaign. — Causes of Failure. 

It will be remembered that the concentrated attack upon General 
Casey's Corps at Fair Oaks took place May 31st, being the same day 
on which Jackson, having driven Banks across the Potomac, com- 
menced his retreat up the Valley of the Shenandoah before the com- 
bined forces of Fremont and McDowell, who had been sent to the 
succor of Banks. In fact, McDowell's advance had reached Front 
Royal on the same day that Casey was attacked at Fair Oaks. It 
appears, then, that while McClellan was feeling his way towards Mc- 
Dowell at Fredericksburg, by extending his right to the north of Rich- 
mond, and had reached within a few miles of the latter's left, Jackson, 
by his rapid advance up the valley, created an alarm at Washington, 
which resulted in hurrying McDowell, from the aid of McClellan, into 
the valley, which he reached on the same day that a vigorous attack 
upon McClellan's left compelled him to weaken his right. The two 
armies that were upon the point of junction were thus violently drawn 
asunder in opposite directions. The retreat of Jackson disengaged 
McDowell, who returned to Fredericksburg, when McCaU's Division 
was, June 6th, detached from him and sent to McClellan. The com- 



280 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

mand of Fortress Monroe having been restored to him, he drew thence 
some six thousand men. Jackson, havino: escaped from the valley 
might be expected to re-enforce Lee at Richmond. 

General jNIcClellan wrote to tlie Secretary of War, June 2d : — 

" Tho enemy attacked in force and with great spirit yesterday morning, but are 
everywliere most signally repulsed with great loss. Our troops charged frequently on 
both days, and uniformly broke tho enemj'. The result is, that our left is within four 
miles of Riclnnond. I only wait for the river to fall to cross witli the rest of tlie force 
and make a general attack. Should I find them holding firm in a very strong position, 
I may wait for what troops I can bring up from Fortress Monroe. But the morale of 
my troops is now such that I can venture much. I do not fear for odds against me. 
The victory is complete, and all credit is due to the gallantry of our ofiScers and men." 

On tlie 8th of June, General McClellan telegraphed : " I shall be 
in perfect readiness to move forward and take Richmond the moment 
that McCall reaches here, and the ground will admit the passage of 
arlillery." On the 10th or 11th of June, McCah's troops commenced 
arriving at the White House. There arrived also two regular United 
States batteries from Fredericksburg, and a regular cavalry regiment 
from Fortress Monroe. The enemy, after the battle of Fair Oaks, 
busied himself in multiplying fortifications around Richmond, and in 
extending them towards the Union lines. A double row of earth- 
works gradually rose in front of the Union lines on the west of the 
Chickahoniiny. 

Tlie army of IVIcClellan was also busy with the spade, and continued 
gradually to close the circle. Every advance movement of the pickets 
was obstinately resisted by the enemy. By the 13th June there were 
nine bridges across the Chickahoniiny, and the pickets of the whole 
line made daily approaches, carrying forward the trenches and ex- 
tending the lines of communication with depots at White House. 
The first parallel or zigzag extended three miles over hill and through 
wood. The left was in an impassable swamp, and the right between 
the enemj'- and the river. Its general course was about four and a 
half miles from Richmond. A cannonade was kept up at diiferent 
points as the batteries on opposite sides became annoying. West 
Point, at the head of York River, was the base where supplies arrived 
from the North and from Fortress Monroe. From this point vid 
White House, the trains ran daily to the supply depots at the front, 
from whence hundreds of wagons came and went continually to dis- 
tribute food to the brigades and regiments. The accommodation for 
this immense work was limited at West Point, and the utmost reg- 
ularity was required to prevent delay, which would occasion great 
suffering to the troops. 

The enemy, meantime, were not idle. It being determined to re- 
connoitre the rear of the Federal position, General Stuart, with a con- 
siderable force of cavalry and two guns of the flying artillery, started 
from Richmond in the direction of Mechanicsville on June 12th, and 
reached Ashland at night. At daybreak of the 13th the march was 
resumed, and by noon of the 15th the party completed the circuit of 
the Federal position, having passed through Hanover Court-House, 
Timstall's Station, New Kent, across tke Chickahominy by the Charles 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT IIEBELLION-. 281 

City Court-House road and back into the lines, skirmisliingly vigor- 
ously by the way. They claimed to have destroyed two hundred laden 
wagons, and a large amount of army stores, <fee., losing l)ut one man. 
The Union loss was estimated at several hundred tliousnnd dollars. 
The information gained by the raid was necessary to a projected attack 
upon the Union lines, and the whole occurrence caused great sensation 
at the North. 

The enemy were now organizing and concentrating their troops in 
great force. The conscripts under the act of April 15 were coming 
treely into camp, and every efibrt was made to give them consistence 
and to inspirit them for the work before them. To this end General 
Longstreet issued the following proclamation: — 

"Head-Quarters Right "\\'ing, I 

"Army before RiciiMoyD, June 17, 1S62. J 
" Soldiers : — Ton havo marched out to fight the battles of your country, and by 
those battles must you be rescued from the shame of slavery. Your foes have de- 
clared their purpose of bringing you to beggary ; and avarice, their national character- 
istic, mcites them to redoubled eflbrts for the conquest of the South, in order that 
they may seize your sunny fields and happy homes. Already has the hatred of one 
of tlieir great leaders attempted to make the negro your equal by declaring his free- 
dom. They care not for the blood of babes nor carnage of innocent women which 
servile insurrection thus stirred up may bring upon their heads. AVorse than this, the 
Korlh has sent forth another infamous chief, encouraging the lust of his liirelings to 
tiie dislionor and violation of those Southern women who have so untiringly labored 
to clothe our soldiers in the field and nurse our sick and wounded. If ever men were 
called upon to defend the beloved daughters of their country, that now is our duty. 
Let such thoughts nerve you up to the most dreadful shock of battle, for were it 
certain death, death would be better than the fate that defeat would entail upon us 
all. But remember tliough the fiery noise of the battle is indeed most terrifying, and 
seems to threaten universal ruin, it is not so destructive as it seems, and few soldiers 
after all are slain. This the commanding general desires particularly to impress upon 
the fresh and inexperienced troops who now constitute a part of this command. Let 
officers and men, even under the most formidable fire, preserve a quiet demeanor and 
self-pos.^essed temper. Keep cool, obey orders, and aim low. Remember while you 
are doing this, and driving the enttoy before you, your comrades may be relied on to 
support you on either side, and are in turn relying upon you. Stand weU to your 
duty, and when these clouds break away, as they surely will, the bright sunlight of 
peace falling upon our free, virtuous, and happy land, will be a sufQcient reward for 
the sacrifices which we are now called upon to make. 

"James Longstreet, 
"Major- General Commanding. ''^ 

Preparations continued to be made in Washington to send down 
by laud from Fredericksburg the remainder of General McDowell's 
Corps, he being directed to co-operate fully with General McClellan, 
but retaining an independent command. This does not appear to have 
been in accordance with General McClellan's v>^ishes; for, on the 16th 
of June, he telegraphs to the Secretary of War : — 

" It ought to be distinctly understood that McDowell and his troops are completely 
under my control. I received a telegram from him requesting chat McCall's Division 
might be placed so as to join him immediately upon his arrival. That request does 
not brcatlie the proper spirit ; whatever troops come to me must be disposed of so 
as to do the most good. I do not feel that in such circumstances as those in which 
I am now placed. General McDowell should wish the general interest to be sacrificed 
for the purpose of increasing his command. If I cannot fully control his troops, I 



282 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT REBELLION. 

want none of them, but would prefer to fight the battle with what I have, and let 
others be responsible for the results." 

On the 18th of June, General McClellan telegraphed to the Secretary 
of War that he had received information from deserters to the effect 
that troops have left Richmond to re-enlbrce Jackson ; tliat the move- 
ment commenced on the 8th ; and that if re-enforcements had gone to 
Jackson, tliey were probably not less than ten thousand men. He 
could not, he said, vouch for the truth of the statement, but it was 
pretty certainly believed in Richmond and among the rebel troops. 
To this the President replied on the same day, that the information 
was corroborated by a dispatch fi-om General King at Fredericksburg, 
and remarked : " If this is true, it is as good as a re-enforcement to 
you of an equal force." 

On the same day General McClellan telegraphs to the President : — 

" A general engagement may take place at any hour. An advance by us involves 
a battle more or less decisive. The enemy exhibit at every point a readiness to meet 
us. Tliey certainly have great numbers and extensive works. If ten or fifteen 
thousand men have left Richmond to re-enforce Jackson, it illustrates their strength 
and confidence. After to-morrow we shall figlitthe rebel army as soon as Providence 
will permit. We shall await only a favorable condition of the earth and sky, and 
the completion of some necessary preliminaries." 

The trenches continued to creep gradually towards Richmond ; and 
on the 18th a grand review of the forces was made by General 
McClellan, beginning on the left of the army and ending at the right 
wing at dark. On the 20th June the left of the army was still at 
Fair Oaks, six miles from Richmond. By the returns of General 
McClellan to the adjutanc-general's office, it appears that on the same 
day the Federal army numbered one hundred and fifty-six thousand 
eight hundred and thirty-eight men, of whom one hundred and fifteen 
thousand one hundred and two were present for duty, twelve thousand 
two hundred and twenty-five on special duty, sick, or in arrest, and 
twenty-nine thousand five himdred and eleven absent. The nearest 
point of the centre was at New Bridge, seven miles by direct road to 
the city, and the extreme right at Mechanicsville bridge, four and one 
half miles distant. On that day the corps of Franklin crossed the 
river, thus placing four of the five army corps on the right or Rich- 
mond side of the muddy stream. The situation now became critical, 
and on both sides there was a growing expectation of the impending 
battle. The weather was inclement, and the roads not altogether 
favorable for active movements. 

The right wing, consisting of McCall's, Morell's, and Sykes's Divi- 
sions, comprising Porter's Corps, less than twenty-five thousand strong, 
was well posted on the left bank of the Chickahominy, from Beaver 
Dam Creek to a point below New Bridge. Several military bridges 
formed the avenues of communication between the two portions of 
the army separated by the river. The centre, consisting of Slocum's, 
Smith's, Sedgwick's, and Richardson's Divisions, comprising Franklin's 
and Sumner's Corps, was extended fi'om Golding's farm, about a mile 
"below New Bridge, on the banks of the river, to a point south of 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 283 

the railroaci. The left wing, consisting of Hooker's, Kearny's, Peck's 
(late Casey's), aiiJ Couch's Divisions of Heintzelman's and Keyes's 
Corps, stretched from Richardson's left to a point considerably south 
of the Williamsburg stage-road, on the borders of White Oak Swamp. 
The whole line was protected by strong breastworks and redoubts. 
The necessary extent of the line left but few troops for supports. 
Peek's depleted division guarded Bottom Bridge and the railway 
bridge. 

The two lines of battle now pressed each other so close on the right 
bank of the river, that neither could make a movement without provo- 
king an attack. On the 25th, however, the pickets on the Williamsburg 
road were advanced to what was know n as the Fair Oaks farm, Sickles's 
Brigade being in the front. The brigade of Sickles, however, being 
promptly re-enforced, held the ground gained against the utmost eflbrts 
of the enemy, and the conflict subsided after a severe struggle of two 
hours. General McClellan sent the following disj)atches in relation to 
the aflair : — 

" Redoubt No. ?>, June 25 — 3.15 p. m. 
*' Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

"The enemy are making desperate resistance to the advance of our picket hnes. 
Kearny, and one-half of Hooker's forces, are where I want them. I have this moment 
re-enforced Hooker's right with a brigade and a couple of guns, and hope, in a few 
minutes, to finish the work intended for to-day. Our men are behaving splendidly. 
The enemy are fighting well also. This is not a battle ; merely an aftair of Heintzel- 
man's Corps, supported by Keyes, and thus far all goes well, and we hold every foot we 
have gained. If we succeed in what we have undertaken, it will be a very important 
advantage gained. Loss not large thus far. The fighting up to this time has been 
done by General Hooker's Division, which has behaved as usual, that is, most hand- 
somely. On our right, Porter has silenced the enemy's batteries in his front. 

" G, B. McClellan." 

" Redoubt No. 3, June 25 — 5 p. m. 
"Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

"The affair is now over, and we have gained our point fully, and with but little loss, 
notwithstanding the strong opposition. Our men have done all that could be desired. 
The affair was partially decided by two guns that Captain De Russy brought gallantly 
into action under very difficult circumstances. The enemy was driven from his camps 
in front of this, and all is now quiet. 

(Signed) " G. B. McClellan, 

" Major- General Commanding." 

To this succeeded the following dispatch of the same date, couched 
in a somewhat less jubilant vein : — 

"Redoubt No. 3, June 25—6.15 p. m. 

" I have just returned from the field, and find your dispatch in regard to Jackson- 
Several contrabands, just in, give inibrmation confirming the supposition that Jackson's 
advance is at or near Hanover Court-House, and that Beauregard arrived, with strong 
re-enforcements, in Richmond yesterday. I incline to think that Jackson will attack my 
riglit and rear. The rebel force is stated at two hundred thousand, including Jackson 
and Beauregard. I shall have to contend against vastly superior odds, if these reports 
be true ; but this army will do all in the power of man to hold their position and repulse 
an attack. I regret my great inferiority of numbers, but feel that I am in no way re- 
sponsible for it, as I have not failed to represent, repeatedly, the necessity of re-enforce- 
ments ; that this was the decisive point ; and that all the available means of the Gov- 
ernment should be concentrated here. I will do all that a general can do with the 



284 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

splendid army I have the honor to command ; and if it is destroyed by overwhelming 
numbers, can at least die with it, and share its fate. But if the result of the action, 
which will occur to-morrow, or within a short time, is a disaster, the responsibility can- 
not be tlirown on my shoulders; it must rest where it belongs. 

"Since I commenced this, I have received additional intelligence, confirming the sup- 
position iu regard to Jackson's movements, and Beauregard's. I shall probably be 
attacked to-morrow, and now go to the otlier side of the Chickahominy to arrange for 
the defence on that side. I feel that there is no use in my again asking for re-enforce- 
ments. Geo. B. McClellan, Major- General. 

" lion. E. M. Stantox, Secretary of "War." 

The answer of the President is as follows : — 

"Washinoton, June 2G, 18G2. 

" Your three dispatches of yesterday, in relation to the affair, ending with the state- 
ment that you completely succeeded in making your point, are very gratifymg. 

" The later one of 6|- p. H., suggesting the probability of your being overwhelmed by 
two hundred thousand men, and talking of whom the responsibility will belong to, pains 
me ver}' much. I give you all I can, and act on the presumption that you will do the 
best you can with what you have ; wliile you continue, ungenerously, I think, to as- 
sume that I could give j'ou more if I would. I have omitted, I shall omit, no opportu- 
nity to send you re-enforcements whenever I possibly can. A. Lincoln. 

" Major-General McClellan." 

This struggle at Fair Oaks farm, on the Williamsburg road, for a 
point nearer the enemy on Wednesday, the 25th, was proclaimed as a 
a great success. The general, with a sort of exultation, exclaimed, 
" The troops are where I want them !" and at the same time he tele- 
graplied the President that he would be attacked the following day by 
two hundretl thousand of the enemy. 

The [lickets of the enemy now gave token of some projected move- 
ment, tliereby increasing the general excitement in relation to an im- 
pending battle, and Hooker was ordered to resume his position of the 
23d. On Thursday, June 26th, at two p. m., the rebel corps of General 
A. P. Hill crossed the river, ioUowcd by the divisions of Magruder, D. 
H. Hill, and Longstieet, who immediately attacked the works held by 
McCall on the extreme Federal right. The affair opened with artillery, 
but the enemy soon sliortened the range and closed, in with great 
vigor. The brigades of Meade, Reynolds, and Seymour, of McCall's 
Division, received the shock of the attack Avith the fortitude and non- 
chalance of old soldiers. In vain the accumulated, masses of artillery 
showered death upon these gallant regiments; they replied to the 
volleying thunders with a fire equal in fury and destructiveness. This 
artillery duel was carried to an extent that had hardly been reached at 
any previous period of the war. It then apparently slackened, and 
there was a movement among the assailants which indicated an inten- 
tion to make a general assault, while the Union lines were filled with 
rumors that Jackson was on their right flank. In a few minutes the 
rebels rushed forward with desperate bravery, but were met with a 
fire so cool and well directed, that they recoiled before it. Again and 
agam they assailed the line with determined courage, but only to meet 
a ruthU'SS slaughter. McCall was now re-enforced by Griffin's and 
Martindale's brigades, and with the approaching night the attacks 
ceased. Meantime Longstreet, with the brigades of Feathertou and 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 285 

Pryor in advance, liad crossed at Mecbanicsville, and marched parallel 
with the river for some distance, when they halted for the night. 

This movement of the enemy was made in accordance with the de- 
cision of a council of war, held on the 25th, at which it was deter- 
mined that Jackson, who had just arrived in the neighborliood of Rich- 
mond with his command, should move upon the right flunk of the 
Federal army, while the main body of the rebels made a general and 
simultaneous assault upon McClellan's lines. Consequently, while tho 
action of the 26th was going on, Jackson was marching rapidly throiigh 
Ashland and Hanover Court-House to Cold Harbor, where lie could 
both flank Porter's troops and threaten the Federal communications 
with White House. The raid of Stuart to his rear had already demon- 
strated to McClellan how readily the latter design could be accom- 
plished. In view of the large rebel force Avhich he supposed to be in 
the vicinity of Richmond, of the rumors regarding the movements of 
Jackson, and of the heavy demonstration on the 26th against the Fed- 
eral right, he now commenced to carry mto execution a project which 
he had for several days contemplated, and which was nothing less than 
to transfer his base of operations, by a flank movement througli White 
Oak Swamp, to the .James River. Three months of canijiaigning in 
the Peninsula had culminated in this movement, which was practically 
a confession of failure. 

Accordingly, during the night of the 26th, tents, forage, commissary 
stores, cfec, were removed across the Chickahominy, and whatever 
could not be lemoved was burned. At daybreak of the 27th the accu- 
mulated masses of the enemy again moved to the attack in great force. 
The brigades of Featherton, Pryor, and Wilcox advanced on the Union 
left, while that of Gregg carried Ellyson's Mills, menacing the right 
flank. The order was therefore given to fall back upon Gaines's Hill. 
McCall opened an active cannonade, under cover of whicli the troops 
fell back on two lines to the position assigned. Here a line of battle 
was foimed some two miles in length, the extreme left on the Chicka- 
hominy and the right towards Cold Harbor. The front was lined 
with woods, and a ditch through the woods formed the infantry Ime of 
defence. The force was composed of McCall's, Morrell's, and Sykes's 
Divisions, with Cook's cavalry brigade, in all about twenty thousand 
men, with fourteen batteries, eighty-four pieces. Of these, McCall held 
the left, Sykes the centre, and Morrell the right. The enemy followed 
in three columns, until they reached Hogan's farm, one mile through 
the woods to Gaines's Mills. The first attack was made by Piyor, on 
Martindale's Brigade, on the left centre, at twelve m. The Fifth New 
York were skirmishing in front, and, falling back slowly, were support- 
ed, and the battle became general at one o'clock. The line of the 
enemy, formed by Wilcox on the right, Featherton in the centre, and 
Pryor on the left, opened fire with great determination along the 
whole line, and the battle raged fiercely for some hours without mate- 
rial results, until suddenly the guns of Jackson were heard on the ex- 
treme right, advancing through the woods. This column made a 
fierce onslaught on our right, threatening the rear, and compelling a 
change of front. .At the same time the whole line of the enemy ad- 



286 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

vanced, and as they did so, the play of sixty admirably-served guns 
did terrible execution in their ranks. Fresh rebel troops came up, but 
met the most determined resistance from Sykes's regulars and Warren's 
Brigade, which included the Duryea Zouaves and the Tenth New 
York. The Zouaves suifered severely in consequence of the conspicuous- 
ness of their uniforms. A part of Jackson's corps now formed a junc- 
tion with llilFs Division, led by the North Carolina regiments. This 
formidable combination marched steadily forward, closing up and de- 
livering their fire with terrible effect. They were met Avilh equal 
firmness, and a wild cheer rose as the first volley told upon their 
skriuking line. The pressure was very great, hoAvever. The brigade 
of Griffin, composed of the Ninth Massachusetts, Fourth Michigan, 
Fourteenth New York, Sixty-Second Pennsylvania, stood the brunt of 
the attack. In overwhelming numbers, the enemy threw themselves 
upon the devoted little band, inflicting terrible slaughter, but it stood 
up to the work with a constancy that nothing could shake ; repeatedly 
forcing back the rebels, who, re-enforced from Longstreet's corps, rallied 
in greater force, and again obtained the advantage. The centre was 
gradually weakened in the struggle, while Jackson contined to out- 
flank us. The loss of the base at West Point was now imminent. This 
disaster seemed to McClellan to afford only an additional reason for 
cutting loose from York River, and seeking a new base on the James, 
under cover of the gunboats. Porter was therefore ordered to hold 
on to the last extremity, and the utmost exertions were used to send 
off baggage, tents, and munitions towards the left, and to destroy 
what could not be moved. 

At three o'clock the pressure became so great that re-enforcements 
were indispensable. General Taylor's First New Jersey Brigade 
crossed at Woodbury Bridge, and at foui* o'clock formed on the Union 
left. General Slocum's Division then crossed the Graj^e Vine Bridge 
and proceeded to the right of the line, while the brigades of French 
and Meagher followed and took position on the left. The Union force 
was now ui)ward of thirty thousand men, but was still outnumbered 
two or thi'ee to one, by the advancing foe. At about five o'clock, the 
enemy massed for a final attack upon the left of the line, held by But- 
terfield and Marlindale. Brigade after brigade was hurled upon them 
with ceaseless force and determination, but was met with the resistance 
of men who were there to do or die. Suddenly the enemy broke 
through Martindale's left, and rapidly attempted to encircle and cap- 
ture Butterfield's Brigade. The line was now fast giving way, and 
the crowds of men making towards the river momentarily increased. 
Th^re was no recourse but to cut their v\-ay through to the river, and 
McCall's troops, exhausted by two days' fight, thus fell back, the cen- 
tre and right following the movement. The withdrawal of the infan- 
try supports uncovered several batteries, which became a prey to the 
enemy. The enemy, elated, pressed the retiring columns so hard that 
near the river a new line was formed to cover the crossing, by the 
brigades of Meagher and French. The efft'ct was to stop the crowd 
of stragglers. The enemy followed in solid column, and when within 
one hundred yards of the Union line received a biting fire of canister 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLION. 28T 

from tlie guns of Griffin nnd Martin. This, with the approach of night, 
caused the pursuit to slacken, and the army effected the passage in 
good oi'der, blowing up the four bridges by which they had crossed. The 
losses in this great battle were severe on both sides, the enemy prol>. 
ably suftering the most in killed and wounded. The Federals were 
obliged, however, to abandon their woimded and the sick in the hospi- 
tals,"besides losing a number of prisoners, cannon, and small arms. 

Meantime, the cavalry division of General Stoneman, on the 26th, pro- 
ceeded to the right to reconnoitre the movements of Jackson, who was 
threatening the Federal communications. He took post at Old Church 
and Hanover Oorners, and at noon of the 27th, during the battle, re- 
ceived orders to fall back upon White House. He arri\'ed there on 
the 28th, and destroyed all the Government stores that had not already 
been placed on the transports for Fortress Monroe. He then burned 
the White House, and embarked a part of his force on transports for 
Harrison's Landing, James River, via Fortress Monroe. The remain- 
der went down the Peninsula, to the latter place. The enemy occu- 
pied Gaines's Hill in force, and threatened to cut off the retreat by 
Bottom's Bridge. They also sent a force in the direction of White 
House, which it reached at seven p. m., but foimd all public property 
destroyed. 

At night a council of war was held at the head-quarters of McCIellan. 
The evacuation of the north side of the river, the general urged, 
accompanied by great loss, involved the abandonment of the base on 
York River, and the utmost energy of movement to reach the James 
River. The enemy had turned our right, evidently outnumbering us 
in great disproportion, was too strong in the front for us to break 
through, and was in position to crush us, in front and rear — and per- 
haps intended to strike on our left flank. Apparently his army Avas 
numerous enough for such a combination. These representations had 
weight, and renewed orders were issued on Friday night for the 
wagons to start on their way to the James River. Siege pieces, pon- 
toons, ambulances, batteries, prolonged the winding procession over 
the hills to White Oak Swamp. The retrograde movement thus really 
begun Friday evening, but did not swell into full proportions till night- 
fall of the next day. Saturday morning, the 28th, it was generally 
known that the army Avas to evacuate its line of intrenchments. To 
do this with the necessary celerity in the foce of the enemy, nothing 
but the most essential baggage could be carried. In order to preserve 
the morale of the army as far as possible, and insure supplies of am- 
munition and subsistence, it was determined to carry through all the 
wagons loaded, and the andiulance train — making a mighty caravan — 
vastly increased by artillery trains. There was but one narrow road to 
:)ursue. It struck almost due south from the Williamsburg road through 
iVhite Oak Swamp to the Charles City road, into which it debouches 
about eight miles from Turkey Bend, in James River. The course then 
lay up the latter road towards Richmond, Avhere it met the Quaker road, 
wliich terminated in the New Market road, leading from Richmond. 
The James Avas but a short distance south, and Malvern Hill — a lofty 
bluff, overlooking the river, and commanding the surrounding country — 



^^ 



288 HISTORY OF the great rebelliott. 

was the immediate goal of the army, Altlinno^h the single road was a 
narrow funnel for such a mighty torrent of trains and men, fortunntfly it 
was smooth and dry, and had the advantage of pnssing througli White 
Oak Swamp, which might in some degree be relied upon to protect the 
flanks. There was great danger that the enemy might cut us off by mov- 
ing columns down the Charles City, Central, or New Market roads, or all 
three, but these chances were necessarily accepted. General McClellan 
acted upon the supposition that the enemy would not guess his determi- 
nation until he was able to defeat their movements. At all events, he 
considered that it was the only hopeful course, because the enemy was 
watching for him on the left bank of the Chickahoininy. The division 
of General Smith occupied, on the extreme right, a line of breastworks 
and redoubts, which partly commanded New Bridge and Old Town, 
now held by the enemy. At seven o'clock p. m. of the 27th, a Georgia 
brigade, under Toombs, attacked the position, but were repulsed after 
an hour's hard strnggle. At eight o'clock the next morning. Colonel 
Lamar, of the Seventh Georgia, led a new attack upon the redoubt at 
Golding's farm, but with no better success. General Smith obstinately 
maintained his ground, while arrangements were being made to start 
the trains with all that could be carried to James River. The amount 
of stores that could be saved was not large, and immense quantities 
were destroyed by lire, particixlarly at Fair Oaks, and many car-loads 
of ammunition were sunk in the river. Some wouiideil soldiers had 
been hurried off by cars to White House, until the morning of the 28th, 
when the enemy were reported at Dispatch Sta'.ion. The railroad 
bridge was then destroyed, and the wounded notified to make for 
James River as best they could. Those who could walk limped away, 
and those who could not (about 2,500) were left to the enemy, a flag 
being displayed over the hospital, which was established at Savage's, 
a station on the railroad, about midway between Fair Oaks and the 
river. Thus passed away Saturday, the 28th, the enemy, whose chief 
force was massed on the left bank of the Chickahominy, being ap- 
parently imcertain what course McClellan would next pursue. 

General Franklin was ordered to hold his position on the Chicka- 
hominy until the trains ha<l passed. He did so, and at daylight on 
Sunday, the 29th, fell back, following the train. At 3 a. m. on Sunday, 
Heintzelman, having relieved the outposts, obeyed the order to aban- 
don the redoubts, and fell back from Savage's to White Oak Swamp. 
Keyes's Corps had, on the previous day, moved off across the White 
Oak Swamp, to cover the right flank and form the advance of the 
army in the retreat. Sumner left the front at daylight of the 29th, 
had a sharp engagement at Peach Orchard with a body of the enemy 
advancing from Richmond along the Williamsburg road, in which the 
latter was signally repulsed, and in the afternoon joined Franklin at 
Savage's. Here, at 4 p. M.,the two coi"ps were overtaken by the main 
rebel force, which, havmg fathomed the intention of McClellan, had re- 
built the bridges destroyed by Porter, crossed the Chickahominy, and 
followed rapidly on the traces of the retreating army. A severe 
battle, lasting until nightfall, ensued, in which the rebels were again 
checked, and the Federal troops remained in possession of the field. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOlSr. 289 

TliG position of afiliirs ^tlmitted of no long pause at tills point, how- 
ever, and scarcely" had the enemy been beaten off than Sumner and 
Franklin took up the march for White Oak Swamp, leaving behind a 
number of prisoners, all their dead and wounded, and the inmates of 
the hospitals. 

The trains, meanwhile, were pushing on to the James, along a road 
loading by a long circuit to Turkey Bend, and Avhich was unobstructed 
by the enemy. They were convoyed by portions of Keyes's and Por- 
tei-'s Corps, and reached the James River early Monday morning, the 
30th, soon after which General McClellan arrived and took possession 
of Malvern Hill, previously described as a strong position, capable of 
a vigorous defence. 

Meantime, Heintzelman had been closely pressed by Longstreet and 
Hill down the road to Charles City, Avhile Jackson, on the right bank 
of the Chickahominy, was repairing Bottom Bridge to come in on our 
right. On the morning of Monday, the 30th, all the troops and all the 
trains were safely across White Oak Bridge on the way to the James 
Kiver. Franklin, Avith his own corps and one of Sumner's divisions, 
remained to guard tlie bridge, in front of which the enemy, under 
Jackson, had commenced to arrive, while Ileintzelman's Corps, Sum- 
ner's remaining division, and McCall's Division were distributed in front 
of the roads leading from Richmond. A heavy cannonade was main- 
tained during the day between Jackson and Franklin, but the enemy 
gained no ground in that quarter, and after nightfall the Federal troops 
retired securely toward the river. With Ileintzelman's and Sunmer's 
troops, however, the case was very dilferent. The country in that re- 
gion is a swampy forest, dotted with clearings, having an area of fifty 
to one hundreds acres each. The Union artillery was posted in the 
woods, on the skirts of these clearings, and as the enemy approached 
near tlie openings thus commanded, their losses were heavy. They, 
however, pressed on with great vigor until within musket range, when 
the Union line delivered a staggering fire which brought them to a 
sudden halt. The conflict became now 'in the last degree terrible. 
The enemy was exposed point blank to the devouring fire of the double 
masse. 1 Union troops, and a cross fire from batteries admirably served. 
The air was filled with the shrieking missiles of death — the bursting 
shells and deep volleys of distant guns ; every moment had its peculiar 
Found of terror, and every spot its ghastly horror. The enemy stood 
firmly to the work, although the weight of the Union artillery was 
evidently too much for him. Some fresh troops, now arriving, poured 
in such a volley as apparently decided the atTair for the night, and 
General Hill withdrew from the conflict. It was now lialf-past ten. 
The enemy had been arrested, and the fight — one of the most stub- 
bornly contested that had occurred — ended to the manifest advantage 
of the Federals. But in a few moments the tired troops were again 
called to arras. At 11 o'clock, Magruder's Corps, of some eight bri- 
gades, coming direct from Richmond, the advance umlcr IT. A. Wise, 
suddenly appeared at Charles City cross roads, on the Union left, flank- 
ing it, and capturing fifteen guns. This attack, had it occurred three 
hoars earlier, according to Magruder's instructions, might have proved 
19 



290 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 

serious. The corps of Porter and Kcyes, that had reached James 
River early in the morning, were ordered back to Malvern Plill to re- 
sist the enemy, Avho was approaching amid a terrific cannonade under 
cover of the woods, and in great force. But the enemy were now 
within range of the gunboats, which moved as near as practicable, and 
opened with their heavy guiis. The sliells fell thick along the edge of 
the wood, where tlie enemy was lodged. The firing became more 
vigorous, and raged with great fury along the whole front. Ilt'intzel- 
man's Corps was then formed in line, and the gunboats being signalled 
to cease fire, it executed a charge which compelled the enemy to give 
ground, and won the James liiver for the array as a base. This en- 
gagement is known as the Battle of Glendale, or Nelson's Farm. 
■ The tent of General McClellan was pitched upon the banks of the 
river, near Turkey Bend, and he here wrote dispatches for the Govern- 
ment, which he sent off by his aides, the Duke de Chai'tres and the 
Count de Paris, who here took leave of the service, and, with the 
Prince do Joinville, embarked on board the "• Stepping Stones." 

On Tuesday, July 1, the last of this series of battles was fought 
upon j^I.xlvern Hill. The ground is there for the most part open and 
undulating, and along its sloping sides the Union troops, during the 
night of the 30th, took up a strong position to receive the anticipated 
attack of the enemy on the following day. The corps of Keyes occu- 
pied the extreme right, and next in order came Franklin, Sumner, 
Heintzelman, Couch's Division, detached from Keyes, with Porter on 
the extreme left. It was not until 3 o'clock that the skirmishers of 
the enemy engaged and drove in those of Couch's Division, and a hot 
engagement took place, without material results. Later in the after- 
noon some field-pieces were brought forward, but they were silenced 
by the batteries of Hooker and Kearny. This cannonade Avas fol- 
lowed by a most determined attempt to force the positions of Porter 
and Couch, and turn the right. The efforts of the enemy became more 
desperate as night approached, and the battle was fairly maintained 
until dark, when they drew back with fearful loss, and in so utterly 
demoralized a condition that any thing like a show of pursuit would 
probably have driven them in confusion into Richmond. In the night, 
orders were issued for the troops to retire seven miles to Harrison's 
Landing, the position at Malvern being considered untenable. 

The night was very dark ; and so much confusion took place among 
the retreating troops, that numbers of the wounded were abandoned. 
The position of the army was now, July 2, seventeen miles southeast of 
Richmond by land, and fifty miles by Avater. It was five miles below 
City Point, occupied a space five miles on the river and three miles 
broad, entirely protected by the gunboats, and was well suited for 
defence. Thus from the evening of June 25th, when General McClel- 
lan telegraphed that the aff lir was over and the troops " where I want 
them," the army had retreated to the James in six days of almost 
continual fighting, and had met serious losses of men, munitions, and 
stores. The base of the army, Avith all its advantages, on York River, 
had been lost, and the cover of the gunboats on James River gained 
by the most incredible devotion, endurance, and valor of the troops : 



HISTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLION". 291 

these qualities were recognized by the general in his address to the 
troops : — 

GENERAL M'cLELLAn's ADDRESS TO HIS SOLDIERS. 

" Head-Quarters, Army op the Potomac, ) 
" Camp near Harrison's Landing, July 4, 1862. f 
"Soldiers of the Army of the Potomac! — Tour achievements of the last ten 
days have illustrated the valor and endurance of the American soldier. Attaclsed by 
superior forces, and without hope of re-enforcements, you have succeeded in changing 
your base of operations by a flank movement, always regarded as the most hazardous 
of military expedients. Tou have saved all your material, all your trains, and all your 
guns, except a few lofst in battle, taking, in return, guns and colors from the enemy. 
Upon your march you have been assailed day after day with desperate fury, by men 
of the same race and nation, skilfully massed and led. Under every disadvantage of 
number, and necessarily of position also, you have in every conflict beaten back your 
foes with enormous slaughter. Your conduct ranks you among tlie celebrated armies 
of history. No one will now question that each of you may always with pride say, 
' I belong to the Army of the Potomac' Tou have reached the new base, complete 
in organization and unimpaired in spirit. The enemy may at any time attack you. 
We are prepared to meet them. I have personally established your lines. Let them 
come, and we will convert their repulse into a final defeat. Tour Government is 
strengthening you with the resources of a great people. On this, our nation's birth- 
day, we declare to our foes, who are rebels against the best interests of mankind, that 
this army shall enter the capital of the so-called confederacy ; that our National Con- 
stitution shall prevail ; and that the Union, which can alone insure internal peace, and 
external security to each State, ' Must and shall be preserved,' cost what it may in 
time, treasure, and blood. George B. McClellan." 

The aggregate of Federal losses from the 26th of June to the 1st 
of July, inclusive, was stated by General McClellan as follows : — 

Killed. Wounded. Missing. Aggregate. 

McCall's Division 253 1,200 1,581 3,074 

Sumner's Corps 137 1,476 848 2,111 

Heintzehnan's Corps 189 1,051 833 2,073 

Keyes's " 60 507 201 777 

Porter's " 620 2,460 1,191 4,278 

Franklin's " 245 1,313 1,179 2,737 

Engineers — 2 21 23 

Cavah-y 19 60 97 176 

1,582 7,709 5,958 15,249 

The losses of the enemy in these engagements were very large, but 
were not publicly announced. Jefferson Davis, on the 8th July, made 
the following address to the troops ; — 

"To the Army in Eastern Virginia: 

"Soldiers: — I congratulate you on the series of brilliant victories wlilch, under 
the favor of Divine Providence, you have lately won ; and, as the President of the 
Confederate States, do heartily tender to you the thanks of the country, whose just 
cause you have so skilfully and heroically served. Ten days ago an invading army, 
vastly superior to you in numbers and in the material of war, closely beleaguered your 
capital and vauntingly proclaimed its speedy conquest; you marched to attack the 
enemy in his entrenchments ; with well-directed movements and death-defying valor 
you charged upon him in his strong positions, drove him from field to field over a dis- 
tance of more than thirty-five miles, and. despite his re-enforcements, compelled him to 
seek shelter under the cover of his gunboats, where he now lies cowering before th« 
army so lately derided and threatened with entire subjugation. 



292 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

" Tlie fortitude with wliich you have borne toil and privation, the gallantry with 
which you have entered into each successive battle, must have been witnessed to 
be fully appreciated ; but a grateful people will not fail to recognize you and to bear 
you in loved remembrance. Well may it be said of you, that you liave ' done enough 
for glory ;' but duty to u suffering country and to the cause of constitutional liberty, 
claims from you yet further effort. Let it be your pride to relax in nothing which 
can promote your future efficiency; your one great object being to drive the invader 
from your soil, and, carrying your standards beyond tlie outer boundaries of the Con- 
federacy, to wring from an unscrupulous foe the recognition of your birthright, com. 
munity, independence. 

(Signed) "Jefferson Davis." 

The campaign of the Peninsula was thus virtually closed. The 
troops indeed remained at Harrison's Landing some weeks longer, 
hut without hope of renewing the attack upon Richmond. We may 
recall the leading events of the spring advance in Virginia. This 
had been in four columns, under Fremont, Banks, McDowell, and 
McClellan. The two first mentioned had made considerable progress, 
and at the date of the fall of Yorktown, threatened to unite at 
Staunton at the head of the valley. From that moment McClellan 
gradually advanced up the Peninsula and extended his right to the 
north of Richmond to give the hand to McDowell, whose left was 
approaching from Fredericksburg. While McClellan was advancing 
up the Peninsula, Jackson came down the valley of the Shenandoah, 
driving Fremont's Corps back to the mountains, and Banks's over the 
Potomac, and creating so much alarm at Washington that McDowell 
was ordered to the valley. He arrived there on the same day that the 
left of McClellan under Casey was attacked at Fair Oaks. McClellan, 
as we have seen, failed to avail himself of the advantages which that 
battle secured to him. The important battle that he had announced 
May 25th, was deferred a month, when it was forced upon him by 
the enemy, who had then assembled a force, according to General 
McClellan, of two hundred thousand men. On the 13th June, instead 
of forming a junction with McDowell before Richmond, the division 
of McCall and other troops joined him by water, and were assigned 
to the extreme right, where, on the 27th, they were overwhelmed by 
Jackson, coming from the valley to aid in tlie main attack upon the 
Union line, which, the entrenchments being turned, was forced back 
upon the James River, completely on the defensive. Meantime the 
corps of Fremont, Banks, and McDowell were combined under Pope- 
who menaced Richmond in front, while McClellan was ])reparing to 
evacuate the Peninsula. In all these movements, the bravery, eu' 
durance, and devotion of the Union troops were unsurpassed by any 
veteran troops of any age or nation. 

It would be premature, perhaps, at the present time to go into any 
elaborate inquiry of the causes which led to the lame and impotent 
conclusion of a campaign commenced with such high hopes of suc- 
cess. General McClellan has attributed his failure to the withholding 
of re-enforcements by the President, to the diversion of McDowell's 
Corps at a time when its co-operation would have insured the capture 
of Richmond, and to the unprecedented rainy weather and bad roads 
which the army encountered from the moment it landed on the Pen- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 293 

insula. The reasons for withholding McDowell's Corps have been 
fully stated in a previous chapter ; but two of its divisions, Franklin's 
and McCalFs, numbering twenty-two thousand men, Avere subsequently 
sent to McClellan, in addition to which he received about eleven 
thousand men from Baltimore and Fortress Monroe, and, towards the 
latter part of June, some five thousand men of Shields's Division, 
making, with the army which he carried with him, a total of nearly 
one hundred and sixty thousand men in three months. The weaken- 
ing of McDowell to re-enforce McClellan made it necessary to 
strengthen the former by one of Banks's Divisions, and we have seen 
how the last-named general thereby became so weak in May as to 
be incapable of resisting the advance of Jackson down the Valley of 
the Shenandoah. It was doubtless true, as McClellan telegraphed to 
the President, that this movement of Jackson was intended to prevent 
re-enforcements being sent to the Peninsula ; but the wide-spread 
consternation and panic which it created, formed, to say the least, a 
plausible reason for dispatching McDowell to the aid of Banks. " If 
McDowell's force," telegraphs the President to McClellan, on the 25th 
of May, " was now beyond our reach, we should be entirely helpless. 
Apprehensions of something like this, and no unwillingness to sustain 
you, has always been my reason for withholding McDowell's forces 
from you." That the diversion of McDowell, when his pickets had 
almost met those of Porter, extended beyond Hanover Court-House, 
was unfortunate, there can be no doubt ; but under the circumstances 
it was unavoidable, and, as has been justly remarked, "whether it 
was wise or unwise, it was one of those things resulting from the 
taking of a line of operations which did not then cover Washington." 
But admitting that McClellan miglit have had more troops, that 
the diversion of McDowell's Corps was unnecessary, and that the roads 
were bad, there are still several points in reference to the conduct of 
the campaign on which criticisms adverse to McClellan have been 
pronounced. Some of these have already been alluded to, such as 
the unnecessarily long siege of Yorkto\vn, defended at the outset by 
a weak garrison, the tardy march up the Peninsula, and the failure to 
follow up the success of the second day of Fair Oaks. In the opinion 
of many military men, McClellan, after hearing of the destruction of 
the Merrimac, should have immediately marched his army for the 
James instead of the Pamunkey River. He would thus have secured 
a good water-base within less than twenty miles of Richmond, and 
would have avoided the deadly and almost impassable swamps of the 
Chickahominy, by whose pestilential exhalations many thousands of 
his army were prostrated. Again, with regard to the battle of 
Gaines's Mill, General McClellan has stated in his official report, that 
after Porter had retreated across the Chickahominy and destroyed 
the bridges, the whole Federal army, being concentrated on the right 
bank of the stream, while the main i-ebel body was on the left bank, 
might have marched rapidly upon Richmond. But wdiile he gives 
reasons for not pursuing this course, he omits to explain why he 
allowed less than two corps to withstand twice or thrice their number 
on the left bank of the river, when he could, without serious risk, have 



294 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

sent the greater part of his army to their assistance. On this point, 
General Barnard, Chief of Engineers in the Army of the Potomac, 
speaks as follows in his official report of the Peninsular campaign : — 

" At last the moment came when action was imperative. The enemy assumed the 
initiative. "We had warning of when and where he was to strike. Had Porter been 
withdrawn the night of the 26th of June, our army would have been concentrated on 
the right bank of the Chickahominy lliver, while two corps, at least, of the enemy's 
force were on the left bank. Whatever course we then took, whether to strike at 
Richmond and the portion of the enemy on the right bank, or move at once for the 
James, we would have had a concentrated army and a fair chance of a brilliant result, 
in the first; and in the second, if we accomplished nothing, we would have been in 
the same case on the morning of the 27th as we were on that of the 2Sth, minus a 
lost battle aud a compulsory retreat. Or had the fortified lines, thrown up expressly 
for that object, been held by twenty thousand men, as they could have been, we would 
have fought on the other side with eighty thousand men instead of twenty-seven 
thousand. Or, finally, had the lines been abandoned, with our hold on the right bank 
of the Chickahominy, we might have fought and crushed the enemy on the left bank, 
reopened our communication, and then returned and taken Kichmond. 

" As it was, the enemy fought with his whole force — except enough left before our 
lines to keep up an appearance — and we fought with twenty-seven thousand men, 
losing a battle and nine thousand men. By this defeat we were driven from our 
position, our advance for conquest turned into a retreat for safety, by a force probably 
not greatly superior to our own." 

In his report of this campaign, General Robert E. Lee, who assumed 
command of the rebel array in Richmond after the battle of Fair 
Oaks, states that, perceiving it was McClellan's plan to attack the 
city by regular approaches, he determined to construct defensive lines 
so as to enable a part of his forces to protect the city, while the re- 
mainder would be at liberty to operate against General McClellan's 
communications between the York and James Rivers. After Jackson, 
with the assistance of Ewell, in the Shenandoah Valley, had succeeded 
in " diverting the army of McDowell at Fredericksburg from uniting 
with that of McClellan," he summoned him to his immediate com- 
mand. His works of defence were now completed; Stuart had made 
a raid around the Federal lines, acquiring thereby much valuable in- 
formation ; Jackson, after a forced and secret march, had arrived, and 
all things were in readiness to turn upon the besiegers. Huger and 
Magruder remained behind the defences, while the four commands of 
A. P. Hill, D. H. Hill, Longstreet, and Jackson swept down the north 
bank of the James and engaged our forces at Mechanicsville. In the 
subsequent battles of Gaines's Mill, Glendale, or Nelson's Farm, as it 
is sometimes called, and Malvern Hill, he constantly speaks of attack- 
ing superior numbers, which affords a curious contrast to McClellan's 
estimate that the rebel army numbered two hundred thousand men. 
Both generals are probably equally far from the truth, and there now 
seems little doubt that the rebel force, as General Barnard has ob- 
served, was "not greatly superior to our own." Otherwise it is dif- 
ficult to understand why it retired so precipitately from the bloody 
field of Malvern and took refuge again behind the defences of Richmond. 

During the progress of the Peninsular campaign the condition of 
the Confederacy had undergone a great change for the better. At 
the time the Army of the Potomac landed on the Peninsula, the rebej 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^. 



295 



armies were demoralized by the defeats of Port Royal, INIill Spring, 
Fort Heury, Fort Donelson, Roanoke Island, and other battles ; and 
reduced by sickness, loss in battle, expirations of periods of service, 
&c. ; while the conscription law was not yet even passed. It seemed 
as if it needed but one vigorous effort to end tlie war. Tlie day of 
the initiation of the campaign of this magnificent Army of the 
Potomac was apparently the day of the resuscitation of the Con- 
federate cause, which seemed to grow ^j^ar/ passu Avith the slow prog- 
ress of its operations. The loss of a month before Yorktown was 
an enormous gain to the enemy. The bad roads, the nature of the 
obstacles offered by the Chickahominy to an advance, and, it may be 
added, the constitutional slowness and caution of the Federal com- 
mander, all prolonged the time so as to give the enemy two additional 
months. Thus, from the 1st of April, when McClellan landed at 
Fortress Monroe, to the 1st of July, when his shattered columns 
reached James River, three months had elapsed, during which time 
the Confederates may be said to have raised an army by conscription, 
concentrated all their strength, and hurled it at the grand Army of 
the Potomac with fatal effect, because it was not concentrated, nor 
with all the digging 'were the important points fortified. There were 
no defences at White House, nor were there any defensible tetes-de- 
pont or strong positions prepared to cover the dehouches from the 
bridges to the left bank of the Chickahominy. All this was taken 
full advantage of by an enemy who did not leave any means unused 
to insure success, and who struck with his whole concentrated force. . 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Department of Missouri. — General Halleck. — Negotiations with Price. — Van Dom, 
Curtis, and Sigel. — Pea Ridge. 

In resuming the thread of events at the West, we may recall the 
situation of affairs at the close of 1861, as we described them in a 
previous chapter. Missouri, then i;nder Halleck,* had been cleared 



* Henry Wager Halleck is a native of New 
York. He entered the Military Academy at 
West Point in 1835, being then nineteen years of 
age, and on gradnating stood third in his class. 
He was brevetted second lieutenant of engineers, 
made assistant professor of engineering at West 
Point in 1839, and in 1845 was appointed first 
lieutenant. In 1847, Lieutenant Tlalleok was bre- 
vetted captain for gallant conduct in Mexico and 
California. From 1847 to 1849 he acted as secre- 
tary of state of the province of California, under 
Generals Mason and Itiley. In 1847-48 he was 
also chief of the staff to Commodore Shubrick on 
the Pacific coast; and in 1S49 was a member of 
the convention and of the committee to form and 
draft the Constitution of the State of California. 
He was appointed captain of engineers in July, 
1853. but in August of the next year resigned. 
^t the breaking out of the rebeUioa Mr. Halleck, 



who, as a lawyer, was enjoying a lucrative prac- 
tice at San Francisco, threw up his business and 
offend his services to the Government. On the 
19th of August, 1861, he was commissioned major- 
general in the regular army. On the 18th of 
November he apjieared at St. Louis, Mo., to as- 
sume command of the Department of the West, 
then temporarily held by Geniial Hunter. In 
April his command was extended to Kentucky 
and Tennessee. On the 15th of April he took 
command at Pittsburg Landing, conducted the 
investment of Corinth to a successful issue, and 
on the 11th July was appointed General-in-Chief 
at Washington, which position he held until 
March, 1864, when, on the appointment of Gener- 
al Grant to the chief command, he became chief 
of staff to the army at Washington. In April and 
May. 1865, he held temporary command in Kich- 
mond. 



296 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIO.N". 

of Confederates, and Kentucky and Tennessee had, under Buell, 
been restored to Union control. It was well known that the enemy- 
enjoyed the most perfect means of information, by which the Union 
plans were continually thwarted. In some measure to remedy this, 
General Halleck issued the following order : — 

"general order, no. 3. 

" Head-Quarters, Department of Missouri, ) 
St. Louis, Nuvember 29, 1861. J 

"1. It has been represented that important information respecting the numbers and 
condition of our forces is conveyed to the enemy by means of fugitive slaves who are 
admitted within our lines. In order to remedy this evil, it is directed that no such 
persons be hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the 
inarch, and that any within such lines be immediately excluded tlierefrom. 

" 2. The General Commanding wishes to impress upon all officers in command of 
posts and troops in the field the importance of preventing unauthorized persons of 
every description from entering and leaving our lines, and of observing the greatest 
precaution in the employment of agents and clerks in confidential positions. 
" By order of Major-General Halleck. 

" William McMichael, 

^'■Assistant Adjutant- General." 

The order, although, according to General Halleck, one of purely 
military necessity, was made a matter subsequently of congressional 
discussion. Early in January. General Pope, in command of Central 
Missouri, was at Tifton, while Price was at Osceola, with Generals 
Rains and Stern in the neighborliood of Lexington. Early in the 
year General Price opened a negotiation with General Halleck in 
relation to a number of guerrillas and " bush-whackers'" who had been 
captured while in the act of burning railroad bridges, and in reply 
to threats of retaliation, the latter replied : — 

"No order of yours (Price's) can save from punishment spies, marauders, robbers, 
incendiaries, guerrilla bands, &c., who violate the laws of war. But if any of Price's 
men are captured in the garb of soldiers, they shall be treated as prisoners of war." 

Missouri continued in a very disturbed condition, and martial law 
having been declared in St. Louis, General Halleck issued order No. 
24, ordering the property of secessionists to be assessed for the 
benefit of the fugitives from the southwestern section of the State, 
where the Confederates held control. The property of those who 
failed to pay their assessments was seized under execution. Soon 
afterward he ordered that the president and officers of the Mercantile 
Association and of the Chamber of Commerce, who had shown une- 
quivocal sympathy with the secessionists, should take the oath of alle- 
giance, on pain of being deposed and punished for contempt. The 
press in Missouri was subjected to the martial law. The publisher of 
the lioone County Democrat having been found guilty of criminal 
publications, xmder the style of " Letters from the Army," was sen- 
tenced to be banished from the State, and his business property confis- 
cated and sold. General Halleck approved the finding and sentence, 
and directed the printing-office to remain in charge of the quarter- 
master until further orders ; that the prisoner be placed outside the 
State of Missouri, and that if he returned during the war, without per- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOX. 



297 



mission, that lio be nrrested and placed in close confinement in the 
Alton military prison. These proceedings being returned to the War 
Department, they were approved by the Secretary, and an order issued 
that the form of procedure should be adopted in like cases by the 
commanders of all the military departments. 

Military movements began early in'the year to show renewed activ- 
ity. On the 29th January, the Confederate General Van Dorn* issued 
a general order, assuming command of the department comprising 
Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana, and about the same time the 
National forces under General Curtis marched from their cantonments 
in Northern and Central Missouri in the direction of Springfield. Price 
gradually fell back from that neighborhood toward Ai-kansas. Early 
in January, General Sigel was in command at Rolla, .awaititig re-enforce- 
ments, which it was alleged had been raised for him. Of the six regi- 
ments thus raised, two were sent to the Potomac, one was given to 
General Pope, one to General Hunter, and of the remaining two, four 
companies only Avere with Sigel, and those were not equipped. For 
these and other reasons Sigel tendered his resignation. The difiicul- 
ties were settled, however, by the appointment of General Curtis f to 
command. The divisions of Sigel and Asboth fallowed Price by a 
road through Mount Vernon, while General Jefiersoa C. Davis and 
General Carr took the road through Cassville, over the old battle- 
ground of Wilson's Creek. The columns came up with the enemy at 
Crane Creek on the 14th of February, but too late to attack. The 
enemy retired during the night, and on the morning of the 15th, at 



* General Earl Van Dorn was a native of Mis, 
sissippi, and graduated at West Point in 1S42. In 
the same class were Gustavus W. Smith and 
MansHeld Lovell. On the 1st of July, 1842, ho 
■was appointed brevet second lieutenant in the 
Seventh United States Infantry, and was made a 
full second lieutenant on the 30th of November, 
1844. On the 8d of March, 1S4T, he was promoted 
to a first lieutenancy, and on the ISth of April 
■was brevetted captain for his conduct at Cerro 
Gordo. In the following Aucrust he received a 
further brevet of major, for his conduct at Con- 
treras and Churubusco ; and on the 13th of Sep- 
tember ho was wounded while entering the city 
of Mexico. lie was aide to General P. F. Smith 
during the years 1848 and 18-19. He was secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Military Asylum of 
Pascaajoula, Miss., from January, IS.W, to June, 

1855, and was made full captain of the Second 
United States Cavalry in March, 1855. In July, 

1856, he was distinguished in the command of the 
expedition against the Camanches in Northern 
Te.xas. Again, on the 1st of October, 1S5S, in the 
command of the expedition a<rainst the Caman- 
ches, near Witcbita vilhige, Texas, he gained a 
decided victory, but was himself four times 
wounded — twice dangerously. On the 13th of 
May, 1S59, he was again, in action with a body of 
Camanches, completely victorious. He joined 
the rebel cause, was appointed a briyadier-generai, 
and in January. 1SG2. assumed command of the 
trans- Mississippi district. He fought at Pea 
Itidce, Corinth, and in several lesser engagements, 
andVas shot on May 8, 186.3, by Dr. Peters, of 
Nashville, for improper intimacy with the wife of 
the hitter. 

t Genera! Samuel R. Curtis was born in New 
Turk in 1S07, and graduated at West Point, in 



1831, as brevet second lieutenant of the Seventh 
Infantry. He resigned on the SOth of June, 1832. 
He practised as a civil engineer in Ohio from that 
time until 1837. From April, 1837, to May, 1839, 
he was civil engineer of the Mu.-^kinguiu River 
improvement. He next practised law in Ohio, 
undertook the colonelcy of the third regiment of 
Ohio volunteers in the Mexican war, and fought 
in the United States service during the campaign 
in Mexico. After the discharge of his regiment, 
he served in the staif of Brigadier-General Wool, 
as acting assistant adjutant general, and afterward 
acted as the civil and military governor of Saltillo, 
in Mexico, in 1847. On his return home he was 
appointed chief engineer of the Des Moines River 
improvement, in the State of Iowa. This pos- 
ition he filled from December 4, 1847, to Jan- 
uary 1, 1850. He was aftorwai'd returned to 
Congress to represent a district of the State of 
Iowa. While serving in ConL'ross ho commanded 
the second regiment of Iowa Volunteers. He was 
appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers May 
17, ISOI, and resigned his seat in Congress. For 
some time he had charge of the city and district 
of St. Louis. When Geu<-ral Halleek assumed 
command of the department. General Curtis was 
ordered to Rolla, as a depot of concentration of 
the troops now under his command. In January, 
1862, as acting major-general, he assumed com- 
mand of a corps [I'drinee, and went in pursuit 
of General Price and his rebel troops. He defeat- 
ed the rebels at Pea Ridge, March C-8, 1862, sub- 
sequently occupied Helena, Ark., and was, March 
21, appointed major-general. In the latter part of 
1S62 he was assigned to the command of the De- 
partment of Missouri; was removed May, 1863, 
and, in 1864 appointed to the Department of Kan- 
sas. 



29S 



HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOjS". 



daylight, the pursuit was resumed and continued through the 16th 
and lYth, the enemy taking advantage of favorable positions to retard 
the advance. On the 1 7th he Avas re-enforced by two Louisiana regi- 
ments, under command of Colonel Herbert. This officer had been a 
member of Congress from California, and, while acting in that capacity, 
killed a waiter at Willard's Hotel in Washington, General Beu 
McCuUoch also joined Price, who took up a position at Sugar Creek, 
whence he was driven after a brief conflict, and retired into North- 
western Arkansas, taking post in the Boston Mountains. 

On March 1st, General Curtis issued an address to the people of Ar- 
kansas, exhorting them to remain at their homes ; and telling them 
that the only object of the war was peace ; and that in its prosecution 
the rights of all individuals would be respected. 

The enemy at Boston Mountain, about fifty miles from Sugar Creek, 
were now re-enforced by Van Dorn's troops, by a body of Choctaw, 
Cherokee, and Chickasaw Indians, under Pike, and the division of Mc- 
intosh. The force of the enemy was then composed of nine thousand 
Missouri State troops, under Price, six Arkansas regiments, under Ben 
McCuUoch,* five Texan regiments, under Earl Van Dorn, and, it was 
estimated, some three thousand Indians, under Pike and Mcintosh ; in 
all, between twenty and twenty-five thousand men, with seventy guns. 
Van Dorn assumed tlie chief command of them. When General Curtis 
received information of the re-enforcements of the enemy, he fell back 
to Sugar Creek, a short distance south of Pea Ridge, in expectation of 
being attacked. On the 5th of March, Sigel, then at Bentonville, ten 
miles in advance, received orders to join the army at Pea Ridge. He 
executed the movement on the 6th. His rear-guard, embracing the 
Thirty-Sixth Illinois and the Second Missouri, weie attacked by four 
Confederate regiments, but succeeded in cutting their way through, 
with a loss of twenty-eight killed and wounded, and a number of pris- 
oners. Halting a section of his guns, with his infantry to sustain them, 
he would pour the grape and shell into the advancing rebel ranks, un- 
til, quailing before the murderous fire, they would break in confusion. 
Before they they could re-form, Sigel would limber up and fall back 
behind another portion of his battery, planted at another turn in the 
road. Here the same scene would be enacted, and so on continuously 
for ten miles. What made this march a most difficult achievement 
was the condition of the roads, wdiich were in many places very narrow 
and badly cut up. This brought General Sigel's Division to the west 
end of Pea Ridge, w^here he formed a junction with Generals Davis's 
and Carr's Divisions. On the morning of the 5th, General Van Dom 



* General Ben McOulloch, better known hereto- 
fore as the major of the Texan Rangers, was born 
in Uiitlierfm-il county, Tennessee, in 1814 Ilejoin- 
cd the 'JVxjui army under Gen. Sam Houston, anil 
served pillantly at the battle of San Jaeinto, where 
Santa Anna was taken i>risoner, and his oiiny of 
fifteen thousand men killed or taken prisoners. 
McCulloeh afterwards settled in Gonzales eounty, 
Texas, and was employed on the frontier sur- 
veying an<l locating lands. He frequently led the 
wild bonier scouts against the Indians and Mexi- 
cans. When the war broke out with Mexico, ho 



rallied a band of Texan warriors on the banks of 
the Gnadaloupe, and set out for the seat of war 
on the Kio Grande. His company was accepted 
by General Taylor, and served with credit at 
Monterey and Buena Vista. He afterward joined 
General Scott's army, and continued with it to 
the conquest of the city of Mexico. For his ser- 
vices he was appointed United States Marshal of 
Texas by President Pierce. He early joined the 
secession movement, commanded at the battle of 
Wilson's Creek, and was killed at Pea Kidge, March 
7, 1862. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 299 

ordered his troops to take four days' cooked rations, and moved for- 
ward to the attack. As our camp near Sugar Creek was a strong nat- 
ural position and difficult of access on either flank, General Van Dorn 
decided to make his attack in our rear, thus cutting off our base of 
supply and re-enforcement. The Union position was on the main road 
from Springfield to Fayetteville, and General Van Dorn, in marching 
nortliward, left that road near the latter town and turned to the west- 
ward, passing through Bentonville, and entering the main road again 
near the State boundary, about eight miles north of Sugar Creek. A 
small force was left to make a feint upon our front, and a considerable 
body of Indians, vmder General Albert Pike, took position about two 
miles on our right to divert attention from the main attack in the rear. 
The Union force was in four divisions, the first under Colonel Oster- 
haus, the second under General Asboth, the third Colonel Jefferson C. 
Davis, the fourth Colonel Carr. The first two divisions were com- 
manded by General Sigel. When the enemy drove in Sigol on the 6th, 
General Curtis became assured that their intention was to attack his 
right and rear, and early on the 7th he changed front, so that his right, 
which was at Sugar Hollow Creek, became his left, under Sigel, while 
Carr, at the head of Big Sugar Creek, held the new right. The line 
was across Pea Ridge. The division of Carr was ordered to advance 
up the road to within about four miles of the State line, and the bri- 
gade of Colonel Dodge filed off from the main road to a point east of 
the Elkhom hotel, and opened his fire upon the enemy, who, posted on 
a declivity in front, sheltered by a wood, promptly responded. The 
brigade of Vandeveer passed a half mile beyond the hotel and took 
position on the left of the road. At the same time a battery opened 
upon the enemy with great effect, but the reply of the latter was very 
sharp, exploding two of the Union caissons. It was now nine o'clock, 
and the whole lino being engaged, the enemy advanced with great fury, 
capturing one of the gims. The infantry supports (the Iowa Ninth), 
however, came up and delivered such a tire as compelled the enemy to 
promptly seek the shelter of the woods. The enemy seemed to be in- 
creasing in force, and the position was not well calculated to resist 
superior numbers. Hence Carr retired, fighting. The enemy made 
repeated charges, capturing another gun and caisson, but after each 
charge the ground showed the effects of the steady fire of the retiring 
troops. The enemy were armed with double-bari'eled shot-guns, loaded 
with ball and buckshot, an eflective weapon when the fire is reserved 
for short range. Carr was compelled still to retire, until about 4 p. m. 
Colonel Asboth supported him with two regiments and a battery, with 
which force he held his ground for the night. 

On the left, McCulloch commenced moving his forces to the south and 
east, evidently intending to form a junction with Van Dorn and Price, 
and by so doing to surround our entire ai-my on three sides, and at the 
same time cut off totally its opportunity of retreat. General Sigel, de- 
tecting this movement, sent forward three pieces of flying artillery, 
with a supporting force of cavalry, to take a commanding position, and 
delay their movements until the infantry could be brought up into 
proper position for an attack. 



300 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

These j)ieces had hardly obtained their position and opened fire, 
when an overwhelming force of the enemy's cavalry came down upon 
them, driving our cavalry, and capturing the artillery. This onslaught, 
which was made in handsome style, enabled their infantry to reach un- 
molested the cover of a dense Avood. Here McCulloch was encountered 
by Osterhaus, and a very severe struggle took place until Davis was 
ordered up to support tlie Union line. The Third Iowa was ordered 
forward to clear the timber, but the enemy were in great strength, and 
the cavalry were broken in disorder, followed closely by the enemy, 
who captured three guns. ' It was now that the Indiana regiments, un- 
der Osterhaus, came up at the run, and, delivering a murderous fire, 
followed by a bayonet charge, sent the Indians and Texans to the right- 
about and recovered the three pieces. Sigel then re-enforced the com- 
mand. The action recommenced with redoulded vigor. The enemy 
brought their heavy guns into position, and after an artillery duel the 
enemy retired in confusion, leaving their opponents masters of this 
part of the field. Thus the day closed with Union success on the left 
and defeat on the right. 

At dark the firing had ceased at all points, and the wearied men lay 
upon their arms in quiet expectation of the morning conflict. Colonel 
Carr's Division was now in the centre, having been re-enforced by Davis* 
on the right, while Sigel still held the left. The enemy, during the 
night, had planted some of his batteries on an eminence about two hun- 
dred feet high, sloping away to the north, but precipitous on the side 
in our front. Batteries and large bodies of infantry were posted at 
the right base of this hill and at the edge of some timber to its left. 
Infantry and cavalry, with a few guns, were posted on his extreme left 
beyond the road. It was apparent that if we could dislodge the rebels 
from this hill the victory would be with us. At sunrise the right and 
centre opeiie<l upon the enemy with their batteries, while the left, un- 
der Sigel, advanced against the hill occupied by the enemy. Having 
learned theexact position of the enemy''s batteries, he commenced to form 
his line of battle by changing his front so as to face the right flank of 
the enemy's position. He first ordered the Twenty-fiftli Illinois to 
take a position along a fence, in open view of the enemy's batteries, 
which at once opened fire upon it. Immediately a battery of six of 
our guns (several of them twelve-pounders, rifled) was thrown into 
line one hundred paces in the rear of our advanced infantry, on a rise 
of ground. The Twelfth Missouri then wheeled into line, with the 
Twenty-fifth Illinois on their left, and another battery of guns was sim- 
ilarly disposed a short distance behind them. Then another regiment 
and another battery wheeled into position, until thirty pieces of artille- 
ry, each about fifteen or twenty paces from the other, were in a con- 



* Jefferson C. Davis, in comm.ind of a division 
tinder General Curtis, was appointed, in 1S48, a 
second lieutenant of the First United States Ar- 
tillery. Ho was not instrueted at West Point. On 



Volunteers. IIo was commissioned brigadier-gen- 
eral of volunteers in December, ISCl, saw much 
service In Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, and 
in September, 1802, killed Gc'neral Nelson in an 



the 29t!i of February, 1852, be was promoted to a altercvtion and under great provocation. Ilcsub- 



flrst lieutenancy, and on the 14th of May, 1S61, 
was appointed ca])tain in the same regiment, 
being allowed leave of absence to take the com- 
toaad of tho Twcuty-second Kegiment of Indiana 

'3? 



scqucntly served under Itosecr.ans, and partici- 
pated with great credit in Sherman's campaigns 
of 1864-65, commanding, Anally, thp Fourteenth 
. Aa-my Corps. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION 301 

tinuous line, with infantry lying down in front. Each peace opened 
fire as it came in position. The fire of the entire line was directed so 
as to<.isilence battery after battery of the enemy. 

Such a terrible fire no human courage could stand. The crowded 
ranks of tlie enemy were decimated, their horses shot at their guns, 
large trees literally demolished ; but the rebels stood bravely to their 
post. For over two hours did the iron hail fell, until one by one the 
rebel pieces ceased to play. Onward crept our infantry ; onward came 
Sigel and his terrible guns. Shorter and shorter became the range. 
No charge of theirs could face that iron hail, or dare to venture on 
that compact line of bayonets. They turned and fled. The centre and 
right were ordered forward, the right turning the left of tlie enemy, 
and cross-firing on his centre. This final position of the enemy was in 
the arc of a circle. A charge of infantry, extending throughout the 
whole line, completely routed them, and they retreated through the 
deep, impassable defiles of Cross Timber, making again for Boston 
Mountain, closely pressed by the cavalry. The Union loss at the 
battle of Pea Ridge was, killed, two hundred and twelve ; wounded, 
nine hundred and seventy-two; missing, one hundred and seventy-six. 
The loss of the enemy was reported at two thousand ; among the pris- 
oners taken were General Herbert, Colonel Stone, adjutant-general, 
and Colonel Price. Among the killed were Ben McCulIoch, General 
Mcintosh, and General Stark. General Price was wounded. On the 
9th of March, General Van Dorn sent to request permission to bury 
the dead of the 7th and 8th. The permission was granted by General 
Curtis, who, however, complained that the Union dead had been, in 
some cases, scalped and mangled. This led to a correspondence, in 
which General Van Dorn, whilst expressing the greatest anxiety to 
repress the savage horrors of war, stated that numbers of Confederate 
prisoners, who had surrendered, were reported to have been murdered 
in cold blood by the Germans. General Curtis replied that he had no 
knowledge of any atrocities committed by German soldiers under his 
command. 

The victory at Pea Ridge cleared the northern part of Arkansas of 
regular Confederate forces ; those under Van Dorn and Price being 
called to the support of Beauregard at Memphis. Although there 
were now no enemy's troops in Northern Arkansas, it vfas not deemed 
prudent to advance upon Little Rock, for the reason that a communi- 
cation of three hundred miles by w^agons was very difficult to keep up, 
and General Curtis withdrew his troops from the State, and estabhshed 
his quarters, April 12th, at Forsyth, on the White River, forty-five 
miles south of Springfield. While here in camp, General Curtis issued 
the following special order, dated 

" Head-Quabters, Armt of the Southwest, March 2G. 
''' Charles Morton, Hamilton Kennedy, and Alexander Lewis, colored men, formerly 
slaves employed in the rebel service, and taken as contraband of war, are hereby con- 
fiscated ; and, not being needed for the public service, are permitted to pass the pickets 
of this command without let or hindrance, and are forever emancipated from the ser- 
vice of their masters, who allowed them to aid in the efforts to break up the Govern- 
ment and laws of our country." 



302 niSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

On the 1 9th, the advance under General Osterhaus, with about two 
hundred and fifty men, met a superior force of rebels near Searcy, on 
the Little Ked River, and after a sharp skirmish, put them to flight. 
They, liowever, succeeded in destroying the bridges along the route to 
the city. 

The news of the battle of Pea Ridge was telegraphed to Washing- 
ton by General Halleck, on the 10th of March, and on the 12th he 
pubHshed the following wder : 

Heab-Quahters, Department of the Mississippi, ) 
St. Louis, March 12, 1862. J 

"In compliance with orders of the President of the United States, the undersigned 
assumes the command of the Department of the Mississippi, which includes the present 
Departments of Kansas and Missouri, and the Department of the Ohio, and the country 
west of a north and south line drawn through Knoxville, Tennessee, and east of the 
western boundaries of the States of Missouri and East Arlcansas. The head-quarters of 
the Department of the Mississippi will remain, until further orders, at St. Louis. Com- 
manding ofiScers not in the Department of Missouri, will report to these hcad-quartera 
the strength and position of their several commands. H. W. Halleck, 

'■^ Major- General Commanding V 

The effect of this order was to bring the active operations in Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee under the control of General Halleck. He issued 
another order continuing Buell in his command, with the exception of 
depot of jjrisoners, which were to report to Halleck. General Denver 
was assigned to the District of Kansas, and General Curtis to Arkansas. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Island No. Ten. — Beauregard at Corinth. — Battle of Pittsbui^ Landing. — Huntsville.— 

Fort Wright. 

"When the enemy, on the 3d March, evacuated Columbus, they fell 
back upon Island No. Ten, in the Mississippi River, a place of remark- 
able strength as far as the river is concerned, but which, as it proved, 
was easily turned by a combined attack of the army and navy. The 
general course of the river is south, but at Island No. Ten it makes a 
sharp bend to the northwest for about twelve miles, and then turning 
southeast, forms a tongue of land, opposite the northern point of which, 
on the Missouri side, is New Madrid, which was held by a strong Con- 
federate force. On the 3d of March, General Pope arrived before New 
Madrid, the same day on which Columbus was evacuated — a fact of 
which he was, however, ignorant. He took possession of Point Pleas- 
ant, eight miles below New Madrid, with five thousand troops, in 
order to cut off communication from below, and erected heavy batte- 
ries, which prevented the passage of the rebel gunboats. The enemy 
erected batteries of their heaviest guns directly opposite New Madrid, 
and, in conjunction with their gunboats, attempted to shell Pope from 
his position, but without effect. New Madrid was defended by re- 
doubts at the upper and lower end, connected by lines of entrench- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 303 

ments, and six gmiboats were anchored along the shore between the 
redoubt?. The hind is there so low that the guns of the boats com- 
mand the country for some distance. 

General Pope, instead of making a direct attack, took up a position 
below the town, cutting off supplies and pushing forward works to 
command the place. On the 13th, fire was opened from these works, 
by which several of the enemy's gunboats were disabled. During the 
night, a furious storm took place, under cover of which the enemy 
evacuated the place, leaving behind thirty-three guns and several thou- 
sand stand of arms. The Union loss was fifty-one killed. 

The bombardment of Island No. Ten was begim on March IGth, by 
the gunboats, under Flag-ofiicer Foote. His fleet consisted of the 
Benton, flag-ship, the Cincinnati, Carondelet, Mound City, Louisville, 
Pittsburg, St. Louis, and the Conestoga, all being iron-clad except the 
last named, and a number of mortar-boats in tow of steamers. At 8 
A. M., all the gunboats dropped down stern foremost, to a point within 
one mile of the head of Island No. Ten, where, formed in line across 
the river, all headed up stream, the flag-ship several hundred yards in 
advance, they opened fire. The mortar-boats were got into position on 
the Missouri shore, half a mile above Missouri Point, whence they 
commenced throwing across or over the point on Island No. Ten. The 
fire of the gunboats continued with great vigor for several days, and 
"was rejilied to by the enemy. 

The siege, however, went on slowly, and the fire of the fleet seemed 
to make so little impression on the rebel works, that Flag-ofiicer Foote, 
in a dispatch of the 8th of March, said : — 

"Island No. Ten is harder to conquer than Columbus, as the island shores are lined 
with forts, each fort commanding the one above it. I am gradually approaching the 
island, but stiU do not hope for much until the occurrence of certain events, which 
promise success." 

Of the " events " here alluded to, the most important was the cut- 
ting of a canal through the inundated forest on the base of the penin- 
sula, opposite Island No. Ten, to New Madrid, with a view of thereby 
sending down to General Pope a sufllicient number of steamboats and 
barges to enable him to cross the river and attack the enemy in the 
rear. 

General Pope, from New Madrid and from Point Pleasant, on the 
Missouri shore below New Madrid, sustained almost a constant can- 
nonade. The enemy had four batteries, of six guns each, on the shore, 
looking up the river as it approaches Island No. Ten. The island 
itself was heavily fortified, and lying abreast of it in the river was a 
floating battery, earring twelve thirty-two-pound guns. There were 
also in the river six gunboats lying between the island and New Mad- 
rid. The force of the enemy was estimated at seven or eight thousand 
men. Although New Madrid had fallen, it was impossilble, for want 
of transportation, for General Pope to cross the river and co-operate 
with the fleet in an attack on the island. In this situation. General 
Schuyler Hamilton proposed to cut a canal twelve miles across this 
tongue, by which gunboats and transports could pass to New Madrid, 



304 niSTOEY or the great eebelliok 

and Genera] Pope directed Colonel Bissell, of the engineers, to execute 
the plan. The route was, for two miles, through thick timber, and 
ten through narrow, crooked bayous, full of brush and small trees; but 
by almost incredible labor and skill, within nineteen days, an avenue 
fifty feet was cut across the peninsula, the trees, in many instances, 
being sawed off four and a half feet under Avater. 

The enemy, aware of the movement on the land, had erected 
strongl)atteries to command the mouth of the canal, and one of their 
gunboats, the Grampus, was lying in wait to stop the exit of our 
boats, or aunihiliate them if they attempted to come out. Now, some 
daring act must be accomplished to relieve our boats. The rebels 
had made an excellent move, and we were in check. A conference 
of officers was held, at which it was decided that one of the gunboats 
must run past the batteries on the island. The Carondelet undertook 
it, and passed down on the night of the 4th, amidst a furious storm, 
towing a boat-load of hay on the side next to the enemy. 
^ While these events were happening, the enemy had been concentrar 
ting their forces at Corinth, to await the attack of the Union troops. 
Van Dorn and Price, in Arkansas, were drawing towards Memphis, 
and the troops that evacuated New Madrid had sought the same des- 
tination. The soldiers of Island No. Ten seemed to be intended to 
prevent Pope from re-enforcing Buell. On the 5th of April, a new- 
commander was sent to that point, who, on assuming command, issued 
the following order : — 

" Soldiers : "We are strangers, commander and commanded, each to the other. Let 
me tell you who I am. I am a general made by Beauregard, a general selected by 
Beauregard and Bragg for this command, when they knew it was in peril. They have 
known me for twenty years together. We have stood on the fields of Mexico. Give 
them your confidence now; give it to me when I have earned it. Soldiers, the Missis- 
sippi Valley is entrusted to your courage, to your discipline, to your patience. Exhibit 
the vigilance and coolness of last night, and hold it. 

" W. D. McCowN, Brigadier- General Commanding" 

The transports for General Pope passed the canal on the night of 
the 6th of April, and on the same night the gunboat Pittsburg ran 
past the island, and attacked the enemy's batteries at the point des- 
tined for crossing. Meantime the division of General Paine embarked 
in the boats that had come through the bayou, and was followed by 
the other corps. By twelve o'clock, at night, the Avhole army was 
over the river, and had made good its landing, immediately attacking 
the enemy, who abandoned his batteries anc[ retired upon the impas- 
sable swamps in his rear, where he was compelled to surrender. The 
capture was reported by General Pope as follows : — 

" Three generals, seven colonels, seven regiments, several battahons of infantry, five 
companies of artillery, over one hundred heavy siege-guns, twenty-four pieces of field 
artilleiy, nn immense quantity of ammimit-ion and supplies, several thousand stand of 
small arms, a great lumiber of tents, horses, wagons, &c., have fallen into our hands. 

"Before abandoning Island No. Ten, the enemy sunk the gunboat Grampus and six 
of his transports. These last I am raising, and expect to have ready for service in a 
few days. The famous floating battery was scuttled and turned adrift witli all her 
guns aboard; she was captured and run aground iu shoal water by our forces at New 
Madrid." 



HISTOKY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOIS'. 805 

Willie those events took place on the Tennessee shore, Island No. 
Ten surrendered to Commodore Foote, who ordered General Buford 
to take possession. He reported as captured — 

" Seventeen officers and three hundred and sixty-eight privates, besides one hundred 
of their sick, and one hundred men employed on board of the transports, are m our 
hands, unconditionally prisoners of war. I have caused hasty examination to be made 
of the forts, batteries, and munitions of war captured. There are eleven earthworks, 
with seventy heavy cannon, varying in calibre from thirty-two to one hundred pounders, 
rifled. The magazines are well supplied with powder, and there are large quantities 
of shot and shell, and other munitions of war, and also great quantities of provisions. 
Four steamers afloat have fallen into our hands, and two others, with the rebel gun- 
boat Grampus, are sunk, but will be easily raised." 

When the retiring columns of Confederate troops from FortDonel- 
Bon and Mill Spring had been combined at Corinth, great efforts were 
made by the Confederates to defend the Mississippi at that point. 
Generals Floyd and Pillow were suspended from their commands, and 
on the fifth of March, General Beauregard took command in the fol- 
lowing general order : — 

general order — no. 1. 

" Head-Quarters Army of the Mississippi, ) 
"Jackson, Tenn., March 5, 18G2. ) 

" Soldiers: — I assume this day the command of the Army of the Mississippi, for the 
defence of our homesteads and liberties, and to resist the subjugation, spoliation, and 
dishonor of our people. Our mothers and wives, our sisters and children, expect us 
to do our duty, even to the sacriflce of our lives. Our losses since the eoramencement 
of the present war, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, are now about the same as those 
of the enemy. He must be made to atone for those reverses we have lately experienced. 
Those reverses, far from disheartening, must nerve us to new deeds of valor and patriot- 
ism, and should inspire us with an unconquerable determination to drive back our 
invaders. Should any one in this army be unequal to the task before us, let him trans- 
fer his arms and equipments at once to braver, firmer hands, and return to his home. 
Our cause is as just and sacred as ever animated men to take up arms, and if we are 
true to it and to ourselves, with the continued protection of the Almighty we must and 
shall triumph. 

" G. T. Beauregard, General Commanding." 

On the same day. General 'Bragg issued a proclamation, establish- 
ing martial law at Memphis, and requiring the Louisiana and Missis- 
sippi troops to rendezvous at Grand Junction, and the Alabama and 
Tennessee troops at Corinth. Requisitions were made on these States 
for troops, and General Beauregard sent a member of liis staif to raise 
troops in Louisiana, besides requiring all plantation and other bells to 
be melted into guns. The Governor of Mississippi having issued a 
proclamation for the enrollment of new troops, Generals Bragg and 
Beauregard intrenched their forces at Jackson, Tennesee, and then 
gradually formed an army during the inaction of the Union troops after 
the fall of Donelson. There were no fortifications at Memj^his, but the 
defences of the city were at Fort Pillow and Fort Randolph, on the 
Mississippi River, sixty miles above. At this point there is a bold and 
nearly precipitous bluff, about eighty feet above the level of the river, 
commanding a stretch of three miles, while the land approaches are 
protected by a rugged conformation of the ground, and by Hatehee 
River, a small affluent of the Mississippi. 
20 



306 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

While the enemy were reorganizing and re-enforcing, Andrew 
Johnson had been a})pointed Governor of Tennessee, and arrived there 
amidst the excitement which was caused by the Emancipation Mes' 
sage of President Lincohi, sent to Congress, recommending the ado2> 
tion of a joint resolution that "The United States ought to co-operate 
with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 
giving to such State pecuniary aid." 

Early in March, a movement up the Tennessee River was projected, 
and the advance, under the command of Major-General C. F. Smith, 
proceeded in the direction of Savannah, which place was taken pos^ 
session of March lltli. It is situated on the east bank of the river, 
ten miles above Pittsburg Landing, on the west bank, and thirty 
miles from Corinth. The troops arrived in considerable numbers at 
Savannah, but for strategic reasons they were transferred to Pittsburg 
Landing by direction of General Smith, This disposition Avas ap- 
proved by General Grant, on his arrival in the latter part of March. 
Meanwhile, General Buell, with the Army of the Ohio, was directed to 
march from Nashville and co-operate with Grant. The efforts of tho 
enemy had collected a strong force at Corinth under Beauregard, to 
which were added the two divisions of General Polk that had evacu- 
ated Columbus, and the corps of General Bragg, from Pensacola. The 
design of the Union general was to operate from the Tennessee River, 
as a base, and cut off the communication of the enemy in ^Vest Ten- 
nessee with the Eastern and Southern States. This being suspected 
by the rebels, it was determined to attack Gi-ant at Pittsburg Landing 
before he could be re-enforced by Buell from Nashville. Accordingly, 
General A. S. Johnston, who had recently assumed the chief command 
at Corinth, on April 3d issued an address to his army, and an order, 
dividing it into three coijjs <Tarmee : the first under General Polk, 
embracing all his troops except those detached to Fort Pillow ; the 
second under Bragg; and the third under Hardee; while General 
Crittenden was assigned to a reserve, consisting of two brigades — the 
Avhole under General Johnston, with General Beauregard second in 
command.. The force thus organized was concentrated at Corinth, as 
the strategic point of the campaign, and numbered probably fifty thou- 
sand men, in addition to which re-enforcements were daily exi)ected 
tmder Van Dorn and Price. 

On the 5th of April the force under Grant, in the neighborhood of 
Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, as it is sometimes called, comprised five 
divisions under Major-General McClernand, Brigadier-General W. H. 
L, Wallace (commanding in the absence of General C. F. Smith, who 
was sick), Major-General Lewis Wallace, Brigadier-General Hurlbut, 
and Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman, the whole constituting what 
was known as the Army of West Tennessee. Of these. General Lewis 
Wallace's Division was at Crump's Landing, six miles below Pitts- 
burg Landing, while the remainder of the army lay immediately 
around the latter place. Buell's forces were twenty miles distant from 
the river, which they were approaching from the direction of Nash- 
ville as rapidly as the heavy roads would permit. The troops on the 
west bank of the Tennessee occupied the following positions: On 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK. 307 

the extreme right was Sherman's Division, resting on Owl Creek, about 
three miles from Pittsbm-g Landing; next came McClernand's Divi- 
sion; and next to him, on the left, was Brigadier-General Pren- 
tiss, having charge ot" a subdivision of McClernand's command, 
resting on Lick Creek, at a distance of nearly three miles from the 
river. W. PL L. Wallace's Division acted as a support to Sherman 
and MeClernand, and Hurlbut's as a support to the left wing under Prcn-j 
tiss. The troops thus formed a sort of semicircle between Owl and Lick 
Creeks, A\-liich run at right angles with the Tennessee River, and are 
about thi-ee milfs apart. They were probably too widely scattered to 
be enabled to supjiort each other readily in case of a sudden attack by 
superior numbers; but the field had been selected and the positions 
assigned by one of the ablest generals in the service, whose judgment 
has since been amply confirmed by the first military authorities of the 
country, and General Grant was additionally protected by several 
gunboats anchored ofi" the landing, and was also in hourly expectation 
of the arrival of General Buell. 

On the morning of April 3d, Johnston gave orders for the rebel 
troops to march from Corinth en route for Pittsburg Landing. In 
consequence of bad roads and inclement weather, the advance was un- 
expectedly slow, and it was not until the evening of the 5th that the 
attacking force was concentrated in the vicinity of the Federal position. 

The rebel army was formed in three lines. The first, under General 
Hardee, extended from Owl Creek on the left to Lick Creek on the 
right. The second, under Bragg, followed the first, at an interval of 
eight hundred yards, and the corps of Polk formed the third line, in 
columns of brigades, with batteries in rear of each brigade. The re- 
serves Avere under Breckinridge. At six o'clock on the morning of 
the 6th, the advancing line suddenly drove in the pickets of Prentiss's 
Corps. Into the half-aroused camps thronged the rebel regiments, 
firing sharp volleys as they came, and S2)ringing forward with the bay- 
onet. Some of the Union soldiers were shot down as they were run- 
ning, without weapons, hatless, coatless, towards the river. The 
searching bullets found others in their tents, where they still slum- 
bered, while the unseen foe rushed on. Others fell as they were dis- 
entangling themselves from the flaps that formed the doors to their 
tents ; others, again, as they were buckling on their accoutrements ; 
and not a few, it Avas said, as they were vainly trying to impress on 
the exultant enemy their readiziess to surrender. 

Officers were Avounded in their beds, and left for dead, who, through 
two days, lay gasping in their agony, and were subsequently found in 
their tents, still able to tell the tale. Thus Avere oA^erAvhelmed Pren- 
tiss's subdivision and Hildebrand's Brigade of Sherman's Division, 
Avhich retired, leaving their camps and guns. The remainder of Sher- 
man's Division, roused by the alarm, had sprung to their arms barely in 
time to receive the onslaught of the enemy, Avho came SAveeping against 
their front. They managed partially to check the advance and to 
retire upon a ridge in their rear, where they thwarted every efl:brt of 
the enemy to flank the army on the right, holding, as General Grant 
said, "the key-point of the Landing." 



308 HISTOET OF THE GREAT REBELLIOlSr. 

The shout of the men, the roar of guns, and rattle of muskets, were 
rousing rapidly the whole army, and McClernand soon formed his right 
to sustain Sherman. Prentiss's Corps was partially rallied in an 
open space, surrounded by scrub oaks, which was filled with the 
enemy, who, thus covered, slaughtered them at his leisure. Two 
whole regiments, with General Prentiss, were captured, and marched to 
the rear with others, and the sub-division was practically disorganized. 
The first available brigade of W. H. L, Wallace's Division now advanced 
to support Siuart, of Sherman's Division, but lost its way and was re- 
pulsed. Soon after McClernand got into action he was compelled to 
draw in his brigades that had supported Sherman, to protect his left 
against the onset of the rebels, who, seeing how he had weakened 
himself there, and inspired by their recent success over Prentiss, hurled 
themselves against him with tremendous force. A couple of new 
regiments, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa, were brought up, but to 
utterly raw troops the heavy fire was too severe a trial, and they gave 
way in confusion. To meet the attack, the whole division then made 
a change of front, and faced along the Corinth road. Here the batteries 
were placed in position, and till ten o'clock the rebels were foiled in 
every attempt to gain the road. 

This disposition, however, left a gap between McClernand and 
Sherman, which the rebels promptly availed themselves of for the 
purpose of turning the former's right. Dresser's Battery of rifled 
guns opened on them as they passed, and with fearful slaughter. The 
numbers of the enemy told terribly in the strife. The constant arrival 
of fresh regiments at last overpowered McClernand's shrinking division. 
The line and general othcers had sufiered severely. The batteries 
were broken up and several of the guns lost, but the soldiers fought 
bravely to the last, under a fearful disadvantage. Gradually they 
began falling back, more slowly than had Prentiss's regiments, and 
m iking more determined, because better organized, resistance ; occa- 
sionally rallying and repulsing the enemy in turn for a hundred yards, 
then being beaten back again, and renewing the retreat to some new 
position for fresh defence. The Union front to the left and centre Avas 
thus cleared of its original divisions, and at twelve o'clock the chief 
burden of the fight fell upon the divisions of Hurlbut, Wallace, and 
Sherman, which now stood between the army and destruction. The 
troops of the broken brigades and divisions had fallen to the rear, some 
stragglers going as far as the river bank. These were brought back, 
and in some cases regiments were patched up and hurried to the front. 
According to general understanding, in the event of an attack at Pitts- 
bui-g Landing, Major-General Lew. Wallace was to come in on our 
right and flank the rebels by marching across from Crump's Landing 
below. But, through misdirection as to the w^ay, he took a long and 
circuitous route, and never reached the battle-field until the fighting 
was over for the day. 

Meanw^hile the divisions of Hurlbut and W. IL L. Wallace, extending 
soinewhat to the left, nobly sustained an unequnl struggle against the 
overpowering rebel masses. Three times did the enemy bear heavily 
with their lull strength upon Hurlbut, and three times were they 



HKIORT OF THE GREAT REBELLION". 309 

reirrtised with terrible slaughter. But the force of the enemy was too 
great, and it was handled with admirable skill. Repulse was nothing 
to them. A rush on our lines tailed ; they took their disordered troops 
to the rear, and sent up fresh troops, who, ignorant of the fearful 
reception awaiting them, pushed forward without hesitation. The 
jaded division was finally compelled to yield, and, af.er six houis' 
magnificent fighting, fell back to a point within half a mile of the 
Landing. The retirement of Hurlbut left W. H. L. Wallace's Division 
still fiohting with determined front. It had for some hours maintained 
almost a continuous roll of musketry, and kept its ground against four 
separate charges of the enemy, but the supports being now gone, 
retreat was imperative. At this moment Wallace fell and was borae 
from the field, and the division fell back. 

It was now four o'clock in the afternoon, and both sides were some- 
what exhausted by ten hours of almost continuous fighting. Natu- 
rally enough, therefore, a lull took place in the firing, which was well 
improved by Grant. Sherman had meanwhile formed a new and 
strong line on the right, which was prolonged to the left by re-formed 
brigades and regiments from the i-emaining divisions of the army, 
while, with excellent judgment, Colonel Webster, Grant's Chief of 
Artillery, placed the remaining batteries in a semicircle on the left, so 
as to pour a concentrated fire upon the enemy, who, it was supposed, 
were massing for a last desperate onset in this direction. The gun- 
boats Tyler and Lexington also moved up to the mouth of Lick 
Creek, to bring their guns within range of the enemy, scarcely more 
than half a mile distant. In addition to this protection, the hard- 
pressed army ^\'ere cheered by the intelligence that Nelson's Division, 
constituting the advance of Buell, had reached the eastern bnnk of the 
Tennessee, and would soon cross to their assistance. Suddenly, at 
about five o'clock, the enemy burst upon the L^nion left, only to be 
swept dowm by steady volleys of musketry and the withering fire of 
the batteries. To add to their consternation, the huge guns of the 
Tyler and Lexington ploughed into their flanks. Again and again did 
the rebels attempt to break through the circle of fire within which the 
Union army stood at bay. The position seemed impregnable. Dis- 
appointed and disheartened, they at length retired at nightfall, and the 
battle was over for the day. So far was the Union army from being 
beaten, that General Grant had some time before this issued orders to 
his division commanders to prepare to assume the ofi^ensive at an early 
hour in the morning. 

The rebels had suffered severely during the day, and experienced an 
irreparable loss in the death of General Johnston, who was killed at 
half-past two o'clock. His troops, exhausted by the previous march 
and twelve hours' combat, could not collect and send to the rear the 
spoils capttired, but slept on their arms. General Beauregard, now in 
command, estabUshed his head-quarters at Shiloh Church, hoping that 
some delay would prevent the arrival of General Buell, who he knew 
was on the march. Throughout the night the gunboats bombarded 
the rebel position, not only preventing an advance, but actually com- 
pelling the enemy to retire a short distance. 



310 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

A drencliiiig rain set in during the night, in the midst of whicli the 
troops of General Buell arrived. He had reached Savannah on the 
evening of the 5th, General Nelson leading the advance. On tlie 
morning of the 6th, the firing in the direction of Pittsburg was heard, 
and Buell sent orders for the division in the rear to leave the trains 
and hurry forward. Nelson was ordered at half-past one o'clock to 
leave liis guns to be carried in steamboats, the roads being imprac- 
ticable. for artilleiy, and to march the men opposite Pittsburg Landing, 
Avhere General Buell himself arrived late on the Gth. 

During the night of the 6th the division of Nelson crossed the 
river, and took position on the Union left. It was followed by the 
divisions of Generals T. L. Crittenden and jMcCook, which were 
posted on the left centre and centre, Avhile the troops which had par- 
ticipated in the battle of the 6th occupied the right centre and right. 
The extreme right was held by General LeAvis Wallace's Division, 
which also arrived on the night of the 6th. The last-named general 
opened the action at an early hour on the lih, by shelling some rebel 
batteries in his immediate front, and under cover of his fire the Avhole 
right wing advanced some distance. The fighting was by no means 
so severe as on the preceding day, but the enemy, nevertheless, made 
some desperate eiforts on either Aving to maintain the ground they 
liad gained. At one time Wallace was so hard pressed that he Avas 
obliged to send to Sherman for aid. Finally, hoAvever, the rebels on 
this ])art of the line were pushed back beyond the position they had 
held on the night of the 5th, and retreated from the hard-fought field. 

On the left the contest Avas more severe. Nelson's Division was 
fir.st engaged, and advanced so rapidly as to expose its. right flank, 
Avhich forced him to retire until re-enforced by Boyle's Brigade, of 
Crittenden's Division, when he again moved forward, and drove back 
the enemy, capturing some of their guns, and occupying the rising 
ground in the front. On the right of Nelson came up Crittenden. 
BetAveen eight and nine o'clock, Avhile keeping Smith's Brigade on 
his left up even Avith Nelson's flank, and joining Boyle's Brigade to 
McCook on the right, in the grand advance, Crittenden came upon 
the enemy with a battery in position, and Avell supported. Smith 
dashed his brigade forward, and for a short time there was close work 
Avith musketiy, until the rebels fled, leaving us three jiieces — a tAvehe- 
pound howitzer and two brass six-pounders. For half an hour the 
storm raged around these captured guns. Then came the returning 
rebel Avave that had hurled Nelson back. Crittenden, too, caught its 
full force. The rebels SAvept up to the battery, and doAvn after our 
retreating column. But the two brigades, like those of Nelson to 
their left, took a fresh position, faced the foe, and held their ground. 
IMendenhall's and Bartlett's Batteries now began shelling the rebel 
infantry, which paused, and finally fell back. A gallant charge se- 
cured the contested battery, Avhile the rebels retreated toAvards the 
left. Smith and Boyle holding the infantry well in hand, Mendenhall 
again got their range, and poured in shell on the new position. 
The enemy's line noAV commenced a retrograde movement, which 
Ijoth Nelson and Crittenden vigorously pushed. The brigade of 



HISTOEY OF TIIE GEE AT EEBELLION. 311 

Wood arrived soon after, and joined in the pursuit, and the left was 
safe. 

Meantime, McCook, in the centre, after a fierce fight with the op- 
posing foe, had driven him to the woods. As Buell's fresh troops 
successively arrived upon the left and centre, the enemy, Avhose re- 
serves were exhausted, commenced, about two o'clock, a general 
retreat. At a distance of eight hundred yards he made a stand and 
opened with his artillery, but, being pushed by Crittenden, retired 
with the loss of a battery. The rear-guard of the enemy, under 
Breckinridge, held, on the night of the Yth, during a severe rain, the 
ground occupied by him on the night of the 5th. On the 8th, Gen- 
eral Sherman started in pursuit, and succeeded in routing a body of 
rebel cavalry, whose camp he captured, with a quantity of ammu- 
nition. The line of retreat was found to be strewn with small-arms, 
clothing, and accoutrements. The constant rains had made the roads 
nearly impassable, and the j^ursuit, in consequence, soon terminated. 
The official report of General Beauregard placed his loss at one thou- 
sand seven hundred and twenty-eight killed, eight thousand and 
twelve wounded, and nine hundred and fifty-nine missing ; total, ten 
thousand six hundred and ninety-nine. His forces did not retain 
any of the material captured on Sunday, except that the men who 
were badly armed exchanged their weapons for the superior rifles 
found on the battle-field. The Union loss of cannon on the 6th was 
about balanced by their captures on the 7th. The Union loss in the 
two days' fighting was reported as follows : — 

GENEEAL GRANT's AEMY. 

Divisions. Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total. 

1. Genera! MeClernand 251 1,351 236 1,848 

2. General W. H. L. Wallace 228 1,033 1,163 2,424 

3. General Lew. Wallace 43 257 5 305 

4. General Hurlbut •. 313 1,449 223 1,985 

5. General Sherman 318 1,275 441 2,034 

6. General Prentiss 196 5G2 1,802 2,760 

1,349 5,927 3,870 11,356 

GENERAX buell's ARMY. 

Divisions. Killed. Wounded. Missing, Total. 

2. General McCook 95 793 8 896 

4. General Nelson 90 591 58 739 

3. General Crittenden 80 410 27 517 

265 1,794 93 2,152 

Grand Totals 1,614 7,721 3,963 13,508 

On the 9th, General Beauregard sent a flag to General Grant for 
permission to bury the dead outhe camp-grouud captured on Sunday. 
General Grant replied that he had already caused the dead of both 
parties to be buried. The number so buried was about three thou- 
sand, out of three thousand three hundred and forty-two reported 
killed on both sides. 



312 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



Much hostile criticism has been expended on General Grant by ill- 
informed or unfriendly persons, for his management of the battle of 
April 6th. Withoiit going into any inquiry of the facts of the case, 
it may be sufficient here to say, that General W. T. Sherman, who bore 
BO distinguished a part in the contest, voluntarily published, two years 
after the battle, a statement vindicating General Grant from all 
charges of negligence, incompetency, and other improper conduct. 
From this it appears that the latter, far from admitting that he had 
been defeated, had actually made preparations to renew the attack on 
the 7th, before intelligence reached him of the arrival of Buell's ad- 
vance. On the other hand. Generals Grant and Halleck speak in the 
strongest terms of the sei'vices rendered by General Sheraian on the 
6th, the former stating that it was to his individual efforts he was 
indebted for the success of that battle. 

While these events were taking place on the Tennessee River, Gen- 
eral Mitchel * had occupied Shelbyville, Tennessee, and moved upon 
the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad with great rapidity 
and success. Colonel Turchin's brigade of infantry, with Kennett's 
cavalry, marched twenty-five miles over a broken road in fourteen 
hours, and entered Huntsville on the night of the 11th, capturing 
many locomotives, and two siege-guns. Huntsville is an important 
point on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and one of 
the most beautiful cities of Alabama. Among the papers captured by 
Mitchel at this place was the following from Beauregard: — 

" COEINTH, April 9. 
" General Samuel Cooper, Richmond, Virginia : 

" All present probabilities are that whenever the enemy moves on this position, he 
"Will do so with an overwhelming force of not less than eighty-five thousand men. "We 
can now muster only about thirty-five thousand efiective men; Van Dorn may possibly 
join us in a few days with fifteen thousand more. Can we not be re-enforced from 
Pemberton's army? If defeated here, we lose the Mississippi Valley, and probably 
our cause ; whereas we could even afford to lose for a while Charleston and Savannah, 
for the purpose of defeating Buell's army, which would not only insure us the Valley 
of the Mississippi, but our independence. P. G. Beaueegabd." 

Two expeditions were dispatched soon afterwards from Huntsville, 
one of which, under Colonel Sill, of the Thirty-second Ohio, went east 
to Stevenson, Alabama, the junction of the Chattanooga with the Mem- 
phis and Charleston Railroad, where he captured two thousand of the 
enemy without firing a shot. Colonel Sill also captured five locomo- 
tives and a large amount of roHing stock. The other expedition, under 
Colonel Turchin, went west, and arrived at Decatur in time to save 



* Ormsby McKnight Mitchel -vvas a native of 
Kentucliv, anil graiiuatetl at West Point in 1S29. 
On the 30th day of August, 18'29, he was appointed 
assistant professor of mathematics at the Military 
Academy, which position he retained until the 
28th of August, 1831. Ho resigned his military 
rank on the 30th day of September, 1832, and 
practised law in Cincinnati, from 1832 to 1S34 
He next became a professor of mathematics, phi- 
losophy, and astronomy, at the Cincinnati College, 
in Ohio, which position ho held from 1834 to 1844. 
He became the founder and director of the obser- 
vatory in Cincinnati in 1845, and edited and pub- 
lished a noted astronomical journal entitled the 



Sidereal Messenger. From 1S47 to 1548 he waa 
adjutant-general of the State of Ohio, and in 1S48 
was appoiute"d the chief engineer of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Kailroad. He was for some years con- 
nected with the Dudley Observatory at Albany as 
director, which position he held when, on the 9th 
of August, 1S61, ho was commissioned a brigadier- 
general of volunteers. He was then ordered to 
report to the commander of the new Department 
of the Ohio, which embraced his native State. 
His exploits at Ilimtsville procured for him, 
April 1.5fh, the commission of major-general; ana 
subsequently,he succeeded General Hunter in com- 
mand at Tort Koyal, where he died of yellow fcvtir. 





---J 



^/[aigl: 



HISTORY OF TILE GREAT REBELLION. 313 

the railroad bridge, -which was in flames. Decatur is a post village 
of Morgan County, Alabama, situated on the left bank of the Tennessee 
River, thirty miles west by southwest of Iluntsville. It is on the 
route of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, distant about forty-four 
miles from Tnscumbia. 

On thf! 24tli of April, General Mitchel's advance, under Turchin, 
reached Tuscminbia, of)po8it(! (Jorinth. Meantime, the gunboats on 
the Tenn(!Ksee River ellected a j)assage over the irnisclc shoals, an ex- 
tensive series of rapids, which are i)as8ablo only at very high stages 
of water. 



CHAPTER XXVII. • 

Iffilleck at Pittmburpc Lanrlinj^. — VnW of Corinth. — PiirHuit. — Mempliis Occupied. — Gen- 
eral Grant. — J'^nd of Campaign. — Halleck at WaHJiiiigtf)n. 

General Halleck was appointed to the command of the Depart- 
ment of the Mississi]»pi on llie lOth of March, but it was not until the 
1.5th of April, after the reduction of Island No. Ten had liberated Gen- 
eral Pope's command, and the severe battle at l*itts}>urg Laixliiig had 
caused a further concentration of the Confederates at Corintli, and 
General Mitchel had obtained control of the railroad, ihat he assumed 
command in the ii(;ld. His operations were confined to tlie reduction 
of the enemy's position at (Jorinth, whither Beauregard had fallen 
back from the battle-field of Shiloh. He had, by river, full (communi- 
cation with Cairo, whither his wounded were S(!nt by steamer, and 
whence he drew in [jrofusion every needed supply, yet it was not un- 
til the close of May that he ascertaine<I there was no longer any enemy 
at Corinth — Heauregard having effected his retreat. Corinth is a very- 
important strategical point, situated in a hilly, semi-mountainous coun- 
try — a branch of the Aj)|»alachian range, which diverges from the 
Alleghany Mountains, and forms the mountains and gold-bearing 
regions of (Jeoigia and Alabama. Here, also, is the junction of the 
Mempliis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio Railroads, which form 
the means of communication between the Atlantic ami Gulf sea}*oards. 
Doubtless the troops were on both sides mu(ch disorgarii/ed, and time 
was required to lestore the ni,orale of the army. Fresh horses were 
required, as well as caissons, gun-carriages, and small-arms, l)ut all 
these were within reach at Cairo and St. Louis. I'he enemy, with 
greaUrr wants, had less means of supplying them. General Halle('k 

{.)roceeded with the utmost caution, and seemed determined to have 
lis army re-enforced and well equipped before making a forward 
movement. The trooj>s of Huell and Grant were concentrated. Pope 
was summoned with his command from the Mississippi, and Mitchel 
was directed to threaten lh(; light flank and rear of the enemy at luka, 
a few miles southeast of ( 'orinth. On the reduction of Island No. Ten, 
the flotilla was transferred to Flag-officer Davis — Commodore Footo 
being disabled by a severe wouml — and was order(;d to follow the 
enemy to Fort W rig) it, fifty mil(!S above Memphis, to which place he had 
fallen back. Tiie fleet was accompanied by I'ope's troops in transports. 



314 HISTORY or TIIE GREAT EEBELLIO]^- 

On April 13th the fleet arrived oiF Fort Wright. In this neighbor- 
hood the river floAvs east from Island No. Thirty-Two to Island No. 
Tliirty-Three, when it takes a westerly direction, flowing round a blufi", 
and again takes an easterly course. It thus forms two points — that of 
Fort Wright, on the Tennessee shore, and another nearly ojiposite in 
Arkansas. The latter point, flat and marshy, is protected from the 
overflow of the river by a levee which extends down the whole river 
to New Orleans ; on that point the army of Pope was landed on the 
night of the 15th, the day on which Halleck took command at Pitts- 
burg. The enemy sent over small parties in skifts and cut the levee in 
four places. The water poured through the cuts in torrents, deepen- 
ing and widening them constantly, until the inundation not only of the 
point became a certainty, but on the bottoni-lands of the whole eastern 
portion of Arkansas. Their object was doubtless to prevent antici- 
pated operations by our army, and it compelled the re-euibarkation of 
the troops upon the transports. On the 18tl), General Pope received 
orders to repair to Pittsburg Landing, where he arrived on the 24th, 
and landed at Hamburg, forming the left of Halleck's army, on the same 
day that Mitchel occujjied Tuscumbia. The enemy's force at the same 
time was augmented by the armies of Van Dorn and Price at Mem- 
phis, and the latter general was transferred to the command at Fort 
Wright. 

The enemy's outposts still hovered around Pittsburg Landing. They 
had strong advance forces at Purdy, Pea Ridge, and Monterey, respec- 
tively, six, eight, and ten miles from the landing. On the 2'7th of 
April, the several divisions of Halleck's army began to move forward 
slowly, and General Ilurlbut occupied Shiloh Church, which had been 
held by Beauregard on the 6th, the enemy retiring with small loss. 
General Grant also moved his head-quarters nearer the front. The im- 
passable state of the roads, it was alleged, prevented a more rapid move- 
ment in advance. Beginning on the extreme right, the advanced divi- 
sions of the army were placed as follows : Sherman's, McCook's, Mo- 
Arthur's (late C. F. Smith's), Crittenden's, and Nelson's, the centre 
resting on Hamburg, a landmg on the river, some four or five miles 
above Pittsburg landing. The reserve divisions of the army, commen- 
cing at the right, were Wallace's, McCIernand's, Hurlbut's, and Mc- 
Kean's. General Grant commanded the right and right centre of the 
army. General Buell the left and left centre, and General Pope the ex- 
treme left, in all about one hundred thousand efiective troops. The 
troops continued to press forward at various points, as circumstances 
•would permit, and on the 3d May, General Paine's Division of Pope's 
Corps reconnoitred in force as far as Farmington, which is fifteen miles 
from Pittsburg Landing and five miles from Corinth. Here he en- 
countered a force of four thousand and five hundred of the enemy, Avith 
four guns ; after a sharp encounter, the enemy Avere driven back with loss, 
and the Union troops held the position, throAving out pickets tOAvards 
Corinth. At tlie same time an artillery reconnoissance was made to 
Glendale, southeast of Corinth, on the Memphis and Charleston Rail- 
road, where the bridges Avere destroyed. On the 9th, a strong force of 
lite enemy under General Bragg attacked the Union troops, occupying 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOK. 315 

Farmington, but after a sharp engagement, with considerable loss on 
either side, was driven off. The lines of Halleck's army were now 
twelve miles in extent, forming the segment of a circle, of which the 
right, threatening the Memphis road, was about a mile nearer Corinth 
than the left. The former wing had recently been transferred to Gen- 
eral Thomas, while Grant became second in command under Halleck. 
On the 25th the army moved up to within three-fourths of a mile 
of the enemy's works and intrenched. It was now forty-five days 
since General Halleck had taken the command at Pittsburg Landing, 
and, moving forward by regular approaches, he had, with occasional 
skirmishes, gained about sixteen miles of ground, but the amount of 
labor done was very great. The long line of the advancing army, in 
order to keep an unbroken front, was compelled to make roads. 
Hardly a division made a movement that did not cut a new road through 
the Avoods, with bridges for the ravines, and long lines of corduroy for 
the swamps. Even brigades required short roads to the left or right 
of their division road to enable them to occupy their places in the line ; 
and thus the whole country was covered with a network of roads. In 
this immense labor the time was occupied. On the morning of the 2Sth, 
General Halleck sent Colonel Elliott, with a large cavalry force, to 
seize Booneville on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, with a view 
of cutting Beauregard's communications with the south ; and three re- 
connoitring parties, one each from Thomas on the right, Buell in the 
centre, and Pope on the left, advanced to feel the enemy's position and 
ascertain his strength. They were met with great determination, but 
succeeded in holding the ground gained. 

While these events were in progress, the flotilla, that had reached 
Fort Wright April 13th, opened its fire upon the forts on the 15th, 
with fourteen mortar-boats. The siege was continued until the 8th 
May, Mhen the Confederate flotilla cf eight gunboats, of which several 
were rams, advanced up the ri\er and engaged Davis's vessels ; alter an 
hour's conflict, they retired, with the loss of three boats. The opera- 
tions against the fort were then prolonged until June 4th, when it was 
discovered that the place was abandoned, all the guns carried oif, and 
stores and supplies destroyed. Perceiving that Memphis would soon 
be uncovered to the Union forces on the river, Beauregard decided, as 
a consequence, that Corinth was no longer tenable. When, therefore, 
General Halleck was finally ready for the assault of Corinth, he dis- 
covered it to be evacuated. The movement was complete ; every thing 
had been carried off or destroyed. The case was similar to the fall of 
Yorktown. The combat of the 28th was described in General Halleck's 
dispatch as follows : — 

" Head-Quarters Department op tub Mississippi, ) 
" Camp on the Corinth Road, May 28, 1«62. ) 

" Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" Three strong reconnoitring columns advanced this morning on the right, centre, and 
left, to feel the enemy and unmask his batteries. The enemy hptly contested his ground 
at each point, but was driven back with considerable loss. 

"The column on the left encountered the strongest opposition. Our loss is twenty- 
five killed and wounded. The enemy left thirty dead on the field. Our losses at other 



316 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

points are not yet ascertained. Some five or six officers and a number of privates 
were captured. 

" The fightmg will probably be renewed to-morrow at daybreak. The whole country 
is so thickly wooded that we are compelled to feel our way. 

"H. W. Halleck, Major- General." 

"Near Corioth, May 30, 18G2. 
"Hon. E. M. Stanton: 

" General Pope's heavy batteries opened upon the enemy's detachments yesterday 
about ten a. m., and soon drove the rebels from their advanced batteries. 

" Major-Geueral W. T. Sherman estabhshed another heavy battery yesterday after- 
noon within one thousand yards of their works, and skirmishing parties advanced at 
daybreak this morning. Three of our divisions are already in the enemy's advanced 
works, about three-quarters of a mile from Corinth, which is in flames. The enemy 
has fallen back of the Mobile and Ohio Eailroad. 

"R. "W. KALhECK, Major- General." 

"Neak Corinth, May 30, 1862. 
"Hon. E. M. Stanton: 

" Our advance-guard are at Corinth. 

" Conflicting accounts as to the enemy's movements. He is believed to be in strong 
force on our left flank, some four or five miles south of Corinth, near the Mobile and 
Ohio Railroad. 

"H. W. Halleck, Major- General" 

These dispatches are dated on the 30th, and it is remarkable that, 
although General Halleck had in person been forty-three days within 
sixteen miles of Corinth, and had, on the 28th, sent forward three 
reconnoitring parties, he knew nothing whatever of the movements of 
the enemy. In his dispatch of the 31st, he says : — 

"The evacuation of Corinth commenced on "Wednesday (the 28th), and was com- 
pleted on Thursday night (tlie 29th), but in great haste, as an immense amount of 
property was destroyed and abandoned. 

"No troops have gone from here to Richmond unless within the last two days." 

Thus, while Pope and Sherman were " establishing their batteries,'* 
the evacuation had already taken place. At five o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 30th, some explosions were heard in Corinth, which excited 
attention in Pope's Corps ; and his pickets, finding no skirmishers in 
front, rode up to the enemy's intrenchments and found them deserted. 
On report of this fact, the whole corps was ordered forward, and occu- 
pied the city at eleven a. m. At the same time, General Granger, of 
the cavalry, left Farmington, in direct pursuit of the enemy. On the 
evening of the 30th, he overtook their rear-guard at Tuscumbia Creek, 
eight miles south of Corinth. It was driven out on the 31st, and on 
the 1st of June the pursuit was rocommenced. Granger overtook the 
enemy at Booneville. Meantime, Colonel Elliott, who had left camp 
on the 28th, had entered Booneville, and captured a number of strag- 
glers, deserters, and invalids, and two thousand five hundred small- 
arms ; also some cars which had not passed the Hatchee River before 
the bridge was burned. He was too late, however, to cut the enemy's 
communications, as the greater part of Beauregard's army had already 
passed Booneville in their retreat south. 

Both Granger and Elliott then continued the pursuit some miles 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 31 7 

farther without any material results. The enemy took position at 
Twenty-Mile Creek, twenty-five miles from Corinth, and remained 
there until June 8th. General Pope remained near Booneville, draw- 
ing his rations from Tennessee River ; and the division of McClernand 
occupied the country between the Tennessee River and the Mississippi 
Central Railroad, and north of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. 
General Ilalleck occupied Bolivar, and a force under Marsh seized 
Jackson, Tennessee. 

When the enemy evacuated Fort Wright, and also Fort Randolph, 
which is a short distance above, they carried away or destroyed every 
thing of value. The troops under Colonel Fitch landed and took pos- 
session without any opposition. The gunboat fleet, consisting of the 
Benton, Louisville, Carondelet, Cairo, and St. Louis, under Flag-officer 
Davis, and the ram fleet, under Colonel Ellet, got away at noon of 
June 3d, for Memphis, and reached Island No. Forty-four, near Mem- 
phis, at night, having on the way captured the steam-transport Sover- 
eign. The Confederate fleet — consisting of the following vessels : the 
General Van Dorn (flag-shij)), General Bragg, General Lovell, Jeff. 
Thompson, Beauregard, Little Rebel, and bumter — were discovered 
lying near Memphis. During the night the rebel fleet moved down 
the river, and at daylight were seeu coming up in line of buttle. Our 
gunboats had, in the mean time, weighed anchor, aiid, fol!<^wed by 
several rams, moved towards the enemy's fleet. The action was com- 
menced by the Little Rebel, and terminated, in an hour and a half, 
in the capture or destruction of five vessels. The Van Dorn escai)ed. 
The Union ram Queen of the West was disabled. After the return of 
our gunboats from the pursuit, Commodore Davis sent the following 
note to the mayor of the city of Memphis : — 

"United States Flag-steamer Benton, ) 
" Off Memphis, June 6. J" 
" I have respectfully to request that you will surrender the city of Memphis to the 
authority of tlie United States, which I have the honor to represent. 
"I am, Mr. Mayor, with high respect, your obedient servant, 

"C. N. Davis, Flag- Officer.'' 

In reply, the mayor says : — 

" Your note received, and in reply I have only to say, as the civil authorities have 
no means of defence, by the force of cricumstances the city is in your bauds. 

"John Park, Mwjor." 

At eleven o'clock a. m., Colonel Fitch, with the Indiana Brigade, 
arrived and took military possession. He immediately notified the 
judges of the courts to dismiss all causes based on the Southei-n Con- 
federacy. Judge Swayne refused to hold a court under military dic- 
tation. The stores were all closed and the city was quiet, but a quan- 
tity of cotton that had been fired was still burning. 

Memphis remained under command' of Colonel Fitch until June lYth, 
on which day General Lew. Wallace, who, on the evacuation of Cor- 
inth, had been dispatched towards Memphis, entered the city, and 
took command by virtue of his superior rank. Meanwhile, Colonel 



318 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJiT. 

Fitcli had left Memphis on the 13th, to accompany an expedition com- 
posed of the gunboats St. Louis, Lexington, Conestoga, and Mound 
City, accompanied by transports carrying the Forty-third and Forty- 
sixth Indiana Regiments, for the purpose of removing the obstructions 
in White liivei. When near White River, a Confederate steamer was 
captured. 

On the l7tb, the expedition reached St. Charles, eighty-five miles 
above the mouth of the river, where the enemy had erected a battery. 
An engagement ensued, lasting an hoar and a half. While the gun- 
boats engaged the battery, the troops, under Colonel Fitch, landed a 
short distance below, and proceeded to storm the place. He carried 
it at the point of the bayonet, and with suaall loss. The enemy lost 
one himdred and twenty-five killed and wounded. During the can- 
nonading a ball entered the boiler of the Mound City, causing a fearful 
explosion and loss of life. The crew consisted of one hundred and 
seventy-five men, of whom nearly one hundred and twenty-five were 
killed or wounded. Colonel Fitch took possession of St. Charles, Ar- 
kansas, which he contimied to hold. 

On tlie 26th June, General U. S. Grant was appointed to the com- 
mand of Western Tennessee, head-quarters at Memphis. The season 
of active operations was now passed, and three new divisions of the 
army which had operated against Corinth were created. The Army 
of West Tennessee, under General Grant, was assigned to a line run- 
ning along to the Memphis and Charleston Raihoad from Corinth to 
Memphis, and along the line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in the 
direction of Kentucky, where General Quimby was now in command 
of a division of Kansas troops. General Sherman's Division was be- 
tween Grand Junction and Memphis; and that of General Lew. Wal- 
lace was on the line of the Mississippi Central, between Grand Junc- 
tion and Jackson. The Army of the Ohio, under Buell, occupied the 
Memphis and Charleston Railroad, from the Alabama line towards 
Chattanooga. General Pope, after remaining for some weeks in the 
neigliborhood of Corinth, was summoned eastward, and on June 2Gth 
appointed to command the Army of Virginia, comprising the corps of 
Fremont, Banks, and McDowell. 

The enemy, meanwhile, showed no immediate disposition to move. On 
the loth June, General Beauregard turned over his command, which was 
reported eighty thousand strong, at Okalona, to General Bragg. He 
reached IMontgomery on the iVth, and repaired in person to Richmond. 
General Kirby Smith was reported twenty thousand strong at Chat- 
tanooga. General Price with fifteen thousand at Fulton, while Van 
Dorn held Granada, Mississippi, with a small cavalry force. The ene- 
my had carried out his policy of destroying the cotton by fire. . On the 
MississijDpi, from Memphis to Vicksburg, a belt of country fifteen miles 
on each side had been stripped of its cotton. The banks of the White 
and Arkansas Rivers were also devastated by the torch; and many 
thousand bales were burned. After the continued excitement of the 
ninety days that preceded the fall of Corinth and Memphis, a season 
of quiet, in a military sense, fell upon the Western Department. During 
the active season, the Army of the Mississippi certainly achieved great 



niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 319 

things, and in nothing so well served the country as in furnishing victory 
after victory at a time when delay and disaster at the East would have 
plunged the jjeople in gloom, and in permanently restoring Missouri, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee to the Union. The National arms, pushed 
into the Gulf States, had secured possession of all the great rivers and 
routes of internal commvmication through the heart of the Confederate 
territory, and the enemy's strength was so shaken as to prevent any 
immediate renewal of the war in that quarter. 

At the same time, reverses overtook the operations at the East ; 
and, after the disastrous result of the Peninsular campaign. President 
Lincoln, in view of the great military reputation enjoyed by Halleck, 
determined to summon him to Washington, and give him the chief 
direction of the war. Accordingly, the following order was issued : — 

"Executive Mansion, July 1], 1862. 
" Ordered, That Major-Goneral Henry W. Halleck be assigned to the command of the 
■whole land forces of the United States as general-in-chief, and that he repair to this 
capital as soon as he can with safety to the position and operations within the depart- 
ment now under his special charge. 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

In accordance with this order, General Halleck, on the 16th July, 
took leave of the Western armies, and proceeded immediately to 
Washington. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Operations of the Army of Virginia under General Pope. — New Policy of Conducting 
the War. — Cedar Mountain. — Line of the Rappahannock. — Flanking Movement of 
Stonewall Jackson. — Second liattle of Bull E.un. — Chantilly. — Death of Kearny. — 
Evacuation of the Peninsula. 

Upox assuming command of the Army of Virginia, General Pope 
found that the three corps of which it was composed numbered less 
tlian forty thousand infantry and artillery, and about five thousand 
cavalry, the latter being for the most part badly armed and mounted, 
and in poor condition for service. General Fremont, commanding the 
First Corps, upon learning that he was to be under the orders of Pope, 
was relieved at his own request, and succeeded by Sigel. At the 
close of June, Sigel's and Banks's Corps were in the Valley of the 
Shenandoah, between Winchester and Middletown, and McDowell's 
occupied Fredericksburg and Manassas Junction, one division being at 
each place. The momentous engagements which ended in the retreat 
of McClellan to the James River were then in prog'/ess, and so largely 
had the rebels drawn upon their outlying forces to strengthen the 
army in Richmond, that no considerable body of the enemy was 
within a week's march of any one of the above corps. The object of 
placing them under the command of a single general was to increase 
their efficiency, and to prevent the embarrassments which were likely 
to arise from three separate armies, under as many commanders, at- 



320 HISTOET OF THE GSHAT EEBELUOX. 

tempting to act in coacert. The experience of the recent brief but 
excitinu Sheuandoaji campaisfn. had satisried the President that in any 
simiLir Ixitnre emergency it "was indispet: sable that one head should 
control the militiiry movements. As he had no disposition to do that 
hinaseli", he caikd to his aid General Pope, then generally considered 
one of the most successfu nd capable of the Western generals. 

Pope's tir*t care was to dispose his troops in such a mnnner as to 
coTer Wasiiington, to secnre th •safety of the Lower Shenandoah 
Valley, and. La accordance "with the T\-isnes of the Government, "to 
operate upon the enemy's lines of communication in the di: ection of 
Gordonsville and Charlottesville, so as to draw o^ if possible, a con- 
siderable force of the enemy from Kichmond, and thus relieve the 
operations against that city of the Army of the Potomac." These 
several objects he thought could b-^ best effected by concentrating the 
greater part of his forces between Sperry^-ille and Warrenton. east of the 
Blue Ridge, and about thirty-live miles north of Gordonsville. From 
this position they cotild watch an army marching down the Valley, or 
^preaching Washington by the line of the Rappahannock, and wotild 
be prepared to srrike with full strength at either ; and they could also 
demonstrate against Gordonsville. The corps of Sigel and Banks 
"were accordingly ordered thither from the valley, together "with Rick- 
etts's Division of McDowell's Corps from M:iuassas Junction ; while 
King^ Division of the same cc ^s was sulfered to remain at Freder- 
icksburg to protect the crossing of the Rappahannock at that point, 
and the railroad running thence to Aquia C reek- 
Before these dispositions were completed, occurred the seven days' 
fighting before Richmond, the restilt of which was to interpose the 
rebel army directly between those of Pope and McClellan, and enable 
Lee, having interior lines, to strike at either of them in greatly supe- 
rior numbers. The grave complications which this state of affairs 
seemed Lkely to produce, ineludmg possibly the capture of the Federal 
Capital, made it imperative, in the opinion of the President, that the 
Armies of Virginia and the Potomac, though continuing distinct 
organizations, under their present commanders, should be controlled 
by an odicer of higher authority than either of them. Otherwise, 
there was no certainty of insuring harmonious co-operation between 
the two armies, and without such co-<:>peration the L'nion cause would 
be greatly imperiLed. For this reason. General Halieck was called to 
W:tshington, uiid placed in general command. Pending his arrival, 
and the military policy which should then be determined upon. Gen- 
eral Pope occupied himself with reorganizing his forces, the cavalry 
of which was geuer:dly in poor condition, and with supplying them 
"with the material necessary for active operations in the field. After 
two weeks spent in this manner, and in thoroughly acquainting him- 
self with the country in which he was to operate, he issued the follow- 
ing address to his troops : — 

•* Washix 3T0X, ifondiy. Jul'j 1-L 
^To ihi Of'^:e"i end Soldi'srs of €it Army of Yirjinia: 

•Bj sccCij-L aiaiziuneiii of ihe President of the United States, I have assomed oom- 
Biand of this annj. 



HISTOKY or THE GEEAT EEBELLIOX. 321 

"I have spent two weeks in learning tout whereabouts, tout condition, and tout 
wants ; in preparing vou for active operations, and in placing vou in positions from 
which you can act promptly and to the purpose. 

" I have come to you from tiie "West where we have always seen the backs of our 
enemies — from an army whose busi ^5s it has been to seek the adversary, and to beat 
him when found — whose pohcy hai *aen attack, and not defence. 

"In but one instance has the enemy been able to place our Western armies in a 
defensive attitude. ^ r 

" I presume that I have t ai called here to pursue the same system, and to lead 
you against the enemy. 

'• It is my purpose to do so, and that speedily. 

" I am sure you long for an opportimity to win the distinction you are capable of 
achieving — that opportunity I shall endeavor to give you. 

" Meantime I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases which I am 
sorry to find much in vogue amongst you. 

'■I hear constantly of taking strong positions and holding them — of lines of retreat — 
and of bases of supphes. Let us discard such ideas. 

" The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is one from which he can 
most easily advance against tbe enemy. 

- '"Let us study tlie probable hues of retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to 
take care of themselves. 

"Let us look before us, and not behind. 

" Success and glory are in the advance. 

"Disaster and shame lurk in the rear. 

" Let us act on this understanding, and it is safe to predict that your banners shall 
be inscribed with many a glorj.':\is deed, and that your names ■will be dear to your 
countrymen forever. ' 

(Signed) "Johx Pope, 

"Maj'>r- General Commanding.^ 

Althongh the style of this address was not altogether in good taste, 
and the tone of it somewhat over-confident, it was accepted by the 
loyal people throughout the country as an indication that the newly 
appointed commander was prepared to push the war vigorously. In 
this opinion they were strengthened by the promulgation of several 
additional orders, showing that General Pope designed to act in a 
somewhat different spirit trom his predecessors in the East. Hitherto 
the war had been conducted there on the principle that, by retraining 
from the exercise of the harsher measures to which generals in the field 
are entitled to resort, the rebels could be won over to their allegiance. 
Great tenderness was accordingly manifested for every species of rebel 
property, as also for the personal rights and privileges of the inhabit- 
ants, however bitter might be their hostility, of the territory through 
which the Union armies passed. ]S'o perceptible benefit, it is true, had 
as yet resulted from this lenity, but the policy was persevered in as if 
there could be no doubt of its propriety. General Pope, however, 
with the approvalof the War Department, soon came to the conclusion 
that if the war was to be conducted at all, it should be carried on with 
every means adapted to hasten its termination and restore the suprem- 
acy of the General Government. The rebels laughed at the "rose- 
water" policy, as it was called, which sought to smooth their pathway 
back into the Union, and more resolutely than ever annotmced their 
intention to secure the independence of the Confederacy. Hence it 
became evident to reflective men that the hardships of war must be 
brought directly to the door of the enemv, if the latter were to be brought 
21 



322 HISTORY OF THE GREAT ' REBELLION 

to their senses ; anrl this conclusion wn.s arrived at in no spirit of Avanton 
malice or revensje, but with the single object of crushing the rebellion, 
and thereby restoring the Union of the States, The first of the orders 
alluded to had reference to the question of subsistence, and conse- 
quently had an important bearing on the celerity of the army's move- 
ments. It was as follows : — 

general orders — no. 5 

" Head-Quarters Abmt of Virginia, ) 
" Washington, Jicly 18, 18G2. f 

"Hereafter, as far as practicable, the troops of this command will suVjsist upon th9 
country in which their operations arc carried on. In all cases, supplies for this purpose 
will bo taken by the officers to whose dejjartment they properly belong, under the 
orders of the commanding oEQcer of the troops for wiiose use they are intended. 
Vouchers wiU be given to the owners, stating on their face that they will be payable 
at the conclusion of the war, upon sufficient testimony being furnislied that such own- 
ers have been loyal citizens of the United States since the date of the vouchers. 
Whenever it is known that supplies can be furnished in any district of the country 
where the troops are to operate, the use of trains for carrying subsistence will be dis- 
pensed with as far as possible. 

"By command of Major-General Pope. 

" George D. Kuggles, 
" Col, A. A.-G., and Chief of Staf." 

By another order, issued on July 20th, " the people of the Valley 
of the Shenandoah and throughout, the region of the operations of the 
army, living along the lines of railroad and telegraph, and along the 
routes of travel in the rear of the United States forces, are notified that 
they will be held responsible for any injury done to the track, line, or 
road, or for any attacks u})on trains or straggling soldiers by bands of 
guerrillas in their neighborhood." In such cases the citizens Avere to 
repair the damages. Any house from Avhich a soldier should be fired 
upon was ordered to be razed to the ground, and the inhabitants sent 
prisoners to head-quarter§. Persons detected in such outrages Avere 
to be shot Avithout aAvaititig civil process. These measures, se\a>re as 
they may seem, Avere rendered necessary by the acts of the Valley 
poijulation. Farmers by day, Avilh protections in their pockets, show- 
ing that they had taken the oath of allegiance to the Federal (iovern- 
ment, these men at night sallied forth as guerrillas, irregular horse- 
men, or spies, and plundered, burned, or murdered, as the opportunity 
offered. It was the purpose of General Pope to intimidate this class 
into good behavior, and had his orders been rigidly enforced, or had 
Bimilar orders been enforced Avherever guerrillas or marauders oper- 
ated, there would have been fewer outrages of the kind aimed at to 
complain of. Another order Avas to the following effect : — 

general orders — no. 11. 

"Head-Quarters Army op Virginia, } 
" Washington, July 23, 1863. \ 
Commanders of Army Corps, Divisions, Brigades, and detached commands, wdl pro- 
ceed immediately to arrest all disloyal male citizens within their lines, or within their 
teach, in rear of their respective stations. 

" Such as aro willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and will 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 323 

furnisli sufficient security for its observance, shall be permitted to remain at their 
homes, and pursue, in good faitli, tlieir accustomed avocations. 

"Those who refuse shall be conducted South, bcyoud the extreme pickets of this 
army, and be notiQed that if found again anywliere witliin our lines, or at any point in 
rear, they will be considered spies, and subjected to the extreme rigor of military law. 

If any person, having taken the oath of allegiance, as above spfccified, be found to 
have violated it, he shall be shot, and his property seized and applied to the public use. 

" All communication with any persons whatever, living within the lines of the enemy, 
is positively prohibited, except through the military authorities, and in the manner 
specified by military law; and any person concerned in writing or in carrying letters 
or messages in any other way, wUl be considered and treated as a spy within tlie lines 
of the United States Army. 

" By command of Major-General Pope. " George D. Rugoles, 

" Col. A. A.-G., and Ctdef of ^taff:' 

In consequence of a misinterpretation of the first of the above orders, 
or of wilful abuses of its provisions, General Pope subsequently i.-sued 
the following supplementary order: — 

"Head-Quarters Army op Tirgixia, ) 
"Near Cedar Mountain, August 14, 1802. ) 

"general ORDER — NO. 19. 

" The Major-General Commanding diswvers with great dissatisfaction that General 
Order No. 5, requiring that the troops of this command be subsisted on the country ia 
which their operations are conducted, has either been entirely misinterpreted or 
grossly abused, by many of the officers and soldiers of this command. It is to be dis- 
tinctly understood that neither officer nor soldier has any right whatever, under the 
provisions of that order, to enter the house, molest the person, or disturb the property 
of any citizen whatsoever. 

" Whenever it is necessary or convenient for the subsistence of the troops, provi- 
sions, forage, and such other articles as may be required, will be taken possession of 
and used, but every seizure must be made solely by the order of tho commanding offi- 
cer of the troops there present, and by the officer of the department through winch the 
issues are made. Any officer or soldier who shall be found t;o have entered the house 
or molested the property of any citizen will be severely punished. Such acts of j^iilage 
and outrage are disgraceful to the army, and have neither been contemplated nor au- 
thorized by any officer whatsoever. The perpetrators of them, wlicther officers or sol- 
diers, will be visited with a punishment which they will have reason to remember ; 
and any officer or soldier absent from the limits- •f his camp, found in any house 
whatever, witliout a written pass from his division or brigade commander, will be con- 
sidered a pillager, and treated accordmgly. 

"Army corps commanders will immediately establish mounted patrols under charge 
of commissioned officers, which shall scour the whole country for five miles around 
their camps at least once a day, and at different hours, to bring into tlieir respective 
commands all persons absent without proper authority, or who are engaged in any 
interruption of citizens living in tlic country; and commanding ofBccrs of regiments op 
smaller separate commands will be hold responsible that neither officers nor men aiiall 
be absent from camp without proper authority. 

"By command of Major-General Pope. "R. 0. Sefridge, A. A.-G." 

On the following day, August 1.5th, General Halleck issued from 
Washington a general order, stating that the oath of allegiance shall 
be administered to no person afjainst his vAll., and "no compulsory 
parole of honor be received." The order also called attention to the 
articles of war, which punished with death pillage or plundering, 
" either in our owti or enemy's territories." Any private who leaves the 
ranks to enter a private house will be punished with death, and his 
officers held responsible. General Casey, at Washington, in command 
of provisional brigades, also issued an order denouncing for punishment 



324 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK'. 

■wlioever sluiU commit any w.iste or spoil upon property, or any acts 
of violence towards unarmed women or children. 

Meanwhile, previous to the arrival of General Halleek, cavalry expe- 
ditions were sent ovit by General King fi-om Fredericksburg to break 
up at various points the Virginia Central Railroad between Gordons- 
ville and Hanover Junction. These were generally successful, and un- 
doubtedly retarded the forward movement of the enemy in August to- 
wards the Rapidan. On July 14th, Culpepper Court-House was occu- 
pied, bu.t an expedition undertaken by General Platch to gain posses- 
sion of Gordonsville failed, and in consequence that officer, by com- 
mand of General Pojje, was superseded in command of the cavalry by 
General Buford. 

In the latter part of July, General Halleck arrived in Washington, 
and on the 26th visited the head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac, 
at Harrison's Landing. After much deliberation, the General-in- 
Chief decided that the army could be extricated from its false position 
in no other way than by withdrawing it from the Peninsula, and 
posting it once more in front of Washington, either to unite or 
co-operate with the Army of Virginia. Such union, indeed, vras con- 
sidered essential to the safety of the capital, and to the further suc- 
cessful prosecution of the operations against Richmond. It was 
therefore arranged that McClellan should retire down the Peninsula 
to Fortress Monroe, and that, for the purpose of covering this move- 
ment. Pope should demonstrate boldly towards and beyond the Rapi- 
dan, as if about to commence an aggressive campaign against Rich- 
mond. From Fortress Monroe the Army of the Potomac was to 
proceed with all possible expedition by water, either to Aquia Creek 
or to Alexandria, and thence march to form the junction with Pope. 
Should the enemy move with rapidity and in large force upon the 
latter, he was directed to delay their advance by every means in his 
power, so as to gain time for the arrival of the troops from the James. 

On the 29th of July, Pope left Washington and repaired to the 
head-quarters of General Banks, in the neighborhood of Sperryvillc, 
where, as has been previously stated, the great body of his troops were 
encamped. After some days spent in preparation, the army was, on 
August 7th and 8th, jrashed forward on the road to Culpepper Court- 
House — the cavalry, under Generals Buford and Bayard, being dis- 
tributed along the front towards the Rapidan, to cover the advance. 
This was the commencenaent of the movement which was to enable 
McClellan to retire unmolested from his position at Harrison's Land- 
ing ; and according to the orders of General Ilalleck, he ought now 
to have been on the march. Pope's available force, after deducting 
the division of King at Fredericksburg — and troo})S left at Winches- 
ter, Front Royal, and other places — amoimted to twenty-eight thou- 
sand infantry and artillery, and about five thousand cavalry. 

As early as the middle of July, the movements of Pope's forces had 
induced Lee to send Stonewall Jackson, with his own corps and 
Ewell's Division, to watch the line of the Rapidan, and when Pope 
moved to Culpepper Court-House the enemy were at Gordonsville in 
full strength. On August 7th, Jackson, learning that Pope's advance 



inSTORT OF THE GEEAT EEEELLIOK 325 

was at the former place, marched rapidly thither with his whole 
force, with the expectation of cutting off the Federals before the 
arrival of their main body. On the 8th, Pope was notified by Gen- 
eral Bayard that the enemy had crossed the Rapidan, and were 
jjushing for Culpe})per Court-House. Accordingly, to support Bay- 
ard, Crawford's Brigade of Banks's Corps was hurried forward, and 
Banks himself ordered to move up to Cedar Mountain, a wooded 
eminence of a sugar-loaf shape, about midway between Cul})ei)})cr 
Court-House and the Rapidan, and join Crawford. On the morning 
of the 9th, Banks drew up his corps, consisting of less than eight 
thousand men, about a mile to the north of Cedar Mountain, along 
the slopes of which the enemy were stationed under cover of the 
woods. Three miles to the rear of Banks, on the road to Culpepper 
Court-House, was Ricketts's Division of McDowell's Corps, ready to 
support Banks, or to check an advance of the enemy from JMadison 
Court-House, where they were reported by Buford to be concentrated 
in heavy force. Pope himself was at Culpepper, where, according to 
his orders, Sigel should have been on the 8th, although he did not 
arrive until the next evening. 

At daylight on the 9th, it was discovered that the enemy had 
advanced as far as Cedar Mountain, holding its wooded sides and 
cleared slopes. Only a small portion of their strength, however, was 
visible. They also held a range of elevations and ravines westward 
of the mountain. An elevated spot, a mile distant from the moun- 
tain, and a mile long east and west, was selected by General Banks 
as the best place to receive their attack. At three o'clock in the 
afternoon, a battery on our front, at a mile and a half range, opened 
on us, and the rebel infantry drove in our pickets in the woods on 
our right wing. Afterwards, battery after battery was unmasked on 
the mountain slopes and on every hill, making a crescent of batteries 
of nearly three miles, commanding our position for two hours. Our 
batteries were exposed to cross-fires and flank-fires at every jtoint. 
The rebels evidently outuTimbered us in guns and weight of metal. 
We replied shot for shot till five o'clock, when the rebels opened an 
enfilade battery on our right. General Banks here gave orders to 
cease firing and charge this battery. The duty was assigned to 
Crawford's Brigade, of Williams's Division, and the Forty-sixth 
Pennsylvania Regiment led the charge. Behind the battery was a 
thicket of shrub oak, and before the men could reach the rebel guns 
they were mowed down by a terrific fire from the thicket. Tlic rest 
of the brigade was quickly brought up, and subsequently Williams's 
and Augur's commands, but the rebels were found at every point. 

Finding that he was confronting an enemy numerically much supe- 
rior, who had also the advantage of position, and that liis own losses had 
been heavy, General Banks gradually fell back, between six and seven 
p. M., to meet the supports under Pope, which were close at hand. The 
latter general at once ordered Ricketts to the front, Aviiere the Federal 
artillery played with such effect upon the rebel infmtry, who had ven- 
tured forth from their woody cover to follow up Banks, as to drive them 
back, iu confusion and with considerable loss, to their original position 



326 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOJS". 

on the mouTitain. Artillery firing continued on both sides until mid- 
night, and the ground on which the battle had been fought was com- 
manded by the guns of both armies, but occupied by neither of them. 
No fighting took place on the 10th, which was spent by both armies 
in burying their dead, and during the night of the 11th Jackson re- 
tired across the Rapidan in the direction of Orange Court-House. The 
Union loss in this drawn battle was about eighteen hundred in killed, 
wounded, and missing; in addition to which, about one thousand men 
straggled back beyond Culpepper Court-House, and never entirely re- 
turned to their commands. General Banks was injured by being 
thrown from his horse in consequence of a collision with a runaway 
horse. Generals Augur, Geary, and Carroll were severely wounded, 
and General Prince was taken prisoner. The enemy's loss was about 
equal, and included Generals Winder and Trimble killed. 

A stron"- cavalry force, imder Buford and Bayard, was immediately 
pushed forward by Pope towards the Rapidan, and captured many 
strao-iders. On the 13th, Pope's forces advanced towards Orange, and 
Buford, returning from the pursuit, reported the enemy four miles 
back of the Rapidan, his maui force at Gordonsville, holding the Cen- 
tral Railroad from Louisville to Charlotteville. The Union forces were 
advau(?ed to the Rapidan, on a line sufiiciently broad to observe and 
check any offensive move of the enemy, and yet with the division so 
posted as to be capable of immediate concentration.. Head-ouarters 
were at Cedar Mountain. 

It now became evident to Pope that the enemy in his front were un- 
necessarily strong for purposes of reconnoitring merely, and suspect- 
iuo- that Jackson's force constituted the advance-guard of Lee's entire 
army, which would soon be upon him, he made haste to call in all 
available troops. On August 11th, King joined him from Fredericks- 
bur"-, followed on the 1-ltii by General Reno, with eight thousand men 
of the forces which had arrived at that place uudei' Burnside. The 
latter general had been ordered fx'om North Carolina to support Mc- 
Clellan, but his troops halted at Fortress Monroe until it was decided 
what should be done with the Aruiy of the Potomac, after which they 
at once embarked for Aquia Creek. The movement of the Army of 
the Potomac was imaccoiuitably slow, considering that the order for 
its withdraAval from the Peninsula was given by lialleck on xVugust 3d, 
and it was not until the 14th of the month that the advance, compris- 
ino- the corps of Fitz-Juhn Porter, started from Harrison's Lauding 
for Yorktown. The whole movement was detected by Lee, even be- 
fore the departure of Porter, as appeared from an autograph letter 
from him to General Stuart, dated Gordonsville, August 15, which 
was captured by a cavarly expedition sent out towards Louisa Court- 
House on the 16th. This document made manifest to Pope the inten- 
tion of the rebel general to overwhelm the Army of Virginia before it 
could be re-enforced by any portion of the Army of the Potomac, and 
warned the former to concentrate and fall back upon some less advanced 
line. On the 18th, Lee efiected a junction with Jackson, and on tha 
succeeding day the united rebel army moved towards the Rapidan, 
Jackson keeping well to the left, with a x'mw of flanking Pope. This 



» HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^-. 327 

the latter had already anticipated by withdiawing behind the U-appa- 
haiinock, "where, on the afternoon of the 19th, the whole Union army 
was concentrated, the left being a tKelly's Ford, and the ri^lit three 
miles above Rappahannock Station. 

During the 20th, 21st, and 22d, heavy skirmishing ensued along the 
banks of the Rappahannock, and the enemy made many fruitless 
attempts to cross. Finding this impracticable, they began to move up 
the right bank of the river, as if for the purpose of turning the Union 
right. "My orders," says General Pope in his official report, "re- 
quired me to keep myself closely in communication with Fredericks- 
burg, to which point the Army of the Potomac was being brought 
from the Peninsula, with the purpo.-e of re-enforcing me from that 
place by the line of the Rappahannock. My force was too small to 
enable me to extend my light further, without so weakening my line 
as to render it easy for the enemy to break through it at any point. 
I telegraphed again and again to Washington, representing this 
movement of the enemy towards my right, and the impossibility of 
my being able to extend my lines so as to resist it without abandoning 
my connections with Fredericksburg. I was assured on the 21st, that 
if I would hold the line of the river two days longer, I should be so 
strongly re-enforced as not only to be secure, but to be able to resume 
offensive operations ; but on the 25th of August, the only forces that 
had joined me, or were in the neighborhood, were two thousand five 
hundred men of the Pennsylvania Reserves, under Brigadier-General 
Reynolds, who had arrived at Kelly's Ford, and the division of General 
Kearny, four thousand five hundred strong, which had reached War- 
renton Junction." 

On the 22d, the flanking movement of the enemy became so appar- 
ent that Pope massed his forces near Rappahannock Station, where 
the Orange and Alexandiia Railroad crosses the river, with the object 
of suddenly passing to the opposite shore, and falling upon the rear 
and flank of the rebel army. So large Avas the force of the enemy 
confronting him, that unless this movement should prove successful, 
he decided that he must fall back from the line of the Rappahannock, 
notwithstanding Ilalleck's instructions to him to " stand firm " on that 
line, to " dispute every inch of ground, and fight like the devil." But 
during the night of the 2 2d a heavy rain set in, carrying away all the 
bridges of the Rappahannock, and rendering the river unfordable for 
a day or two. Advantage was taken of this circumstance to drive 
across the river at Sulphur Springs, on the extreme Union right, a 
body of the enemy who had eflected a passage there on the 22d. 
During the 23d and 24th, the enemy continued to push up along the 
right bank of the stream, their centre being at or near Sulphur 
Springs ; and on the latter day a large body of them were seen to 
move oft" to the west of the Bull Run Mountains, in a northerly direc- 
tion. These troops, as it subsequently appeared, composed the rebel 
left wing under Jackson, whose mission was to pass through Thorough- 
fare Gap, occupy Manassas Junction, in the Federal rear, and cut 
Pope's communications with Washington, the main rebel force under 
Lee meanwhile occupying the attention of Pope at the front, and 



328 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION • 

Ijeing prepared to follow raj^idly to the support of Jackson at the 
proper time. 

By the*night of the 25th it became apparent to Pope that he could 
no longer keep open his communications with Fredericksburg, and 
also oppose the crossing of the Rappahannock, without leaving' open 
to the enemy the route through Thoroughfare Gap, and all other roads 
north of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. He, therefore, moved, 
his whole force to the neighborhood, of Warrenton and Warrenton 
Junction, and requested that Franklin, who ought by this time to 
have arrived at Alexandria, might be sent at once to Gainesville, near 
Thoroughfare Gap, to watch tlie flanking column of Jackson, and that 
a division should be stationed at Manassas. These dispositions he 
supposed would effectually guard his rear ; and not doubting that they 
Avould be carried into effect, he felt little uneasiness respecting the 
movement towards Thoroughfare Gap. His immediate command was 
at this time strengthened by the arrival of Fitz-John Porter's Coi'ps 
and the remainder of Ileintzelman's Corps. 

Meanwhile Jackson pressed rapidly forward during the 24th and 
25th, and on the 26th passed safely through Thoroughfare Gap. The 
expected Federal re-enforcements had not reached Gainesville or 
Manassas, and the march of the rebel column Avas unopposed. On 
the same day his cavalry, under Colonel Fitz-Hugh Lee, surprised the 
small Union force at Manassas, capturing a battery and a considerable 
quantity of stores, and taking jjossession of the deft-nsive works 
erected there. On the succeeding day a brigade of New Jersey troops, 
under General Taylor, coming up by rail from Alexandria, to IVIanassas, 
to re-enforce the garrison, and unsuspicious of the presence of the 
enemy there in force, were driven back in confusion upon Centi-eville. 
On the evening of the 26th the advance of Jackson's force cut the 
Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Kettle Run, about six miles west 
of Manassas, thus interrupting Pope's communication with Washing- 
ton, and establishing a hostile force directly in his rear. 

Upon ascertaining the success of Jackson' s movement, Pope made 
immediate arrangements to throw his whole force towards Gainesville 
and Manassas, and crush the flanking column before the arrival of the 
main rebel army, which was pushing on to Thoroughfare Gap by the 
same route which Jackson had taken, with a view of uniting with 
him somewhere east of the Bull Run Mountains. Having a shorter 
line than Lee to traverse, he ought by all the chances of war to have 
overwhelmed that part of the rebel army which had passed through 
the Gap ; and, if the repeated announcements from Washington, that 
large re- enforcements from the rapidly arriving army of McClellan 
were on their march to the front, could bo depended upon, the pro.s- 
pect of the destruction of Jackson's Corps seemed reduced to an 
absolute certainty. The army which had held the line of the Rap- 
pahannock was for the most part Avorn out by nearly nine days of 
constant skirmishing and marching in the face of a vigilant enemy, 
who outnumbered it three or four to one, and had also become greatly 
reduced by sickness and the casualties of war. The corps of Ileintzel- 
mun and Porter, which had just arrived, were comparatively fresh 



inSTOPvY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOW. 329 

troops, but they had come forwai-cl without Avagons or artillery, and 
even without horses for the general oifieers and their staffs^ and with 
but forty rounds of ammunition to the man. The cavalry on paper 
nmnbered' about four thousand, but according to General Pope there 
were not present for duty five hundred effective horses. The infantry 
and artillery were estimated as follows: — 

Si^el's Corps 0,000 

Banks's Corps 5,000 

McDowell's Corps, including Reynolds's Division 15,500 

Reno's Corps 7,000 

Heintzelman's and Porter's Corps 1 8,000 

Total 54,500 

On the morning of August 27th, the Union army marched north- 
ward in three columns. McDowell, with his own and Sigel's Corps 
and Reynolds's Division, moved upon Gainesville to intercept any re- 
enforcements coming to Jackson through Thoroughf ire Gap. lleno, 
with his own corps and Kearny's Division of Heintzelman's Corps, 
moved forward to Greenwich to support McDowell, while Pope him- 
self, with Hooker's Division of Heiatzelraan's Corps, inarched along 
the railroad to Manassas Junction, leaving directions to Porter to 
remam with his corps at Warrenton Junction until relieved by Banks, 
after which he was to push forward to Gainesville. The trains moved 
in the rear of Hooker. These several movements were successfully 
accomplished on the evening of the same day, the only fighthig being 
between Hooker's Division and Jackson's advance under Ewell at 
Kettle Run, near Bristow Station, where the enemy were driven back 
upon the railroad with some loss. So rapid had been the advance of 
Pope's army that Jackson now became seriously alarmed for his com- 
m.unicatious, which wei^e for the time beitig completely severed. He 
therefore at an early hour on the 28th evacuated Manassas Junction 
and retired across Bull Run to Centreville. Orders had been sent by 
Pope to McDowell and Reno to march directly eastward along the 
Manassas Gap Railroad soon after midnight on the 28th, having their 
left thiown out well to the east. This would have forced Jackson 
to march southward along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, over- 
whelm Pope at Bristow, and make for the Rappahannock to guard 
against the anticipated attack. Should the rebel general undertake 
this movement, Pope jiad ordered up Porter's Corps from Warrenton 
Junction. The combinations, however, failed. Sigel, who had the 
advance of McDowell's column, never moved from Gainesville until 
eight o'clock on the morning of the 28th, nor did Porter reach 
Bristow until near noon of that day. In consequence, .Jackson was 
enabled to escape unopposed in the direction of Centreville, his troops 
moving away comparatively at their leisure during all the morning of 
the 28th. 

Upon perceiving the miscarriage of his plans, Pope about noon 
ordered Reno, Kearny, and Hooker to follow Jackson, and 
McDowell's command, then on the way to Manassas, to march for 
Centreville. Porter was at the same time directed to come for- 



330 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION". 

ward to Manassas Junction. The two first orders were promptly 
obeyed, and the enemy, driven out of Centreville by Kearny, and 
retreating along tlie Warrenton turnpike towards Gainesville and 
Thoroughfare Gap, came about six p. m. upon the division of 
King, forming McDowell's advance, marching eastward to inter- 
cept them. A sharp combat ensued, which terminated at nightfall, 
■without material advantage to either side, and both armies bivou- 
acked in the immediate neighborhood of the battle-field. Pope 
now felt sure that there was no escape for Jackson, and his forces were 
ordered to be so disposed on the night of the 28th, that twenty-five 
thousand men, under McDowell, Sigel, and Reynolds, shovild attack him 
early on the next day from the south and west, while an equal number, 
comprising the cor[)S of Keintzelman, Porter, and Reno, were to 
fall upon him from the east. As Lee, with the main rebel army, 
was rapidly pushing on to Thoroughfare Gap to support Jackson, 
celerity of movement and implicit obedience to instructions were abso- 
lutely necessary to insure the success of the Union arms. Unfortu- 
nately, however, during the night. King's Division fell back towards 
Manassas Junction, where Porter's Corps had recently arrived, and thus 
left the road to Gainesville and Thoroughfire Gap open to Jackson. 
This rendered necessary new dispositions of the troops. 

Accordingly, about daylight on the 29th, Heintzelman and Reno 
"were ordered to push forward from Centreville towards Gainesville, 
establish connnunication with Sigel, who was near Groveton, and 
attack Jackson with energy, while McDowell and Porter moved upon 
him from the west and south. Sigel attacked the enemy at daylight, 
and Heintzclman's tAVO divisions coming up soon after, Jackson fell 
back several miles, and about noon took up a new position, having his 
left in the neighborhood of Ludley Spiing, and his right a little south 
of the Warrenton turnpike. Upon arriving on the field at noon, Pope, 
seeing that Jackson was hard pushed by that portion of the Union 
army which had come into action, sent urgent orders to McDowell and 
Porter to advance rapidly on the left, and turn the .rebel right flank. 
According to the calculation of General Pope, they ought to reach 
their new positions towards the close of the afternoon, and pending 
their arrival, the tired troops of Sigel, Heintzelman, and Reno were 
allowed a few hours' rest. Soon after two p.m. news arrived that 
McDowell would be on the field in a couple of hours, and at half-past 
four peremptoi-y orders were sent to Porter to push forward on the 
enemy's light and turn his rear. Supposing that these orders would 
be fulfilled, Pope soon after five p. m. directed Heiiitzelman and Reno to 
recommence the attack. It v/as made with great energy, Grover's 
Brigade of Hooker's Division distinguishing itself by a determined 
bayonet charge, which broke through two of Jackson's lines. The 
latter again fell back, leaving the battle-field and his dead and wounded 
in the hands of the Federal troops, and at sunset McDowell's troops 
came into action along the Warrenton turnpike. By this time, how- 
ever, the troops of Lee had begun to arrive. on the field, their jjrogress 
through Thoroughfare Gap having been ineffectually opposed by 
RJLcketts's Division of McDowell's Corps, left there for the purpose of 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJST. 331 

delaying their march. The rebel advance under Longstreet offered 
such a determined resistance to the Union left wing, that tlie night fell 
on a drawn battle on that portion of the field, the National arms liav- 
ing been decidedly triumphant on the right. During all this time the 
corps of Fitz-.Tohn Porter, which Pope had repeatedly ordered to 
assail the rebel right, had remained inactive at Manassas Junction, 
within sight and sound of the battle. During the whole afternoon 
Porter had seen the troops of Longstreet hurrying forward to the as- 
sistance of Jackson's hard-pressed army, and yet made no effort to 
check their movement. His excuse, that he encountered the enemy in 
flank in the direction of Gainesville and was compelled to fall back 
towards Manassas, was declared by Pope to be groundless. " I believed 
then, as I am very sure now," says the latter general in his official 
report, " that it was easily practicable for him to have turned the right 
flank of Jackson, and to have fallen upon his rear ; that if he had done 
so, we should have gained a decided victory over the army imder 
Jackson before he could have been joined by any of the forces of 
Longstreet, and that the army of General Lee would have been so 
crippled and checked by the destruction of this large force, as to have 
been no longer in condition to prosecute further operations of an 
aggressive character." 

Notwithstanding the failure of Porter to overwhelm Jackson's right 
wing, and the successful junction of Longstreet with the latter general, 
the advantage of the day's battle, fought on the old Bull Run fields, 
was so clearly with the National forces, that after the cessation of 
firing Pope sent the following dispatch to Washington : — • 

"Head-Quarters, Field of Battle, ) 

" Geo"teton, near Gainesville, August 30, 1SG2. \ 

" To Major-General Halleck, General-in-Cliief, Wasliington, D. C. : 

" Wo fought a terrific battle here yesterday witli the combined forces of the 
euemy, which lasted with continuous fury from daylight until after dark, by which 
time the enemy was driven from the field, which we now occupy. 

" Our troops are too much exhausted to push matters, but shall do so in the course 
of the morning, as soon as Fitz-John Porter's Corps come up from Manassas. 

"Tlie enemy is still in our front, but badly used up. 

" We have lost not less than eight thousand men, killed and wounded, and from 
the appearance of the field the enemy have lost at least two to oiu: one. He stood 
strictly on the defensive, and every assault was made by ourselves. 

" Our troops have behaved splendidly. 

" The battle was fought on the identical battle-field of Bull Pvun, which greatly 
increased the enthusiasm of our men. 

"The news just reaches me from the front that the enemy is retreating towards 
the mountains. I go forward at once to see. 

"Wo have made great captures, but I am not able yet to form an idea of their 
extent. 

"John Pope, Major- General Commanding^' 

The Union losses in the battle of the 29th were not less than six 
to eight thousand, and those of the enemy probably considerably ex- 
ceeded those numbers. Li fact, so greatly were the latter shattered 
by the severe fighting, that during the night of the 29th, and up to 
ten o'clock on the morning of the 30th, every indication seemed to 
point to their retreat from the front. Their left wing receded iu t\Q 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 333 

night along the Warrenton turnpike in the direction of Gainesville, to 
meet the remainder of the supports under Lee, which continued during 
the morning to pour through Thoroughfare Gap in great numbers. 
Every hour added immensely to the strength of the rebels, while 
Pope's army had been not only greatly reduced by the incessant 
labors of the j^revious ten days, but had received no further re-en- 
forcements from the Army of the Potomac since the arrival of Por- 
ter's Corps, notwithstanding repeated assurances that Franklin's and 
Sumner's Corps should be hurried forward without delay. On the 
morning of the 30th, Pope estimated his available force on the field 
at only forty thousand men, to whotn were opposed an army of more 
than double that strength. In addition to their paucity of numbers, 
these troops were actually suffei'ing for subsistence, and artillery and 
cavalry horses had been continuously in harness or saddled for ten 
days, and for two days had been without forage. As hour after hour 
passed on, and no succor arrived to the exhausted Army of Virginia, 
Pope repeatedly telegraphed for rations, forage, and ammunition. 
The following dispatch, received at daylight of the 30th, showed him 
how little prospect there was that his request would be com})lied 
with : — 

" Augiist 29, 1862—8 p. m. 
" 7b Coynmanding Officer at Centreville : 

"I have been instructed by General McClellan to inform you that he will have aU 
the available wagoas at Alexandria loaded with rationfs for your troops, and all of the 
cara, also, as soon as you will send in a cavalry escort to Alexandria aa a guard to the 
train. 

" Respectfully, "W. B. Franklin, 

^^ Major- General Commanding Sixth Corps^ 

" Such a letter," says General Pope, " when we were fighting the 
enemy, and Alexandria was swarming with troops, needs no comment. 
Bad as was the condition of our cavalry, I was in no situation to 
spare troops from the front, nor could they have gone to Alexandria 
and returned within the time by which we must have had provisions, 
or have fallen back in the direction of Washington. Nor do I yet 
see what service cavalry could have rendered in guarding railroad 
trains." 

Though discouraged by this message, and convinced that he could 
look for no kind of assistance from McClellan, Pope set resolutely to 
work to make the best fight he could with the means at his disposal. 
It was his object to cripple Lee, if possible, before the whole rebel 
army could arrive on the field ; and he therefore advanced to the 
attack on the 30th, as rapidly as he could bring his forces into action. 
Between twelve and two o'clock, both wings of the Union army were 
pushed forward ; but it becoming evident that Lee was massing his 
troops as fast as they arrived on the field for an assault on the Fed- 
eral left, Pope hastened to strengthen that pait of his line. At about 
four p. M. the battle became general, and immense masses of troops 
were precipitated against the Union left, held by McDowell, Porter, 
and Sigel, who, in spite of fatigue and overwhelming numbers, of- 
fered a stubborn resistance. At the same time, the enemy were in 
such force in front of Heintzelman and Reno, on the centre and right, 



334 msTORY OF the great eebelliok , 

that no rc-enforcements could bo sent to the left until late in the after- 
noon, when Reno's Corps was thrown into action in that direction. 
]>y this time, the left, Huc(;uiiil)in<^ to tlic proKS ofiiuinhcrs, liildlallcn 
back more than half a luik', though still retaining its formation, and 
darkness fell upon the Union army, worsted in a most unequal en- 
counter, but not routed or even broken. The right had not lost one 
inch of ground during the day. Before the close? of the battle, Pope 
received intelligence tliat I^'raiddin's Corps, which, against the ex- 
press orders of General iralh^ck, liad been detained several days at 
Alexandria on various frivolous pretexts, was in the neighborliood of 
Ceutreville, followed at an interval of four miles by the corps of 
Sumner; but as his troops who had engaged in the battle of the 
30th, were too exhausted to immediately renew the action, lie de- 
cided to waive the advantage which this fi-esh accession of strength 
would give him, and fall back across IJull Run to the heights of Cen- 
ti'eville, the defensive works of which were readily available for a 
stand against tlie enemy, and would enable him to cover Washing- 
ton. Accordingly, between eiglit o'clock and midnight, the Union 
army retired leisurely and in good order to its new position, the 
enemy making no eifort to pursue his advantage; and, on the morn- 
ing of the 31st, Avas concentrated in and around Ceutreville, with out- 
lying bgdics to Chantilly, aiul on the road to Fairfax Court-TIouse. 

During the 31st the army rested, and some su|)plies and amnuini- 
tion were received. On S(q)teml)er 1st, the sti-ength of the united 
Armies of Virginia and the Potomac, including the? cor[)S of Frnnklin 
and Sumner, and that of Banks, which had just ai'iived from iiiis- 
tow Station, where it had been guarding the trains, was re[)orted by 
the commanding officers at less than sixty thousand men. As this 
force seemed to General Pope too small for otfensive purposes under 
the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, he determined to 
remain for the present in a defensive attitude, and await the further 
movements of the enemy. What the circumstances alluded to con- 
Bisted of may be determined from the following dis})atch, sent on Sej)- 
tember 1st to General llalleck : — 

" Centrbvii.i.k, Sq->tcmhnr I — 8. 50 A. Jl. 
" Major- General Ifalleck, Oeneral-in- Chief : 

" All was quiot yesterday, and ao far tliia niorninp:. My men all restinpf. They need 
it much. Forage for our horses is being brought up. Our cavalry is completely 
broken down, so that there are not live horses to a company that can raise a trot. 
Tlie consequence is, tliat I ain fureed to keep considerable inlantry along the roads in 
my rear to make them secure, and cvcsn then it is diilicult to keep the enemy's cavalry 
off the roads. I shall attack again tcj-iuorrow if 1 can; the next day certainly. 

" J ihinl< it my duty to call your alteutiou to the nnsoldicrly and dangerous conduct 
of many brigade and some division commanders of the forces sent Ijero from the Pen- 
insula. Every word and act and intention is discouraging, and calculated to break 
down tho spirits of the men, and to iiroduco disaster. ()no commander of a corps, 
■who was ordered to march I'mm Manassas Junction to join me near Grovoton, al- 
though he was only five miles distant, failed to get \\[) at all, and, worse still, fell back 
to Manassas without a light, and in plain hearing, at less than three miles distance, of 
a furious battle, which raged all da}'. It was only in consotpieuce of peremptory 
orders that ho joined me next tlay. One of his brigades, the brigadier-general of 
which professed to be looking for his division, absolutely remained all day at Contro- 
ville, in plain view of tho battle, and made no attempt to join. What renders tha 



HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOK 335 

whole matter worse, these are both officers of the regular army, who do not hold back 
from ignorance or fear. Their constant talk, indulged in publicly and in promiscuous 
company, is, that ' the Army of the Potomac will not fight,' that they are demoralized 
by withdrawal from the Peninsula, &c. When sucli example is set by officers of high 
rank, the influence is very bad among those in subordinate stations. 

" You have hardly an idea of the demoralization among officers of high rank in 
the Potomac Army, arising in all instances from personal feeling in relation to changes 
of commander-in-chief and others. These men are mere tools or parasites, but their 
example is producing, and must necessarily produce, very disastrous results. You 
should know these things, as you alone can stop it. Its source is beyond my reach, 
though its effects are very perceptible and very dangerous. I am endeavoring to do all 
I can, and will most assuredly put them where they shall fight or run awaj-. My ad- 
vice to you (I give it with freedom, as I know you will not misunderstand it) is, that 
in view of any satisfactory results, you draw back this army to the intrenchments m« 
front of "Washington, and set to work in that secure place to reorganize and rearrange 
it. You may avoid great disaster by doing so. I do not consider the matter except in 
a purely mihtary light, and it is bad enough and great enough to make some action 
very necessary. Where there is no heart in their leaders, and every disposition to 
hang back, much cannot be expected from the men. 

" Please hurry forward cavalry horses to me under strong escort. I need them 
badly ; worse than I can tell you. 

(Signed) " Johk Pope, }[ajor- General. 

" A true copy : 

" T. C. H. Smith, 

"Lieut- Colonel and A. D. C." 

As the enemy showed a disposition to work round to the north, as 
if for the purpose of turning the Union right, Pope fell slowly hack 
towards Fairfax Court-House, keeping a strong force under Hook- 
er, Reno, and McDowell, at Chantilly, which lies west of the former 
place. At sunset on the 1st, the rebels made a sudden attack at 
Chantilly, and a severe engagement, uninterrui)ted by a terrific 
thunder-storm, was maintained until dark, when the enemy was 
repulsed at all points, and left the field in the possession of the 
Federal troops. The latter, however, paid dearly for this success by 
the loss of Major-General Kearny and Brigadier-General Stevens, 
two of the most loyal and accomplished officers in the army. On 
the morning of the 2d, Pope's whole command was massed behind 
Difficult Creek, between Flint Hill and the Alexandria turnpike, 
whence, at noon, in accordance with orders from Halleck, they 
marched for Washington, within the defensive works of which they 
arrived in good order and without further loss, on the evening of 
the 3d. Immediately afterwards. Pope, at his own request, was re- 
lieved of his command. He at the same time preferred charges of 
insubordination and negligence against General Porter, on which the 
latter was subsequently tried, and, having been convicted, was cash- 
iered. 

When General McClellan had fallen back before the enemy, on the 
first of July, and collected his broken c<->lumns under cover of the gun- 
boats on James River, he believed himself to be in a very perilous posi- 
tion. To retreat down the Peninsula, he thought, in face of a powerful 
enemy, was a hazardous proceeding. To embark the army, even if 
there had been sufficient transports, wliile the enemy commanded the 
opposite shore, was not a promising operation. The army of General 
Pope was not yet ready to threaten Richmond from the north, and all 



836 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJST. 

the resources of the enemy were availablo for any exigency. Under 
such circumstances, there was no resource but to remain at Harrison's 
Landing, and, by seeming to threaten Richmond, keep the enemy 
employed until time was gained for a new combination. Such were 
the arguments he employed, and such the dangers he imagined, to ex- 
cuse him for remaining week after week at his intrenched camp on the 
James, with no enemy of importance nearer than lUehmond, The 
Government had, on the first of July, proni[)tly called for three hundred 
thousand men, and tliis was followed by a demand of three hundred thou- 
sand more. Time was required, however, for the enrolling and equipping 
of these new troops. To abandon the Peninsula before they were 
ready, would have been to release the victorious army of Lee from Rich- 
mond, and let it rush forward upon the troops which were about to 
be combined under Pope, thus placing the National Capital in very 
great danger. By continuing to hold Harrison's Landing, therefore, 
McClellau j)leased himself with the idea that he had saved Washington, 
although he did it at an immense loss of life. The mortality from the 
malaria of the swamps vras frightful, and a stream of troops contin- 
ually poured off into the hospitals of the Northern cities. The troops 
of General Burnside, arriving from North Carolina, did not ascend 
the river to the camp of McClellan, but landed at Fortress Monroe, 
where they remained until August 1st, when they got the order to 
proceed to Aquia Creek, which they reached August 2d. The diffi- 
culty of extricating the army from the Peninsula first occu})ied the 
attention of General Halleck, as we have seen, when he reached Wash- 
ington to assume command,. July 22d. On the 24th he left Washing- 
ton, in company with General Burnside, for McClellan's head- quarters, 
to consult on the position of the army. McClellan required fifty thou- 
sand fresh troops to make an advance, but Halleck assuring him there 
were but twenty thousand to spare, McClellan agreed to make the 
attempt with that number. It is worthy of note that the Army of the 
Potomac then numbered over one hundred thousand men fit for duty. 
General Halleck returned to Washington on the 27th, and received 
a telegram from McClellan that thirty-five thousand men would be 
required. This was more than could be spared in the judgment of 
General Halleck, and the evacuation was ordered on the 3d of August, 
against the strong protestation of McClellan. It was apparent that 
without celerity of movement after starting, the enemy could crush 
Pope before McClellan could reach him ; but to move a hundred thou- 
sand men with their material required time, and it was calculated that 
by commencing the movement early in August, the greater part of the 
army could be transferred to the Potonuic before the middle of the 
month. Halleck, after his return to Washington, immediately con- 
ferred with the President and Secretary of War. General Pope, after 
a long conference, left for Warrenton to put his troops in motion, and 
at the same time, Burnside's troops embarked from the Peninsula and 
landed at Aquia Creek. 

Meantime, on the 4th of August, Hooker's and Sedgwick's Divi- 
sions, with four batteries, all under Hooker, moved forward to attack 
Malvern Ilill. This was duly proclaimed as the new forward move- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^. 337 

ment. The position T\-as occupied bj two of the enemy's regiments 
of infantry, which retired upon Richmond. The enemy imme- 
diately began to concentrate his forces round Mnlvern Plill, where 
Hooker remained until Sunday, the Cth, when he fell back to the en- 
campment, and Butterfield's Brigade crossed to the south side of 
James River. 

But although the order for the withdrawal of the army had been 
issued at the beginning of the month, and was peremptory, McClellan, 
seemingly unaware of the precious time he was wasting, instead of 
actively jjromoting the movement, began to expostulate against it. 
Finally, on the 10th of August, he received a dispatch, saying, " They 
are fighting General Pope to-day — there must be no further delay in 
your movements. That which has already occurred was unexpected, 
and must be satisfactorily explained." To this he replied with excuses 
about a w\ant of transportation, which, from the evidence given be- 
fore the Committee on the Conduct of the War, do not appear to be 
altogether well founded. Finally, on the 14th, Pointer's Corps marched 
for Yorktown, and by the 17th the position at Harrison's Landing was 
reported to be entirely abandoned. Between the 19th and 21st, the 
Corps of Ileintzelman and Porter were embarked, and, as we have 
seen, they arrived in time to render assistance to Pope's army. Sum- 
ner's and Franklin's Corps were several days later, and, after their 
arrival at Alexandria, were delayed so long on one pretext or another, 
that Pope became very near overwhelmed by the enemy. Had they been 
on the iield as early as the 28th, or even the 29th, which, in the opinion 
of General Halleck, was perfectly practicable, what was substantially 
a reverse, might have been changed into a brilliant triumph for the 
Union arms, notwithstanding the bad feeling among the officers which 
Pope complained of in his dispatch of September 1st, above quoted. 
The corps of Keyes was left to garrison Williamsburg, Yorktown, 
and other points of the lower part of the Peninsula. 

General McClellan reached Fortress Monroe on the 19th. All day 
the roads were filling up with the immense fleet of transports, pre- 
senting, as it turned the point of J^ewport ISTews, a grand though 
melancholy sight. Melancholy, because it filled the mind with the 
recollection of the great and profitless events and scenes since the 
Potomac Army, the grandest the continent ever beheld, landed there 
iu the spiing, and commenced its proud, confident, even defiant 
march up the Peninsula; because it brought to mind the bloody con- 
tests it had seen, the tens of thousands slain, the tens of thousands 
more wasted by disease ; because it overwhelmed the mind with the 
contrast of what that amiy was, with its promises, its hopes, and the 
expectations re])osed in it, and what it had become, what it had done, 
and what it had failed to do — returning with less than half its num- 
bers, along the route by which it advanced, almost every mile of 
which was marked by unenumerated graves of fallen heroes. So 
ended the campaign of the Peninsula — so returned the Army of the 
Potomac ! 



22 



338 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

The Expedition of Burnside. — Capture of Newbem. — Beaufort Captured. — Operationa 
on the Southern Coast. — Siege of Fort Pulaski. — James Island. 

The expedition of General Burnside to the coast of North Carolina, 
the successful landing of which was described in a previous chapter, 
was designed, in its inception, to have aided the naovement upon 
Richmond, by approaching that point from the southeast, on the line 
of the Xorfolk and Petersburg Railroad. After landing at Roanoke 
Island, and occupying the adjacent shores — Edenton and other points 
— preparations were made to extend the occupation of the North 
Carolina coast. The events on the Potomac resulting in the evacua- 
tion of Manassas, and the concentration of the enemy at Richmond, 
changed the aspect of aiffairs for Burnside, for whom fears were en- 
tertained, as he proceeded northward. The Governor of North Caro- 
lina had ordered a draft of citizens, for the re-enforcement of the Con- 
federate army. The citizens of Tyrrel County, who were op])osed to 
the draft, invited the occupation of Columbia, which is on the north 
side of Albemarle Sound, supposing that, if ca})tured and paroled, they 
would be enabled to remain passive during the contest. Accordingly, 
General Foster, with two thousand men, left Roanoke Island for Co- 
lumbia. Meantime, however, the order for draft had been counter- 
manded, and when the expedition arrived, it found Columbia deserted, 
and the expedition returned to Roanoke Island on the following day. 
While this operation was being executed, pre})arations for the whole 
force to move upon Newbern, North Carolina, had been com])leted, 
and on the 10th of March, the same day on which Centre ville was 
evacuated, the whole force sailed for Pamlico Sound. Newbern is a 
flourishing city, on the Neuse River, at the confluence of the Trent, 
where the Neuse widens into a broad ai-m before discharging itself 
into Pamlico Sound. It is connected with Raleigh, ninety miles dis- 
tant, by the North Carolina Railroad. The expedition at Ilatteras 
was joined by the fleet, under Commodore Rowan, and the whole 
reached the Neuse on the 12th, when the fleet began shelling the 
point which had been selected for landing. At thirty minutes after 
eleven the disembarkation was effected, and the troops began to ad- 
vance, under Reno, without meeting the enemy. After a march of 
four miles, the army encamped for the night, and at daybreak of the 
14th resumed the forward movement in three columns, under Gener- 
als Foster, Reno, and Parke. 

The advance under Reno soon encountered the enemy, who held a 
line of intrenchments extending about a mile from the river at Fort 
Thompson, where it was protected by a battery of thirteen guns. 
The force of the enemy was eight regiments of infantiy, five hundred 
cavalry, and eighteen guns, under Brigadier-General L. 0. Branch. 
Foster's Brigade was ordered up the main country road, to attack the 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 339 

enemy's left ; Reno up the railroad, to attack their right ; and Gen- 
eral Parke was directed to follow General Foster, and attack the 
enemy in front, with instructions to support either or both brigades. 
As General Foster's Brigade advanced up the main road, the Twenty- 
fourth Massachusetts was sent into the woods to the right of the 
road, and, opening a heavy fire on the enemy, commenced the action. 
The Twenty-seventh was sent to their left to support them, and news 
being received that the enemy were trying to outflank us on the right, 
the Twenty-fifth was sent out to resist the movement. The Twenty- 
third being moved to the front next in line of battle, opened fire 
upon the enemy, which was replied to by very heavy volleys, and a 
cannonade from a park of field-pieces behind the breastwork. The 
Tenth Connecticut moved to the extreme right, where the ground 
was very marshy, and had a difiicult position to hold. The line of 
battle was completed by Parke's Brigade, which, following up the 
main road, was placed in line between the Tenth Connecticut and 
Twenty-first Massachusetts, the Fourth Rhode Island holding the 
right of line, the Eighth Connecticut the next place, the Fifth Rhode 
next, and the Eleventh Connecticut on the left. The guns of the 
enemy played upon this line with great efiect, and the Twenty-first 
suffered so severely that Colonel Clark determined u])on storming the 
battery in his front. The regiment leaped forward at the double- 
quick, and won the breastwork upon the railroad. The colors were 
immediately planted upon a frame house, and the sight of them threw 
the enemy's gunners into panic, and they fled. The regiment now 
charged upon the guns, but were taken in flank by a re-enforcement of 
the enemy, and escaped over the parapet. Meantime the Fourth 
Rhode Island had been ably sustaining its ground against a battery 
of five guns. They got the order to charge, went at the double-quick 
directly up to the battery, firing as they ran, and entered the right 
flank between a brick-yard and the end of the parapet. When fairly 
inside, the colonel formed the right wing in line of battle, and at their 
head charged down upon the guns at double-quick, the left wing 
forming irregularly, and going as they could. With a steady line of 
cold steel, the Rhode Islanders bore down itpon the enemy, and, rout- 
ing them, captured the whole battery, with its two flags, and planted 
the stars and stripes upon the parapet. The Eighth Connecticut, 
Fifth Rhode Island, and Eleventh Connecticut coming up to their 
support, the i-ebels fled with precipitation, and left us m undisputed 
possession. General Reno finally ordered a charge, which was led by 
the Fifty-first New York, up an acclivity over brushwood and abatis 
into the redan. The Fifty-first Pennsylvania, for a long time held in 
reserve, was ordered up to participate in the decisive charge of the 
whole brigade upon the line of redans, and passing through the Fifty- 
first New York, as it was lying on the ground, after having exhaust- 
ed all its ammunition, came under the heaviest fire, and without 
flinching or wavering, moved to its place, and rushed, with the other 
regiments, upon the defences of the enemy. This movement was sup- 
ported by the Fourth Rhode Island from the captured batteries, and 
the enemy, already demoralized by the breaking of their centre, fell 



840 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

back "before the grand charge upon the left and front of their position, 
and fled in confusion. The Union loss was ninety-one killed, four 
hundred and sixty-six wounded. By this victory our combined force 
captured eight batteries, containing forty-six heavy guns, and three 
batteries of light artillery, of six guns each, making in all sixty-four 
guns ; two steamboats, a number of sailing-vessels, wagons, horses, a 
large quantity of ammunition, commissary and quartermaster's stores, 
forage, the entii*e camp equipage of the rebel troops, a large quantity 
of rosin, turpentine, cotton, &c., and over two hundred prisoners. 

Tlie enemy, after retreating in great confusion, throwing away 
blankets, knapsacks, arms, &o., across the railroad bridge and country 
road, burned the former, and destroyed the draw of the latter, thus pre- 
venting further pursuit, and causing detention in occupying the town 
by our military force. 

The fleet continued its way to the city, which was found abandoned. 
The enemy fired the railroad bridge and the county road bridge over 
the Trent, a number of cotton batteries, and also the city in several 
places. The army, in the mean time, had arrived in front of Newbern, 
but, the bridge being burned, it encamped on the outside. With the 
aid of two small steamers that the enemy had abandoned, the corps of 
General Foster were ferried over and took possession of the town. 
General Foster having appointed a provost-marshal, before nine 
o'clock in the night perfect order prevailed throughout tlie city. Citi- 
zens applied for protection to their property in many instances, and 
when real danger existed it was afibrded. The negroes were the most 
difficult to control. Relieved from the strict rule which prohibits a 
negro from being abroad at night, they roamed about the streets until 
a late hour, but were quiet about ten o'clock. 

On the 15th the following order appeared: — 

"Head-Quarters Department of Nokth Carolina, ) 
" Newbern, March 16, 1862. ) 

" Special Orders, No. 51. 
********** 
" 4. Brigadier-General J. G. Foster is hereby appointed military governor of New- 
bern and its suburbs, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly. 

" 5. Brigadier-General J. G. Foster, military governor of Newbern, will direct tha,t 
the churches be opened at a suitable hour to-morrow, in order that the chaplains of 
the diflerent regiments may hold divine services in them. The bells will be rung as 

usual. 

********** 

" By command of Brigadier-General A. E. Burxside. 

" Lewis Richmond, Assistant Adjutant- Generai.''^ 

The enemy retired for some distance, and General Branch was 
superseded by General Ransom, who had been an officer of the United 
States army. 

The town of Beaufort, having a population of six thousand eight 
hundred and nine, has the best harbor on theNorth Carolina coast, and 
is situated to the southeast of Newbern, on Onslow Bay. The harbor 
is commanded by Fort Macon, and the Nashville steamer was then in 
port. General Burnside, at the close of the march, dispatched a force 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIO:^'. 341 

to occupy Beaufort and reduce Fort Macon. On the 18th of March, 
Generals Burnside and Parke made a reconnoissance towards Beaufort, 
and General Parke's Brigade embarked, on the 19th, for Moreliead 
City, which lies west of Beaufort on the coast, and found it, on the 22d, 
evacuated by the inhabitants. Lieutenant Flagler, ordnance officer, 
and a member of General Parke's staff, crossed over to Fort Macon, a 
distance of two miles across Rogue's Sound, with a flag of truce, and 
demanded a surrender, which was refused, and preparations were 
made for a regular siege. The fort is situated off a bluff on Bogue 
Island, one mile and three-quarters from the town, and commnnds the 
entrance to the harbor, having a full sweep of fire over the main chan- 
nel. Ojiposite the fort, at the entrance of the harbor, is Sliackleford 
Bank, one mile and a half across. The fortification is of hexagonal 
form, and has two tiers of guns — one in a casemated bomb-proof, and 
the other en barbette. Its armament consisted of twenty thirty-two 
pounders, thirty twenty-four-pounders, two eighteen-pounders, three 
field-pieces for flanking defence, twelve flank howitzers, eight eight- 
inch howitzers (heavy), eight eight-inch hoAvitzers (light), one thirteen- 
inch mortar, three ten-inch mortars, and two Coehorn mortars — making 
a total of eighty-nine guns. The fort was occupied by five hundred 
troops. 

The fire opened upon the fort from three shore batteries on the 25th 
of April, followed by a fire from a fleet of three steamers and a bark 
under Commander Lockwood. When within range, and as near as 
the shonls allowed the vessels to approach, the Daylight opened fire, 
followed in succession by the State of Georgia, Commander James F. 
Armstrong, the gunboat Chippewa, Lieutenant commanding A. Bry- 
son, and the bark Gemsbok, Acting Lieutenant Edward Cavendish. 
The three steamers moved around in a circle, delivering their fire as 
they came within range, at a mile and a cpiarter distnnt from the fort. 
The gunboat attack on the fort was not borne meekly, for the ellipse 
had not been sailed over before the garrison opened on the squadron 
from the heavy guns on the south angle of the up]K'r terranleine with 
great precision. The rebel columbiads and six-inch rifles were served 
so well that a shot entered the Daylight on the starboard quarter, 
breaking up several bulkheads ; a shell tore through the Georgia's flag ; 
the Chippewa was grazed ; and the Gemsbok had some of her braces 
and backstays carried away. The sea now became so rough that the 
boats hauled off, after fighting one hour and a quarter. 

Meantime the siege batteries had been energetically worked. These 
were three in number — one of three thirty-pounder Parrott guns, com- 
manded by Captain Lewis O. Morris, of Company C, First Artillery 
(regulars) ; one of four ton-inch mortars, commanded by Lieutenant 
D. W. Flagler in person; and one of four eight-inch mortars, commanded 
by Second Lieutenant M. F. Prouty, of Company C, Twenty-fifth Mas- 
sachusetts Volunteers. The batteries were stationed at Bogue Island, 
and were all constructed at the rear of the sand-hill, the sides and front 
being formed of sand-bags, of which the walls of the service-magazine 
were also made. The platforms were laid ns substantially as the shift- 
ing nature of the sand would allow, and suitable embrasures v.ere 



342 HISTORY OF THE GEEiVT EEBELLI03S". 

constructed for the Parrott guns. The ten-inch mortars were placed 
farthest from the fort, the distance being one thousand six hundred 
and fifty yards ; the Parrott guns were two hundred yards directly in 
front ; and the eight-inch mortars two hundred yards still fartlier on, 
and a little nearer the beach. Besides these, a small rifle howitzer 
was taken from the little captured steamer North State and placed in 
battery, in charge of Captaiii Caswell, of that vessel, and some of his 
crew. The whole siege-train, then, consisted of eight mortars and 
three rifled cannon (if we except the small howitzer, which, however 
good in a ship's launch, can hardly be termed a siege-piece). At nine 
o'clock of the 25th, the scene was very grand. The squadron steam- 
ing slowly in their elliptical course, and firing by turns ; the fort [lour- 
ing fire and smoke at two sides ; our land batteries all engaged at 
once; the smoke-puffs of the bombs showing clear and white against 
the blue sky ; the Confederate flag flying over the green slopes of the 
work ; and the bright sun above all shining on the picture. The 
thrmder of cannon shook the solid ground, and the window-panes rat- 
tled in the houses as if they would be shivered the next instant. At 
ten o'clock the gunboats drewofi^, and the terrific cannonade continued 
until four p. M., when a truce was agreed upon, and on the next day 
the place surrendered. The garrison were allowed the honors of war. 
The officers retained their side-arms and were paroled. The loss on 
either side was small. 

The ciipture of Fort Macon gave possession of the harbor of Beau- 
fort, and General Burnsi<le could now receive supplies and re-enforce- 
ments from vessels of large class, which were unable to cross the bar 
at Hattcras. 

Meantime, General Reno had been sent by General Burnside to de- 
stroy the TJ>ism;d Swamp Canal. He landed, accordingly, at Elizabeth 
City on the 19th, with five regiments. Colonel Hawkins, leading the 
advance with three regiments, lost his way, and General Reno en- 
countered the enemy at South Mills, intrenched with batteries in posi- 
tion, in the edge of a wood, which commanded the approaches over 
the open fields. Colonel Howard, of the marine artillery, in advance, 
fired upon the enemy, and our pieces were put in position for a three 
hours' artillery duel. General Reno sent regiments to the right and 
left to outflank the enemy : the movement was finely executed. When 
Colonel Hawkins came up, General Reno ordered him to the right, 
but coming into the open field, he charged on the enemy with the bayo- 
net. A charge was then made by o.ther regiments on both flanks of 
the enemy, who retreated to the canal locks, and thence to Norfolk. 
Our loss in commissioned officers was killed, one ; wounded, seven ; non- 
cona.missioned officers, killed, two ; wounded, thirteen ; privates, killed, 
six; wounded, forty. General Reno, after remaining six hours on the 
field of battle, returned to Elizabeth City. Seventeen of our wounded 
who could not be removed, were left on the field in charge of a sur- 
geon, with a flag of truce. The enemy's loss was reported thirty- 
eight killed and wounded. General Reno then embarked his force. 

The Government at Washington appointed the Hon. Edward Stanly, 
ji native and former Congressman from the State, military governor of 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOI^-. 343 

North Carolina. Ho was invested with the powers, duties, and 
functions of that station, including the power to establish all necessary 
offices and tribunals, and suspend the writ of Itabeas corpus durino; 
the pleasure of the President, or until the loyal inhabitants should 
organize a State Government in accordance with the Constitutio:i of the 
United States. His powers are exactly similar to those with which 
Governor Johnson, of Tennessee, was invested. His administration of 
afiairs was calculated to develop the loyalty, if any existed, among the 
people, to the oi<l Union. 

Meantime re-enforcements had readied General Burnside, and his di- 
vision was raised to a corjjs d^/Dnec, of which the first division was 
under General Foster, the second under General Reno, and the third 
under General Parke. There were no efforts made to extend the con- 
quest inland ; and in July, in consequence of affairs in the Peninsula, 
General Burnside, wuth the large portion of his troops, was withdi-awn. 
They took iheir departure through the Dismal Swamp Canal, via Nor- 
folk, for Fortress Monroe, where they remained until the evacuation 
of the Peninsula, when they joined McDowell at Fredeiicksburg. 
General Foster remained in command of the troops left to protect the 
military governor, Stanly. 

The occu|>ation of Hilton Head, South Carolina, by General Sher- 
man, was followed by a proclamation, in which he exhorted the people 
to return to their constitutional allegiance, and declaring that while he 
came to enforce obedience to the Federal laws, he should res})ect consti- 
tutional obligations and local rights. The operations of his command 
were necessarily confined to the occupation and fortification of Hilton 
Head, Edisto, and the neighboring islands. Under these circumstances, 
great efforts v/ere made to support the latent Union feeling in that sec- 
tion. Correspondence opened with leading men developed the exist- 
ence of a Union party in Florida, which w^ould not be backward in 
showing itself if the military pressure was removed. General 
Sherman therefore combined a strong military and naval demonstration 
against Savannah, which produced the effect of concentrating there all 
the disposable forces of that section. 

But :is the force at the command of General Sherman would not suffice 
to attack Savannah, an expedition to Florida Avaa arranged under Flag- 
officer Dupont and General Wiight. The fieet, comprising some thirty 
vessels, including transports, left Hilton Ileail February 27th, and arrived 
off the bar of Feinandina, Florida, March 4th. The ganison at Fort 
Clinch abandoned the place on the arrival of the gunboats, and the 
place was quietly occujjied, the citizens showing no hostility. The 
Ottawa then proceeded to Jacksonville, Florida, which immediately 
surrendered, there being no preparations for defence. A meeting of 
loyal citizens w^as held, and passed resolutions against secession. The 
stay of the troops was of very short duration, however, since, ou 
April Vth, orders came from General Hunter, who had meantime suc- 
ceeded General Sherman at Hilton Head, to evacuate the place, which 
was perfected on the 9th, the enemy's cavalry entering as the troops 
left. On the 13th of March the city of Brunswick, Georgia, was oc- 
cupied by a force sent by Dupont. The enemy retired and destroyed 



344 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 

the railroad bridge ; at the same time, Commander Rogers, of the 
Wabash, received the surrender of St. Augnstiue from the authorities 
of the place, the military, consisting of two companies of Florida 
troops, having retired on the previous day. Thus the fleet under 
Dupoiit, in connection with the force under General Wright, quietly 
occupied the ports of Brunswick, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and 
Fernandina. The occupation of these places was followed by no mili- 
tary results, nor had public expectation in relation to the landing at 
Hilton Head been realized. The point is between the cities of Charles- 
ton and Savannah, which are connected by the railroad, and facilities 
were aiForded for approaching either place. There had, however, not 
been sufficient strength to make the attempt. Government finally de- 
termined to place the district in the hands of an agent, who should take 
charge of the abandoned estates of the planters, and direct the labor 
of the blacks in the cultivation of cotton and in the supply of food for 
the army. The result was the appointment of Mr. C. L. Pierce, Gov- 
ernment agent ; associated with whom were a number of females, 
whose object was to establish schools for the blacks. The majority 
of these persons went under the auspices of the " National Freed- 
men's Relief Association." It had been part of the plan of this move- 
ment that General Sherman should have a successor who would 
harmonize more with their views than did that officer. Hence the 
arrival of the teachers was followed by that of General Hunter, who 
replaced General Sherman, and assumed command of the Department 
of the South, embracing South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. On 
March 31st, by a general oi'dcr, he divided the department into three 
districts, of which the first was plneed under the command of General 
Benham, the second under General Braniian, tlie third imder General 
Arnold. Almost the fii-st act of General Hunter was the recall of the 
troops from Jacksonville, and the evacuation of the place. This move- 
ment was attended with disaster to those citizens who, on the strength 
of Government support, had boldly declared fur the Union. It was no. 
longer possible for them to remain after the troops had left, and they 
were compelled to abandon homes and property. 

The forces under General Sherman had occupied Tybee Island, 
which is at the mouth of the Savannah River, commanding the point 
of Cockspur Island, on which is situated Fort Pulaski, which had fallen 
into the hands of the enemy early in the war, and which had been 
originally built under the superintendence of General Benhaui, now 
besieging it. The movements of General Sherman had cut ofi' commu- 
nication between the fort and Savannah so efliectually as to prevent 
supplies from reaching the place. On the 13th of March, two of the 
enemy's fleet attempted to run down past the Union batteries estab- 
lished by General Sherman at Jones's Island, Bird's Island, and Long 
Island, but the attempt was unsuccessful. The batteries upon Tybee 
Island commanded the fort, and its investment was actively proceed- 
ing when General Hunter assumed command ; and, on the morning of 
the 10th of April, the batteries under General Gilmore being ready. 
General Hunter sent a flag to demand the surrender of the place. 
Colonel Olmstead, in reply, stated he " was there to defend the place. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 345 

not to surrender it." There were established eleven batteries, con- 
taining thirty ten and thirteen-inch mortars, Parrott and James guns, 
at distances varying from one thousand six hundred and eighty-five 
to three thousand four hundred yards from the fort. On the return 
of the flag, the fire was opened from a thirteen-inch mortar, and the 
fort responded from a thirteen-inch gun. The fire became general, and 
it was Sumter over again, the parties being now reversed, the enemy 
holding the fort in a circle of fire. After three hours' firing, the ene- 
my's flag-staif was shot away, but a new one was rigged, and the fire 
went on all day with great vigor, but without the loss of a man on the 
Union side. The fall of night brought a suspension of operations, 
which were resumed with the early dawn. The dismounted guns had 
been restored during the night, but soon the enemy's wall began to 
crumble before the ten-inch solid shot. The bret-ch being very hirge, 
several rifle-balls passed through it over the terrapleine, and began 
to batter the magazine on the northwest corner in a manner that car- 
ried terror to the hearts of the enemy. From their experience they 
knew it was possible for a rifle shell to pass entirely through the walls 
of the magazine, and blow it up, and with it the fort and all its occu- 
pants. This induced a surrender ; and at half-past two o'clock on the 
afternoon of the 11th, the fort hung out a white flag, and the place 
was surrendered unconditionally. There were captured three hundred 
and sixty prisoners, forty-seven guns, with a large amount of powder, 
and three months' supj)ly of provisions. The fort was badly cut up, 
and afforded another proof that mason-work is of not much use before 
the terrific force of ten-inch solid shot and rifled guns. 

There were, after the fall of Pulaski, se\eral weeks of apparent mil- 
itary inaction, although preparations were on foot to attack Chai'les- 
ton. The enemy, on their side, were equally active. Tiie women and 
children mostly left the seaboard, and the population of Charleston was 
reduced to its fighting population, the city being belted on every side 
with powerful fortitieations, covering its land approaches. The harbor 
entrance Vfas guarded on either side by the tremendous batteries of 
Forts Sumter and Moultrie, about a mile apart. As for the city, the 
Governor and Supreme Executive Council of South Carolina, on behalf 
of the State, notified the Confederate commanders that they would 
prefer rather to see Charleston razed to the ground and its assailants 
beaten off", than to see it surrendered or e\acuated on any terms what- 
ever. General Lee had been succeeded by General Pemberton in the 
command of the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. An attempt 
by Colonel Christ to sever the railroad connection betvrecn Charleston 
and Savannah failed ; and the enemy were enabled to concentrate 
large fin-ces at Charleston to meet the expected attack which the prog- 
ress of the National troops on Coles Island and Stono foreshadowed ; 
and they were in strong force on James Ishmd. The forces under the 
command of Brigadier-General Wright crossed from Edisto Island to 
Seabrook's Point on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of May. The Sixth Con- 
necticut, the first regiment landed, had a skirmish with the I'ebel 
pickets on Sunday morning, June 1st, and, at the second attempt, 
drove the enemy across the river and obtained posaessiou of the bridge. 



346 HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT REBELLION. 

On the 1st and 2d, Generals Hunter, Benham, and Stevens proceeded 
to Stono Inlet, -with all the available force at their command, accom- 
panied by eight gunboats. The troops were landed on James Island 
without opposition. 

Frequent reconnoissances were made on Johns Island and James 
Island, resulting in trifling loss on both sides. On the 10th of June, 
the Union forces oceu])ied Kimball's plantation, James Island ; and, on 
the 11th, the pickets of General Wright's Brigade were vigorously 
attacked by the Forty-seventh Geoi-gia. A sharp skirmish ensued, 
without material results. The foi-ce under General Benham consisted 
of Wright's Division of two brigades, Chatfiekl's and Williams's ; Ste- 
vens's Division of two brigades, Fenton's and Learned's ; altogether, 
some sixteen regiments. These troops occupied the southern portion 
of James Island, on Stono Creek, which takes a westerly direction, 
separating Johns Island from James Island. The latter is separated 
from the main-land by Wappoo Creek, which runs from Ashley River, 
at a point opposite Charleston, to Stono Creek. Hence, if there were 
no obstructions, the gunboats that ascended Stono Creek could pass 
through Wappoo Creek to Charleston. The Pawnee and the Ellen 
were in Stono Ci-eek, covering the troops encamped on James Island ; 
and Wappoo Creek had been rendered impassable by obstructions. 
The enemy held Fort Jolmston, on the extreme northern point of 
James Island, opposite Fort Sumter. He had also a force of twelve 
thousand troops within four miles. General Hunter visittd the island, 
and delayed the attack upon Fort Johnston until he should receive 
re-enforcements, and returned to Hilton Head, leaving Benham in 
command. The enemy, however, established in front of Secessionville, 
and about a mile and a half in advance of our works, a battery, from 
which one very lieavy gun threw its shells into our camps, and even 
over General Wright's camp into the Stono River, where the gun- 
boats lay. This camp, as well as that of General Stevens, was liable 
to be swept by the enemy's fire at any time ; and the gunboats were 
powerless to prevent it, as they had no guns of sufficient calibi'e to 
reach the battery. General Benham, therefore, deemed it indispensa- 
ble to the security of our portion to capture that battery. A recon- 
uoissance was ordered for the IGth, with the design of taking the work 
by a dash before daylight. 

Secessionville is a small village on the eastern side of the island, 
lying on a creek which winds through the marshes between James and 
Morris Islands, and emi)ties into the Stono River near its mouth. On 
the west of the village, a short, shallow creek makes its way towards 
the waters of Charleston Bay. Thus a tongue of land is formed 
between the two creeks, connected with the body of the island by a 
narrow neck, thirty yards wide, four or five hundred yards south of 
Secessionville, Here Lamar's rebel battery was located, flanked oa 
each side by marsh and the creeks. It was a simple earthwork, heav- 
ily constructed, having a plain face, with an obtuse angle on each side, 
and facing south, in the direction of the Stono River, which is about 
two miles off". From this point the cleared highland stretches out to 
the Stono River. The Iront of the work was covered with thick abatis 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 347 

and rifle-pits. On the 15th of June, a Charleston regiment was a half 
mile in advance of the work, with other troops in the rear as a sup- 
port. General Stevens, who led the main column of attack, advanced 
by a road on the right, while General Wright, on the left, reached his 
appointed position at four a. :Nr. of the 16th, where he waited for one 
hour and a half for the sound of the guns, which were to he the signal 
for his farther advance. This delay brought the attack into full day- 
light, and exposed our men to the severe fire whicli it had been Gen- 
eral Benham's object to avoid. Immediately upon the firing being 
heard, Wright's column moved forward, and took up a position which 
completely protected its flank and the rear from assault by the main 
body of the rebels, who, to the number of twelve thousand, lay a few 
miles above, to our left. 

The attack of Stevens was made with two brigades, numbering 
about four thousand men, who arrived Avithin four hundred yards of 
the works before they were discovered by the enemy. The latter 
delivered their fire of grape when the command was close upon the 
guns, making fearful havoc. The two advanced regiments succeeded, 
vmder the staggering fire, in reaching the abatis, wh.ere, exposed to a 
murderous rifle practice, they waited for the remaining regiments, until 
compelled to retire with heavy loss. Meantime three regiments mider 
Williams, of Wright's Brigade, which were to have supported the left 
of Stevens, lost their way, and came out on the right flank of the 
enemy's work, from which they were sei^arated by a deej) stream and 
an impassable marsh. There were two battalions of the enemy's 
rifles facing them across the marsh. They, however, enfiladed the 
fort, and inflicted severe loss upon the enemy, until he was re-enforced 
by a Louisiana battalion arriving on the field with a field-piece, and 
forming on the light of the enemy. This movement somewhat out- 
flanked the Union troops, and they began to retire, their retreat being 
accelerated by the arrival of rebel re-enforcements. The attack having 
failed, the order to retire to the former camping-ground was given. 
The engagenient lasted four hours, and the Union Idss, killed, woimd- 
ed, and missing, was six hundred and sixty-eight. The enemy report- 
ed his loss at forty killed and one hundred and fifty Avounded, among 
whom was Colonel Lamar. When the news of this disaster reached 
General Hunter, he immediately ordered General Benham to I'eport 
himself under arrest, for alleged disobedience of orders. On the 27th, 
General Hunter ordered the evacuation of James Island, and transports 
were sent from Hilton Head to bring off" the troops. 

After the withdraAvnl of the troops from James Island, military 
afiliirs in the department relapsed into inaction, except in so far as the 
enterprise of the enemy caused occasional movements. The jurisdic- 
tion of the department gradually contracted : Edisto, Stono, Otter 
Islands, and St. Helena Sound were given up; the command of the 
Savannah River, with the forts on its banks, relinquished ; and the 
troops held only Hilton Head, Beaufort, Pulaski, and their immediate 
dependencies. Early in September, General Hunter was relieved of 
his command, and was succeeded by General Mitchel. 



348 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Financial Situation. — Legal Tender. — Interest in Coin. — Duties in Specie. — Gold Notes 
at a Premium. — Deposits. — Ways and Means. — Debt. — Excise Loan. — Income Tax. 
— Paper Circulation. — Effect of Paper Money. — Rise in Price. — Premium on Gold. 
— Commerce. — Government Expenses. — Growth of Debt. — Immense Means. 

The expenses of the war continued to press heavily upon the 
resources of the Government, while tlie war itself interrupted the 
usual course of production and trade, thereby reducing the ordinary 
revenues of the Treasury to a low figure. When the year 1862 open- 
ed, the prospect was sufficiently gloomy. The Government stocks 
were at a discount ; the banks had suspended specie payments ; fifty mil- 
lion dollars of paper monej^ had been paid out by the Government, on 
its face redeemable in coin and receivable for customs; the expenditure 
reached nearly two million per day ; and there were heavy arrears to 
to be met to pay contractors and soldiers. The moment had come 
when the Government must choose between heavy direct taxation 
and paper money as a means of meeting current expenses. Unfor- 
tunately, all provision for the war had been neglected until arrears 
accumulated, and there was now no time in which to collect taxes. 
This fact was accepted as a sufficient reason for authorizing paper 
money. And the Secretary was, by the act of February 25, 1862, 
authorized to issue, in notes of five dollars and upwards, one hundred 
and fifty million dollars, including the fifty million already out. While 
these notes were made a legal tender for all debts, public and private, 
except customs, the fact was overlooked that the fifty million out 
were not a legal tender, but were, by the terms of the law, receivable 
for customs. Inasmuch as that contract could not be repudiated, a 
supplemental law was passed, March 16th, cori-ecting that oversight. 
A twin measure of this issue of paper money v^as a jH'Ovision that 
the interest on the national debt should be paid in coin. 

Tills was deemed necessary to reassure the national creditors who 
recognized in the paper medium a quasi repudiation of their claims, 
since, if they continued to receive a fixed amo-unt of paper annually 
for interest, and that paper, following the experience of all previous 
issues, should depreciate and ultimately become valueless, they vrould 
lose their revenues. This, it was also hoped, would operate to induce 
holders of other property to transfer it into Government stocks. But 
if the Government was to pay coin, it must have some means of pro- 
curing coin. To buy it in the open market in exchange for paper, 
would cause the latter rapidly to depreciate. It was therefore resolved 
that all duties should be paid in coin. This plan also recommend- 
ed itself to the manufacturing and protective interests, because it 
was in effect raising the cost of imported goods to the extent of the 
depreciation of the papei\ The duties for the year were estimated at 
fifty millions ; and this amount, derived in specie, would, it was sup- 
posed, meet the interest on the Government debt, and also furnish 
sufficient to pay diplomatic salaries and other claims on the Govern- 
ment abroad. There was apparently a large amount of capital with- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 349 

drawn from trade, that was accumulating in private hands. The 
owners did not seem disposed to invest it in the Government stocks, 
under the assurance, constantly reiterated in high quarters, that the 
war would have a speedy termination. They desired temj^orary em- 
ployment for it, under the supposition that speedy peace would 
restore the usual occupation of capital. The Secretary of the Treas- 
ury was therefore authorized to receive money on deposit to the 
extent of twenty-five millions, returnable at ten days' notice, and to 
pay five per cent, j^er annum interest in gold. This measure was 
successful, and the limit was soon filled. Congress subsequently 
raised the limit at various times, until it was fixed at one hundred 
millions, when interest was made payable in paper instead of gold. 
In addition to these measures, the Secretary was authorized to issue 
certificates of indebtedness to the national creditors, bearing six per 
cent, interest in gold, and payable in one year ; subsequently the 
interest was made payable m paper instead of gold. There was no 
limit fixed to this issue. It was paid out at par to the public credi- 
tors, and by them sold in the market at a greater or less discount, 
according to the amount offered for sale. 

Meantime the deposits were the most ready means of meeting the 
wants of the treasury. The banks and the public held large amounts 
of Government paper, of the old or first issues, having the value of 
specie, which the new issue would not possess. They would not, 
therefore, deposit their notes with the treasury without a stipulation 
that the same kind of notes should be received back. This demand was 
complied with, and the deposits became large. The fact that the 
treasury took all unemployed money at five per cent., caused that 
rate to become the minhnwn rate of interest in the market, since the 
Government would be the first choice of lenders. With all these 
provisions, the ways and means of the department now embraced 
twenty-five million dollars of 7y\ three years' bonds not yet issued, 
one hundred million dollars of legal tenders credited by the law of 
Frebruary 25th, ten million dollars granted by the tariff laAV of 
March, one hundred million dollars of certificates of deposit, and an 
unlimited amount of six per cent, one year certificates to issue. 
These different credits began to make their appearance as fast as 
they could be prepared, and with this emission they began to 
depreciate as compared with gold. The premium on gold, which 
had been five per cent. January 1st, had declined to one and a half. 
It now began to rise, however, and, at the close of the fiscal year, 
June 30th, 1802, was at ten per cent, premium. 

The debt on the 1st of July, 1862, was $514,211,371,* not includ- 

* The Federal debt was composed as follows: — 

Jnlv, 1S61. December, 1R61. Jnlv. 1862. 

Stocks, f5ve per cent. ^SO.M.^uga $ 30,695.092 $ 20,.^95.092 

Stocks, six per c>nt 41,085,558 189.929.S56 :04.o96.505 

Stocks, seven and three-tenths per cent 100,000,000 122.886,550 

Treasury Notes, six per cent 18,587,178 22,464,762 2,830.641 

One Year CertiHcates, six per cent 49.S81.9SO 

Beposits, four per cent 14.015,894 

Deposits, fivo percent 43,730.212 

Paper Money .... ., 24.550,825 149,660,000 

^90,867,828 $267,540,035 $614,211,37 



350 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK". 

ing the arrears, which were estimated at some one hundred million 
dollars. The funded debt had thus increased during the year, $423,- 
343,543, or $1,103,000 per day, not including the very large sums not 
audited. The whole net revenue and expenditure for the fiscal year 
1862, which was the first entire year of war, were, for customs, 
$49,056,397; bonds, $152,203; miscellaneous, $931,787; direct tax, 
$1,795,332 ; which sums, added to the increased loans, made $475,279,- 
263, or $1,302,000 per day, of which amount nine-tenths was borrow- 
ed. This debt bore an interest of twenty-two million dollars per 
annum, payable in gold, which was now, July 1st, at a premium of 
ten per cent, for Government paper. It was obvious that the regular 
revenue must be increased by taxation, however detrimental that 
might prove to the political interests of the party in pow er. The 
direct tax law of the previous session had been repealed, and the 
confiscation acts, under which it was alleged the war expenses could be 
paid from Southern property, were found to be delusive. It was there- 
fore determined to pass an excise law, which was to levy taxes upon 
all de]iartments of industry, and also a tax upon all incomes over six 
hundrexl dollars. The chief features of the excise law were stamp 
duties upon all transactions and legal demands, and a three per cent. 
tax upon manufactures. There were also some changes made in the 
customs duties, wnth a view to more revenue. The excise law would 
necessarily be a long time in getting into operation, and the income 
tax was not made payable until June, 1863. It was necessary, there- 
fore, that further loans should be resorted to, and July 11th a further 
issue of one hundred and fifty million dollars paper money was 
authorized, of which thirty-five million dollars were to be notes of a 
denomination less than five dollars. Of the whole amount, fifty mil- 
lion dollars were to be reserved as a fund to meet the deposits, in 
case they should be called for. 

The estimates of the Secretary for the fiscal year 1863 embraced an 
expenditure of $693,346,321, and the revenue was estimated at $180,- 
495,345, from all sources, customs, taxes, &c. There remained, then, 
$512,850,976 to be provided for, and in addition, $95,212,456 of pub- 
lic debt was to l^e met, making $608,063,432. Soon after, however, 
military disasters caused the calling out of six hundred thousand 
more men, and raised the appropriation for 1863 to $882,238,800. 
To meet these expenses. Congress authorized the issue of five hundred 
million dollars, six per cent, stock, redeemable in five to twenty 
years, and also a further issue of notes for one hundred million dol- 
lars, exchangeable at par for the stock authorized. Subsequently, the 
Secretary was authorized to issue fractional notes, or for parts of a 
dollar, to an unhmited amount. Thus there were authorized seven 
hundred and fifty million dollars, and in addition, as much fractional 
paper as the Secretary might deem proper. 

With these resources the Secretary continued to meet the wants of 
the Government, under a manifestly growing discredit, since the price 
of gold rose rapidly in the market, and the five-twenty bonds, or 
those which were payable after five years and Avithin twenty years, 
were limited to sales at not less than the market value, and the 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 351 

holder of Government notes had the riglit to convert thera at any 
time at par into those five-twenty bonds. When Congress again as- 
sembled, the Treasury was again much straightened in its means, 
Nearly the same situation presented itself as in the previous year. 
The debt now amounted to 1,400 million dollars. There were large 
arrears pressing for payment, without the apparent means of meet- 
ing them. Early in January, 1863, Congress again authorized the issue 
of one hundred million dollars of paper money, to meet immediate wants. 
The Secretary then desired Congress to amend the law authorizing the 
sale of the five hundred million dollars five-twenty bonds, so as to re- 
strict the right of converting greenbacks into them at par, to the 1st 
of July, 1863, and to remove the restriction upon soiling them at 
market value. A new law was also passed, authorizing the issue of 
five hundred million dollars of six per cent, stock, redeemable after 
ten and within forty years ; also, four hundred million dollars of 
notes, of denominations as low as ten dollars, to be legal tenders, or 
convertible into legal tenders, bearing six per cent, interest in paper, 
and redeemable in three years. There were authorized one hundred 
and fifty million dollars more legal tenders, into which to convert 
those small interest-bearing notes. The fractional paper currency was 
now limited to fifty million dollars. In addition to these provisions, 
a new National Banking Law was enacted, bj^ which banks were to 
be authorized in all the States to circulate notes, redeemable in Gov- 
ernment paper, and secured on Government stocks. The aggregate 
circulation was not to exceed three hundred million dollars. It was 
also provided that the one year certificates were to have their mterest 
paid in paper, and also all future certificates of deposit. 

Between the passage of this act and the close of the fiscal year 
1863, fifty million dollars of one year certificates fell due, and were 

Said off. The proceeds were deposited with the Government at ten 
ays' notice at five per cent, interest in paper, and new claims on the 
Government were met by the issue of new certificates, on which, how- 
ever, gold was no longer paid for interest. The continued issue of 
the paper money had promoted a great rise in prices, and much specu- 
lative action in goods and specie. Gold rose to a premium of seventy- 
two in February, 1 833. This rise had a twofold effect : it caused a great 
diminution in the consumption of goods, on account of their dearness, 
and also a conversion of old stocks of goods into paper money. The 
money seeking investment filled the bank vaults, and was employed 
in the Government five per cent, deposits, tilling up the limit to one 
hundred million dollars. The Treasury Department then organized a 
system of agencies, or commissions, which effected considerable con- 
versions of paper money into the five-twenties, before the expiration 
of the limit for conversion fixed by law. That limit was, however, 
not observed by the Secretary, who extended the time for conversion 
indefinitely, under the power granted by Congress to sell stocks at 
his own discretion. A number of banks were also organized under 
the new banldng law, and prepared to issue notes secured upon the 
five-twenties. The deposits on five per cent, certificates, and the con- 
version during April, May, and June, nearly met the expenses of the 



352 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

Treasury during that iieriod. The effect of this change of plan was 
to cause a contraction of the currency, and gold fell from seventy-two 
to thirty-two, causing a corresponding decline in general prices, and 
great losses to the holders of goods. At the close of the fiscal year, 
1863, the debt stood as follows: — 

Stocks, 5 per cent., due 1865 to 1874 $30,483,000 

" 6 " " " ISGBtolSSl 87,871,391 

6 " " " 5.20 185,684,141 

Bonds, 7.30 " " 1864 139,920,500 

Treasury Notes to 1863 717,100 

Deposits 4 per cent., 10 days 28,059,295 

" 5 " " 10 " 70,815,639 

Certificates, 6 per cent., 1 year 157,093,241 

Legal Tender 387,646,589 

" " Fractions 20,192,459 

Total debt, July, 1863 $1,097,274,355 

The appropriations, for two years, were as follows: — 

July 1, 1861, to July 1, 1862 $313,261,629 

18G2, " " "1863 882,238,800 

Total $1,195,500,429 

The amount actually borrowed up to July, 1863, was about equal 
to the actual appropriation of the two years. The amount of debt 
contracted from July, 1861, to July 1, 1863, or seven hundred and 
thirty days, was at the rate of one million five hundred thousand 
dollars. The large expenditures of the Government, as a matter of 
course, afforded a great substitute for the legitimate demands of com- 
merce which the war had annihilated, and many sections of the coun- 
try, particularly New England, enjoyed an uninterrupted prosperity, 
with greater profits and wages, than in times of j^eace. 

The annual export trade of the country, in time of peace, was equal 
to a sale of three liundrcd and seventy-three million one hundred and 
oighty-uine thousand two hundred and seventy-four dollars of domes- 
tic produce abroad. Of this amount nearly two hundred million dol- 
lars was cotton. On the outbreak of the war the export trade fell to 
two hundred and twenty-one million nine hundred and twenty thou- 
sand dollars ; but this included an unusual sale of breadstuffs to Eng- 
land. That country imported, in 1862, the unprecedented quantity of 
ninety-seven million bushels of wheat. Of this, more than half was 
sold by the United States, because the stoppage of the sale of food to 
the South threw upon the Eastern States an unusual surplus, at such 
prices as enabled the United States to undersell the corn-growing 
countries of Europe. In this state of affairs the Federal Government 
came forward as the employer of one million men, and the purchaser 
of goods to the amount of seven hundred and fifty million dollars per 
annum. It did not extract the money for the expenditure from the 
people with one hand, while disbursing with the other, but, using its 
credit, it emitted paper that was received as money. Thus the ex- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 353 

port trade of the country and the Southern markets were supplanted 
by the war custom of the Government. It may be expressed thus : — 

I860. 1863. 

Export Trade $373,189,274 Export $212,000,000 

Southern" 500,000,000 War Exports 750,000,000 



Total amount sales t $873,189,274 $962,000,000 

It would appear from this that the war was a gain to business, and 
there was a semblance of prospeiity which was not real. The pay- 
ments of the Government were promises yet to be made good from 
the earnings of future industry to be taxed. It had taken the labor 
and merchandise of the people, and given them promises which were 
to be made good only by taxing the people that held them. The ex- 
port trade, of course, was paid for in sutjstantial equivalents, but the 
Government expenses were an actual consumption of the national 
capital. It was probably the case that this Government consumption 
of capital was to some extent compensated by greater economy prac- 
tised by the people, as a consequence of tlie high prices M'hich goods 
commanded in the paper money of the day. For this reason exhaus- 
tion was far less rapid than would otherwise have been the case. The 
close of the second year of war then presented the following result : — 

Appropriation. Debt at close. 

Fiscal year, 1861 $81,578,834 July 1, 18C1, $ 60,189,406 

" " 1862 313,261,629 " 1862, 514,211,372 

" " 1863 882,238,800 " 1863, 1,097.274,366 

" " 1864 973,055,670 Estimate " 1804, 1,744,685,586 

The debt of July, 1863, did not include the sixty days' pay of the 
army and navy then due, and many other large sums, which carried 
the amount to one billion three hundred million dollars. The debt of 
1864 is the estimate of the Secretary of the Treasury. The aggregate 
interest on the funded public debt amounted to forty-two million 
eight hundred thousand dollars per annum, mostly in gold. The 
paper money did not bear interest ; but inasmuch as its efiect was to 
enhance tlie prices of all commodities bought by the Government, an 
average of thirty-five per cent., and which was payable upon all con- 
tracts, the interest actually paid was nearly thirty per cent, average 
on the expenditure other than salaries, and may be estimated at one 
hundred and eighty million dollars per annum. This would give an 
annual interest of two hundred and twenty-two million dollars paid 
by the Government, or twenty per cent.'on its whole debt. The in- 
terest-bearing debt was as follows :— 

Interest. 

Funded 4 per cent $ 28,059,295.49 $ 1,122,371.81 

" 5 " " 101,297,638.91 5,064,881.94 

" 6 ' " 431,275,87471 25,876,552.48 

" 7.30 " 138,920,500.00 10,214,196.50 



Total $700,553,319.11 $42,278,002.73 

" Unfunded 396,721,056.88 180,000,000.00 

23 



354 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

The average rate of interest on the funded debt is 6.038 per cent. 
The unfunded costs a great deal more ; but, if funded on as favorable 
terms as the first loans, would bear $32,803,263, making together 
$75,081,265 of annual interest on the actual debt to July 1, 1863. 

The annual charge of the British debt is $127,965,701, or |4.36 to 
each person. The United States debt is three-fifths of the British debt 
in annual charge, and $3. 79 per head. The charge oir tlie French debt is. 
$110,000,000 per annum, or $3.05 per head. 

The actual increase of the debt for the year 1 862 was $1,450 each work- 
ing day; for the year 1863, it was $1,862,800 each working day; for the 
last six months of 1862, it was $2,418,000 per day. This was the 
most extraordinary instance in tlie history of the world of the lavish 
expenditure of means for national objects. No country ever before 
manifested such resources, and no people ever before offered them up 
so freely to the service of the Government. It may l)ere be remarked, 
that in the two years in which these marvels occurred, the Northern 
States sent nearly 1,000,000 bushels of grain to supply the wants of she 
people of England and Europe. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Thirty-vSe-uenth Congress. — Foreign Relations. — Public Anxiety. — Surrender of Com- 
missioBers. — War Conduct. — Executive Action. — President's Message. — Co-opera« 
tion. — Hunter's Order. — Border State Delegation. — Kentucky Legislature. — Presi- 
dent's Letter. — Tlis Position.— Western Delegation.— Emancipaiion Action of Congress. 
— No more Slave Territory. — District of Columbia. — Co-operation Resolution. — 
Military not to. Surrender Fugitives. — Troops Authorized. — Con.scription. — Work of 
the Thirty-Seventh Congress. 

On" the 2d December, 1861, the second session, or first regular ses- 
sion of the Thirty-Seventh Congress, convened at Washington under 
the most extraordinary circumstances. The war had continued with 
varying fortunes, and. grave complications seemed to be surrounding 
our foreign relations. The capture of the English mail steamer Trent, 
by Captain Wilkes, of the American navy, having on bo:ird tlie Con- 
federate Commissioners, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on their way to 
Europe, had caused profound excitement at home and abroad. Eng- 
land complained of it as a violation of the riglits of neutrals. Her 
attitude was so hostile as to render war imminent, and the action of 
the Federal Govt^rnment was looked for with the mo-^t profound 
anxiety. The House, on assembling, immediately adopted a joint 
resolution of JMr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, voting the thanks of C(mgres3 
to Captain Wilkes for the arrest of Messrs. Mas(m and Slidell. This 
resolution was rejected in the Senate. Two resolutions were then 
passed: one to request that Mr. Mason be held as a hostiige for the 
treatment of a Union prisoner in the hands of the Confederates ; and 
the other, that Mr. Slidell be also so held to answer for the treatment 
of another. The passage of these resolutions was, however, imme- 
diately /oUowed by the action of the Government in surrendering 



KESTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 355 

Messrs. Mason and Slidell to the English, and the war cloud passed 
over. 

The most important phase which Congressional action now assumed 
"was in reference to the general war powers which the Government was 
authorized to assert, and of which the chief one was manifestly the 
control of slavery. The strict constructionists, in their zeal to prevent 
• any infraction of tlie Constitution, denied to President or Congress the 
power, even in the exigencies which war created, to touch the peculiar 
institution of the South, or indeed to exercise any rights not diiectly 
conferred by the Constitution. General McClellan illustrated this 
policy when he wrote to President Lincoln from Harrison's Landing, 
on July 7th : " Neither confiscation of property, political executions 
of persons, territorial organization of States, or forcible abolition of 
slavery should be contemplated for a moment;" and others, entertain- 
ing similar views, went so far as to assert that unless the war could be 
conducted with a precise observance of every legal and political right 
to which the rebels had been entitled in time of peace, a compromise 
had better be efiected with them, or the rebellious States be allowed 
to secede quietly. With them the Constitution was an instrumerit of 
so sacred a character, that it was regarded as superior to that Union 
for whose government it had been framed. The Union thus became 
the creature of the Constitution. 

Fortunately for the country, this class, though possessing no lack of 
talent, was without much influence, and the great body of the loyal 
people recognized the fact tliat no such state of aflairs existed as should 
prevent that reciprocal influence and harmonious co-operation of the 
Union and the Constitution which was intended by tlie founders of 
the nation. As the Constitution was "ordained and established," 
among other things, to " insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
common defence, promote the general welfare," it was assumed, with 
reason, that it contained ample provisions for accomplishing these 
several objects. Such provisions are in fact fully detailed in Article L, 
Section VIIL, of that instrument; and in accordance with them were 
the war powers from time to time exercised by the President and 
Congress, against which the sticklers for strict construction so vehe- 
mently protested. Among tliese powers the confiscation of slave prop- 
erty, or the emancipation of slaves, was early recognized ; but such 
was the tenderness in approaching this vexed subject, and so strong 
the hope that the rebellion might be crushed without resort to it ; 
so great also the reluctance, in the early stages of the war, to oflend 
the sensitiveness of the loyal Border Slave States on the subject, that 
the Thirty-seventh Congress forbore, at its first session, to interfere 
with slavery further than to declare confiscated any slave property 
employed in military service in aid of the rebellion. This, however, 
was sufficient to emmciate a general principle, which, it will be seen, 
was soon carried to its extreme limit. 

With the progress of the war it became evident to those who were 
in favor of carr} ing it on with all the means at the disposal of the 
Government, that a more vigorous policy on the subject of interfering 
with slavery was necessary. The forbearance of the Government had 



356 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIN'. 

not only failed to disarm the hostility of the rebels, but had been 
conspicuously brought to the notice of European Governments as an 
indication that the IJnited States authorities were bent upon preserving 
and perpetuating an institution which the civilized nations of the Old 
World united in condemning. Soon after the meeting of the second 
session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, a disposition to make consid- 
erable advances upon the legislation of the extra session began to 
manifest itself, and it was boldly affirmed that slavery was the cause 
of the war, that the whole power of the Government should be directed 
against the cause, and that emancipation was a preliminary to peace ; 
that to emancipate slaves and destroy slavery should be the object of 
the war, because peace could never exist on other terms. 

These principles became the guide to the action of Congress, and 
were also the influences mider which the separate action of the Execu- 
tive took place. This action of the Executive was developed in a 
series of proclamations upon the subject of emaucipation. The first of 
these was in the form of a message to Congress, as follows: — 

"Washington, March 6, 1862. 
" FeUmv- CitizeTis of the Senate and House of Representatives: 

" I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by jour honorable bodies, which 
shall be substantially as follows: — 

" Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may 
adopt a gradual, abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used 
by such State in its discretion to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, 
produced by such change of system. 

'• If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the approval of Congress 
and the country, there is the end ; but if it does coirmand such approval, I deem of im- 
portance that the States and people immediately interested should at once be distinctly 
notified of the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject it. 

" The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a measure, as one 
of the most efficient means of self-preservation. The leaders of the existing insurrec- 
tion entertain the hope that the Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge 
the independence of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States 
north of such parts will then say, 'The Union for which we have struggled being 
already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern section.' 

" To deprive them of this hope substantially ends the rebellion, and the initiation of 
emancipaion completely deprives them of it. As to all the States initiating it, the point 
is not that all the States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate emancipa- 
tion ; but that, wbile the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such 
initiation, make it certain to the more Southern, that in no event will the former ever 
Join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. 

"I say 'initiation,' because, in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden emancipation 
is better for all. In the more financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, 
with the census tables and the Treasury reports before him, can readily see for himself 
how very soon the current expenditures of this war would purchase, at a fair valuation, 
all the slaves in any named State. Such a proposition on the part of the General Gov- 
ernment sets up no claim of a right, by Federal authority, to interfere with slavery 
Avithin State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in each case 
to the State, and its people immediately interested. 

"It is proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them. In the annual Mes- 
sage, last December, I thought fit to say: 'The Union must be preserved, and hence 
all indispensable means must be employed.' I said tliis not hastily, but deliberately. 
War has been, and continues to be, an indispensable means to this end. A practical 
reacknowledgraent of the National authority would render the war unnecessary, and it 
would at once cease. 
^ "If, however, resistance continues, the war must also continue, and it is impossible 



BISTORT OF THE GREAT REBELLION SS'T 

to foresee all the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. 
Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great efficiency towards end- 
ing the struggle, must and will come. 

"The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be esteemed no 
offence to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered would not be of more value 
to the States and private persons concerned, than are the institution and property in it, 
in the present aspect of affairs. 

" While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely 
initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in the hope that 
It would soon lead to important results. In full view of my great responsibility to my 
God and to my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the 
subject. 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

Congress also showed its sense of the injuries to the national welfare 
which slavery had occasioned, and of which it was likely to be the 
future cause, by passing bills for its abolition in the District of Colum- 
bia and for its prohibition in the Territories; and in pursuance of the 
recommendation of the message of March 6, the following resolution 
was adopted by a large majority in either House; — 

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Ixepresentatives of the United Sf<ites, in Congress 
assembled, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt 
gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such 
State, in its discretion, to compensate for inconveniences, public and private, produced 
by such a change of system." 

On the 9th of May, General Hunter issued an order declaring all 
slaves in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina '* forever free." On 
the 19th of May, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation abrogating the 
order of General Hunter, on the ground that it was in contravention 
of the resolution just quoted, which he described as "an authentic, 
definite, and solemn proposal of the nation to the States and people 
most interested in the subject-matter," and reserving to himself, as 
Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, the right to declare slaves 
free, should such a measure be considered necessary to the mainte- 
nance of the Government. In pursuance of the same subject, the 
President, July 12, invited the senators and representatives of the 
Border States to the Executive Mansion, and addressed them upon the 
subject. 

He began by informing them that if they had voted for the reso- 
lution he had sent to Congress, March 6, the war would, in his opin- 
ion, now have been ended. He then contmued to urge upon them 
the subject of coiiipensated emancipation, and stated that his repudi- 
ation of Hunter's order had given offence to parties whose support 
the country could not afibrd to lose ; that the pressure from that di- 
rection upon him was increasing, and that he desired the border dele- 
gates to relieve him from the pressure by conceding his request. 
The delegates replied that Congress had made no pledge whatever, 
and that the Border States could not be expected to act upon the ex- 
pression of a sentiment. The majority replied in a lengthy state- 
ment, in which they urged the impossibility of acting upon so impor- 
tant a matter hastily; that it was an interference of "the Government 
in State concerns ; that the Government had no power to make such 



358 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT." 

appropriations of money, which would reach at least five hundred 
millions of dollars ; that the right to hold slaves appertains to each 
State of the Union ; each has the right to maintain or abolish it ; that 
the right is a part of the institutions of the Constitution and the Union, 
and cannot be taken away without destroying all. They alluded to 
the inaugural of President Lincoln, in which he affirmed that he had 
" no lawful right to interfere with slavery in States where it exists." 
They did not see why sacrifices should be exacted from loyal Border 
States any more than from the other loyal States. They denied the 
proposition of the President, that the resolution, if passed, would have 
ended the war. They stated that the Confederate strength consisted 
in the union of classes, which had not been the case when the war 
commenced. The Union had been brought about by the common re- 
sistance of all parties to aggressions upon their rights. The resist- 
ance had been strengthened by the non-adherence to the principles of 
the inaugural. A minority of the Border State members submitted 
a reply, in which they acknowledged the wisdom and patriotism of 
the President's proposition, and pledged themselves to recommend 
it to the consideration of their constituents. 

The proposition was acted upon in the Kentucky Legislature, and a 
committee reported that the measure would have no influence on the 
war ; that " the dominant party in Congress are bent upon the de- 
struction of the Constitution and the Union. We have viewed Avith 
alarm the rapid strides it has made towards the prostration of every 
guarantee which the Constitution provides for the dearest rights of the 
people." " They declare that they are against the restoration of the 
Union, unless slavery is abolished." The report closed with a recom- 
mendation that the proposition be declined, which course was fol- 
lowed. 

In July the President signed the Confiscation Act, which provided 
that the slaves of persons adjudged guilty of treason should be freed, 
and that if any other ])ersons engaged in the rebellion should not, 
within sixty days after public jn-oclamation duly made by the Presi- 
dent, cease to aid the rebellion, all their pro])erty sliould be confis- 
cated in the same manner. As public sentiment began to be devel- 
oped in favor of immediate and unconditional emancipation as a means 
of breaking down the rebellion, the President was urged to avail hhn- 
self of these provisions, and it was in reply to a letter embodying the 
views of the more radical friends of the Administration, published by 
the Hon. Horace Greeley, that the following communication was 
prepared : — 

" Executive Mansion, "U'AsnixGTON, August 22, 1862. 
"Hon. Horace Greeley: 

" Dear Sir ■ — I have just read yours of tlie IDth instant, addressed to myself through 
the New York Tribune. 

" If there be in it any statements or aasumptions of fhct which I may know to be 
erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. 

'' If there be any inferences which I may beliere to be falsely drawn, I do not now 
and here ar^uo against tliem. 

" If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in defor- 
©nce to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to bo right. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 359 

"As to the policy I ' seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to leave any 
one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under 
the Constitution. 

" The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will ba 
the Union as it was. , 

" If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time save slavery, I do not agree with them. 

" If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. 

" My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. 

"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could 
save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing some 
and leaving others alone, I would also do that. 

" What I do about slavery and the colored race I do because I believe it helps to 
save this Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help 
to save the Union. 

" I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing injures the cause ; and I 
shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. 

" I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors ; and I shall adopt new 
views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. 

" I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and I intend 
no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could ba 
free. Yours, A. Lincoln." 

Meanwhile, delegations from all parts of the North continued to 
urge upon the President the necessity of emancipation. His own 
opinions seem also to have been tending in the same direction ; and 
just one month after the foregoing letter was written, the long-ex- 
pected proclamation appeared in the following terms : — 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

A PROCLAMATIO>f. 

""WASmxGTON, September 22, 18G2. 
" I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander- 
in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, 
as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the con- 
stitutional relation between the United States and the people thereof in wluch States 
that relation is, or may be, suspended or disturbed ; that it is my purpose, upon the 
next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure 
tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all the Slave States, so- 
called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and 
which States may then have voluntarily adopted or thereafter may voluntarily adopt the 
immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that 
the efforts to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon the conti- 
nent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing 
there, will be continued; that on the first day of Januarjj, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundrtd and --ixty-ihree, all persons hdd as skives within any State, or any 
designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United 
Slates, shall be then, thenceforward and forever, free, and the Executive Government of 
the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize 
and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such 
persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom ; that 
the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate 
the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall be 
then in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people 
thereof, shall on tliat day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United 
States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified 



360 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong counter- 
vailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people there- 
of have not been in rebel' ion against the United States. 

" That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled ' An Act to make an 
additional Article of War,' approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the v/ords 
and figures following : — 

" ' jBe it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer' 
tea, in Congress Oisemhled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an 
additional article of war for the government of the Army of the United States, and 
ehall be obeyed and observed as such : — 

" ' Article. — AU officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United 
States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective com- 
mands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have es- 
caped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due ; and any 
officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dis- 
missed from the service. 

" 'Section 2. — And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after 
its passage.' 

" Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled ' An Act to suppress insur- 
rection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and 
for other purposes,' approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and 
figures following : — 

"'Section 9. — And be \ further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall here- 
after be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who 
shall in any way give aid and comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking 
refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons, or de- 
serted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of the United States, 
and all slaves of such persons found on (or being within) any place occupied by rebel 
forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed 
captures of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as 
slaves t. 

" ' Section 10. — And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Ter- 
ritory, or the District of Columbia, from any of the States, shall be delivered up, or in 
any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against 
the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person 
to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, 
and has not been in arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in 
any way given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person engaged in the military or naval 
service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on 
the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or 
surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the 
Bervice.' 

" And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and 
naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce witliin their respective 
spheres of service the act and sections above recited. 

" And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United 
States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall (upon the 
restoratiou of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respec- 
tive States and people, if the relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be com- 
pensated for all losses by acts of the Uuited States, including the loss of slaves. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United 
States to be affixed. 

"Abbaham Lincoln. 

" Done at the City of "Washington, this twenty-second day of September, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence 
of the United States the eighty-seventh. 

" By the President. 

" "William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

In his annual message delivered in December, 18G2, the President 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELUON". 361 

alluded to the efforts he had made in relation to emancipation, and 
also in relation to colonizing the emancipated blacks ; and proposed 
articles amendatory of the Constitution, granting compensation to 
loyal owners for emancipated slaves in the course of thirty-seven years, 
and appropriations for the colonizing of blacks ; and urged that if the 
plan were adopted, the emancipation of slaves would follow in some 
of the States. The message proceeded to argue the matter at some 
length. The plan he stated was proposed as a permanent constitutional 
amendment, which cannot be passed without the concurrence of three- 
fourths of the States. The plan, however, did not interfere with the 
following proclamation, which was issued January 1, 1863 : — 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

" Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of 
the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: — 

" ' That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part 
of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, 
shall be then, thenceforth, and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the 
United States, including the mihtary and naval authority thereof, will recognize and 
maintan the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persona 
or any of them in any effort they may make for their actual freedom. 

" ' That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, 
designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people therein respec- 
tively shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State 
or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress 
of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the 
qualified voters of such State 6)fall have participated, shall, in the aljsence of strong 
countervadmg testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the peo- 
ple thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.' 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by yirtue of 
the power in nie vested as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the 
United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, 
do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full 
period of one hundred days from tlie day of the first above-mentioned order, and desig- 
nate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively are this 
day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit : Arkansas, Texas, 
Louisiana — except the parishes of St. Bernard, Placquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. 
Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Mar- 
tin, and Orleans, hicluding the city of New Orleans — Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, 
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia — except the forty-eight counties 
designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northamp- 
ton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk 
and Portsmouth, and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this 
proclamation was not issued. 

" And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare 
that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are 
and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive Government of the United 
States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and main- 
tain the freedom of said persons. 

" And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all 
violence, imless in necessary self-defence ; and I recommend to them that in all casaa 
when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. 



362 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

" And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, 
will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, 
stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

" And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Consti- 
tution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and 
the gracious favor of Almighty God. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed. 

"Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sLsty-three, and of the independence of the 
United States of America the eigbty-seventh. 

By the President : " Abraham Lincoln. 

" William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

During the summer of 1862, Congress passed an additional article 
of war, which prohibits all military ofScers from returning any fugi- 
tive slaves to their masters, under pain of dismissal from the ser- 
vice ; also a law, July 17, 1862, authorizing tlie President to call oub 
the militia of the States for nine months. Under this act three hun- 
dred thousand men were called out, in addition to three hundred thou- 
sand three years men. The waste of life continued, however, and at 
the second session of Congress new means were deemed advisable to 
fill the ranks of the army. These were finally adopted in the Conscrip- 
tion Law brought in by Mr. Wilson, chairman of the Senate Military 
Committee, that every man drafted might furnish a substitute, or pay 
a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars, in money, for the procuration 
of one. This law placed all the arms-bearing citizens in all the States 
within the control of the President. After some months of delay, the 
necessary machinery was organized, and the draft put in force. 

In looking back upon the proceedings of the Thirty-seventh Congress, 
which expired March 4th, 1863, the most gigantic results are observa- 
ble. It had inaugurated legal tender paper money, and a comprehensive 
national banking system, besides passing a tax law embracing an ex- 
cise upon all articles of productive industry, a stamp tax upon aU 
documents, and a tax of three per cent, upon all incomes over six hun- 
dred dollars ; while the taiiff upon imported goods had been raised to 
the highest rates. In addition to all this, it had amply provided for the 
needs of Government, and under its authority more than a million of 
men had been put into the field. 

The navy had been reorganized, the grade of rear-admirals had been 
created, and nine appointed, with sixteen commodores, thirty-nine 
captains, and ninety commanders. There were two hundred and 
eighty-two steam-vessels, carrying fifteen hundred and thirty-seven 

funs. Of these, fifty-three are iron-clad, and thirteen rams ; and one 
undred and two sailing, vessels, carrying fourteen hundred and fifty 
guns, Total, three htmdred and eighty-four sea-going vessels, with 
two thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven guns. 

All this treasure, material, and men had been voted to the service 
of the Government, in perfect accordance with public opinion. Tliere 
were no murmurs heard from the loyal population at the extent of the 
pj'mies, or at the lavish expenditure of money. On the other hand, 
the only clamors heard were for a more vigorous prosecution of the 



HTSTOKY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 3j68 

war, as if no possible action of Congress could keep up with the fierce 
impatience of the public to have the war brought to a successful end. 



CHAPTER XXXn. 

Expedition of General Butler. — New Orleans. — Its, Defences. — Passage of the Forts 
by Farragut. — Capture of City. — Butler's Administration. — Baton Rouge. — Vicks- 
burg. — Ram Arkansas. — Her Destruction. 

The expedition of General Butler against New Orleans, which had 
been so long in preparation, finally reached Ship Island on the 20th 
March, 1862, but, owing to the weather, did not land until the 23d. 
The defence of New Orleans had been intrusted to Major-General M. 
Lovell, a graduate of West Point, and connected with Generals Quit- 
man and G. W. Smith in the Cuban fillibustering expeditions. When 
he took charge of New Orleans in October, 1861, he found the city 
comparatively defenceless. The troops of that section had gone north 
in the Confederate service, and the Mississippi was blockaded. The 
most active preparations were immediately commenced for defence ; 
guns and munitions were manufactured ; troops organized and drilled ; 
forts placed in a position to resist, and with persevering efforts a system 
of formidable works gradually grew up. The lower river was com- 
manded by Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, which had been seized 
by the Confederates. The former, situated on the west bank of the 
river, seventy miles below New Orleans, had cost the United States 
over one million dollars ; it was a casemated fort, intended to mount one 
hundred and fifty guns, and hold six hundred men; opposite, on the 
east bank of the river, St. Philip moimted one hundred and fifty guns ; 
it is also a very strong fort. These two forts completely commanded 
the river, and it was judged impossible to pass them. The Confed- 
erates had, however, twice placed obstructions in the river, but tliese 
were swept away by the rising flood. There were five or six other 
forts which commanded the approaches to New Orleans by way of 
Lake Borgne. As an additional defence, sixteen vessels had been pre- 
pared and armed on the river ; of these, eight defended the upper 
river, and the remainder, including two iron-clad rams, were destined 
to support the forts below. Both forts were commanded by General 
J. K. Duncan, a native of Pennsylvania, and a graduate of West Point. 
He had been connected with the Lopez expedition to Cuba, and also 
with Walker, in Nicaragua, and was considered the best artillerist in 
the Confederate service. Colonel Higgins, formerly of the United 
States navy, and considered a skilful oflicer, had the immediate com- 
mand of Fort Jackson. A large proportion of the forces inside the 
forts were Northern men, and included many foreigners. The party 
that seized the fort, early in 1861, was a company of German Yagers, 
The Northern men were mostly sent down at an early stage of the war, 
and it was asserted that most of them volunteered, hoping in that way 
to avoid suspicion, and, perhaps, not have to fight against the Govern- 



364 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 

ment after all. A cliain had been placed across the river, three- 
<juartcr8 of a mile below the Ibrta, and was a formidable obstacle. It 
was supported by heavy lot^s, thirty feet long, and only a few feet apart, 
to the under side of which the chain was pinned near the up-stream 
end. In a few months a raft formed on the upper side of this chain 
which reached up to the forts, and its weight swept away the whole 
obstruction and went to sea, carrying the buoys with it. It was then 
replaced by a ligliter chain, buoyed by the hulks of eleven schooners. 
There were also fire-i'afts and boats above, prepared to descend the 
river with the current and destroy any ascending fleet. The whole 
system of defence was such that the place was considered entirely im- 
pregnable. No uneasiness was felt either in Ilichmond or New 
Orleans when it was annovinced that the attack had copimenced. 

General Butler, after a consultation with Flag-ofticer Farragut, em- 
barked his force at Ship Island and proceeded to the passes of the 
Mississippi to await the action of the fleet. This was the largest that 
had then ever been assembled under the stars and stripes. It consisted 
of eight steamships, sixteen gunboats, and twenty-one mortar schoon- 
ers — -in all forty-six sail, carrying two hundred and eighty-six guns. 
The mortar vessels were under Commodore D. D. Porter. The fleet 
ascended the river twenty-five miles to the forts, and on the 1 8th of 
April began a furious bombardment, which lasted six days. The fire- 
rafts proved ineffectual. During this bombardment the fort was so 
much shaken that it was feared the casemates would come down about 
the ears of the defenders. It was observed that the bombs that fell in 
the ditch, close to the walls of the fort, and exploded there, shook the 
fort much more severely than any of those that buried themselves in 
the soli<l ground. 

During the bombardment the only guns of the fort that were much 
used were the rifled guns, of which there were three, and the colum- 
biad and Dahlgren guns, eight in number. The mortars fired occa- 
sionally. One of the rifled guns mounted on the fort })roper before 
the bombardment, was sent, two days before the fire opened, to Island 
Number Ten. General Duncan telegraphed that the forts were safe, 
as the firing did not lead to results. Believing that the reduction of 
the forts by bombardment would prove a tedious operation, Farragut 
finally determined to pass the forts. Before daylight of the 24th, the 
squadron was formed in two columns, of which one, imder Captain 
Bailey, second in command, w.as composed of the folloAving vessels, 
leading to the attack of Fort St. Philip : Cayuga, Pensacola, Mis- 
8issipi>i, Oneida, Vanuia, Katahdin, Kineo, Wissahickon ; while Flag- 
officer Farragut led the Hartford, Brooklyn, liichmond, Scioto, Iro- 
quois, Pinola, Winona, Itasca, and Kemiebec, forming the left colunm, 
which was to attack Fort Jackson. The steamers belonging to the 
mortar flotilla were to enfilade the water battery commanding the 
approaches to the forts. 

The vessels were rather late in getting under way and into line, and 
were not fairly started until half-past three A. m. In an hour and ten 
minutes the fleet had passed the forts under a furious fire; the ehain 
across the river having prcAdously been shifted sufficiently to permit 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 365 

the vessels to penetrate the obstructions. It was alleged by the enemy 
that the raft had not been closed since a storm had rent a chasm in it ; 
that, by some fatality, the signals of both fleets were the same on that 
night ; that orders of General Lovell, to keep the river lighted with 
fire-rafts, had been disobeyed ; that the person in charge of the sisals 
had neglected to throw up rockets on the approach of the fleet. In 
consequence of all these mishaps, the ships got abreast of the forts 
before they were discovered. When they were seen, however, 
all the guns opened upon the devoted ships with extraordinary fury, 
and this danger once surmounted, they were obliged to encoimter the 
enemy's fleet, of seventeen vessels, eight of which were armed. The 
Varuna, Captain Charles Boggs, led the right column, and was attacked 
by the enemy's vessels on all sides. Although badly cut up, she drove 
off four of the enemy. A steam ram then attacked her, staving her 
side and setting her on fire. The flames were with difficulty extin- 
guished. The enemy was so crippled in the encounter that he drew 
off, when another ram struck the Varuna, crushing in her side. 
Although then run ashore in a sinking condition, she delivered her fire 
as she went down so effectually, that her enemy suflered great damage. 
The Brooklyn followed the Varuna. She was in the darkness 
butted by the ram Manassas without much damage. She pro- 
ceeded, receiving a fire from a steamer and from Fort St. Philip 
as she passed, returning them with marked effect. She then en- 
countered the fleet of the enemy, and was under fire an hour and a 
half, losing eight men killed and twenty-six wounded, and Avas much 
cut up. The steam rams impelled a fire-raft on board the flag- ship 
Hartford, running her ashore. Commodore Farragut then drew ott", 
and the fire was extinguished, but the Hartford was much injured. 
The Manassas drifted ashore in flames, and was deserted by her crew. 
The forts having been thus passed and the fleet of the enemy captured 
or sunk, as Avas supposed, the Union vessels proceeded to New Orleans 
without encountering serious obstacles. On the 28th the forts, which 
Generals Butler and Phelps had begun to invest from the land side, 
suiTendered to Commodore Porter. General Duncan alleged that he 
was compelled to yield in consequence of a mutiny in the garrison, to 
quell which he had been obliged to turn guns upon his own men, when 
he found that they were spiked. The rebel naval oflficers, meantime, 
placed all their munitions of war on board the Louisiana, a powerful 
floating battery, lying under the guns of Fort Jackson, and she blew up 
opposite Fort St. Philip. The forts were found to be well supplied 
with provisions and ammunition. 

There were around the city of Xew Orleans a number of vessels 
loaded with cotton and tobacco. These, to the estimated value of 
several millions, were destroyed by fire by order of General Lovell, 
who withdrew his forces from the city in order not to subject it to 
bombardment. The real reason of the evacuation Avas probably the 
iact that a single frigate anchored at Kenner's plantation, ten miles 
above the city, would effectually prevent any troops from leaving it. 

On the 26th April the following correspondence took place: — 



366 HISTOEY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOlvr. 

" United States FLAG-Snip ITartford, ) 
"Off New Orleans, April 26, 1862. j 
"To His Excellency the Mayor of the City of New Orleans: 

" Sir : — Upou my arrival before your city, I had the honor to send to your honor 
Captain Bailey, United States Navy, second in command of the expedition, to demand 
of you the surrender of Now Orleans to me as the representative of the Government 
of the United States. Captain Bailey reported the result of an interview with yourself 
and the military authorities. 

" It must occur to your honor that it is not within the province of a naval officer to 
assume the duties of a military commandant. I came here to reduce New Orleans to 
obedience to the laws of, and to vindicate the offended majesty of, the Government 
of the United States. The rights of persons and property shall be secured. 

"I therefore demand of you, as its representative, the unqualified surrender of the 
city, and that the emblem of the sovereignty of the United States be hoisted over the 
City Hall, Mint, and Custom-House, by meridian this day, and all flags and other em- 
blems of sovereignty other than this of the United States bo removed from all the pub- 
lic buildings by that hour. 

" I particularly request that you shall exercise your authority to quell disturbances, 
restore order, and call upon all the good people of New Orleans to retire at once to 
their avocations, and I particularly demand that no person shall 1)6 molested in person 
or property, or for sentiments of loyalty to their Government. I shall speedily and 
severely punish any person or persons who shall commit such outraijes as were wit- 
nessed yesterday by armed men firing upon helpless women and children for giving 
expression to their pleasure at witnessing the 'old flag.' 

" I am, very respectfully, D. G. Farragut, 

" Flag- Officer Western Gulf Squadron.^'' 

THE REPLY Off THE MAYOR. 

" Mayor's Office, City op New Orleans, ) 
"City Hall, April 26, 1862. \ 

"Flag-Officer D. C. Fabraqut, United States Flag-Ship Hartford: 

"Sir: — In pursuance of a resolution which we thought proper to take, out of regard for 
the lives of the women and children, who still crowd the metropolis, General Lovell has 
evacuated it with his troops, and restored Uack to mo the administration of its govern- 
ment and the custody of its honor. 1 have, in council with the City Fathers, considered 
the demand you made of me yesterday of an unconditional surrender of the city, coupled 
with a requisition to hoist the flag of the United States on the public edifices, and haul 
down the fiag that still floats upon the breeze from the dome of the Hall. It becomes 
my duty to transmit to you an answer which the universal sentiment of my constitu- 
ents, no less than the prompting of my own heart, declares to me on this sad and 
Bolemn occasion. The city is without the means of defence, and is utterly destitute of 
the force and material that might enable it to resist an overpowering armament dis- 
played in sight of it. 

" I am no military man, and possess no authority beyond that of executing the muni- 
cinal laws of the city of New Orleans. Id would be presumptuous in me to attempt to 
lead an army to the field, if I had one at command; and I know still less how to sur- 
render an undefended place, iield, as tliis is, at tlie mercy of your gunners and your 
mortars. To surrender such a place were an idle and unmeaning ceremony. • The city 
is yours by the power of brutal force, not by my choice or the consent of its inhabit- 
ants. It is for you to determine what will be the f ito that awaits us hero. As to 
hoisting any flag not of our own adoption and allegiance, let mo say to you that the 
man lives not in our midst whose hand and heart would not bo paralyzed at the mere 
thought of such an act; nor could I find m my entire constituency so desperate and 
wretched a renegade as would dare to profane with hand the sacred emblem of our 
aspirations. 

"Sir, you have manifested sentiments which would become one engaged in a better 
cause than that to which you have devoted your sword. I doubt not that they spring 
from a noble though deluded nature, and I know how to appreciate the emotions which 
inspired tliem. You have a gallant people to administrate during your occupancy of 
this city — a people sensitive to all that can in the least affect their dignity and self- 



HISTOEY OF TlIE GEEAT EEBELLION"/ 367, 

respect. Pray, sir, do not fail to regard their susceptibilities. The oWigations which 1 
shall assume in their name shall be religiously complied with. You may trust their 
honor, though you might not count on their submission to unmerited wrong. 

"In conclusion, I beg you to understand that the people of New Orleans, while 
tinable to resist your force, do not allow themselves to be- insulted by the interference 
of such as have rendered themselves odious and contemptible by their dastardly deser- 
tion of our causo in the mighty struggle in which we are engaged, or such as might 
remind tliem too forcibly that they are the conquered and you the conquerors. Peace 
and order may bo preserved without resort to measures which I could not prevent. 
Your occupyin'^- of tlie city does not transfer allegiance from the government of their 
choice to one which they have deliberately repudiated, and they yield the obedience 
which the conqueror is entitled to extort from the conquered. 

" Respectfully, 

"JoiLN F. Monroe, Mayor." 

After the city had surrendered to Commodore Farragut, and was 
completely under the guns of the fleet, General Butler,* with a force 
composed of eight regiments, two batteries, and two companies of 
cavalry, commenced landing on the 1st of May, and established his 
head-quarters at the Custom-House. He subsequently ordered the 
St. Charles Hotel, which was closed, to be opened for the accommoda- 
tion of himself and slaft". He then prepared a proclamation, Avhich the 
papers refused to publish, whereupon he placed Northern printers in 
the Trua Delta office, by whom the document was put in type. It 
stated that the laws of the United States would be enforced, but to a 
certain extent, and for a limited period, proclaimed martial law. The 
payment of municipal taxes, with some exceptions, was suppressed, and 
the circulation of Confederate money forbidden. The telegraph was 
placed undm- the coinniand of an army officer. For opposition to the 
new Government, General Butler sent the provost guard to arrest the 
mayor and common council, and bring them before him at the St. 
Charles Hotel. Pierre Soule, formerly United States senator, attended, 
at the invit<xtion of the common councih General Butler read his 
proclamation to them and addressed them. He was rei)lied to by Mr. 
Soule, on whose representations he was induced to modify a portion of 
it, and to ])ermit the boats and railroads to bring in sup{)lies of food 
to the inhabitants. Mr. Soule also asked that the soldiers might be with- 
drawn to the suburbs of the city, since their presence was a continual 
source of irritation to the people. This was naturally enough denied, 
and Soule was subsequently arrested, and sent to Fort Lafayette, New 
York. The adniinistrution of General Butler, though somewhat 
severe, was on the wliole admirably adapted to the city and its inhabit- 



* Benjamin Franklin IJutler was born in Deer- 
fielil, New Hampshire, in 181S ; jradu-ated .it Water- 
Tille ColleiL'e, Maine, in lays; and practisud law at 
Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1S41 to 1S61. During 
this period he was a prominent member of the 
Democratic party in Massachusetts, and was for 
several years a Sute senator. In 1S60 he was tlje 
candidate of the Breckinridge Democrats for Gov- 
ernor. As briL'adier-freneral of Massachusetts 
militia, he accompanied the first three-months 



part of 1862 commanded the expedition which, 
with the aid of Farraput'g fleet, opened the Lower 
Mississippi and captured New Orleans, lie pre- 
sided over the Gulf Department until relieved by 
General Banks at the close of ISO'i, and was par- 
ticularly distinsruished by his .-Klminifctration of 
affairs in New Orleans. In the latter part of 18C3 
he was appointed to the Department of Virginia 
and North Carolina; an<l during the campaign of 
liG4 he participated in the military operations 
volunteers of that State to the seat of war, was I before PeUirsbur? and Kichmond, as commander 
placed sucoefisively in command of Baltimore and of the Army of the .I.iriii'S. In .January, UG5, he 
i'ortress Monroe, and in May, ISGl, was commis- was relieved of his command, and in the succeed' 
eioned major-^'cncral of volunteers. He took part iiig spring he resigned his commission. 
in the expediliofl to Fort JIatteras, and in the early 



368 HISTOEY 0¥ THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

ants, and, considering the circumstances in which he was placed, was 
eminently successful. 

Meantime, Algiers was occupied by the Union troops, the Opelousas 
and Jackson Railroad seized, and General Phelps occupied Carrollton, 
about five miles up the river. When the city of New Orleans had 
surrendered to the fleet, and the troops had landed to occupy it, the 
gunboats proceeded up the river, and the troops under General Wil- 
liams occupied Baton Rouge. On the 12th, they reached Natchez, 
and surrounded the place. The mayor replied that they were a 
defenceless people, and could make no opposition to the foi-ce brought 
against them, and that there was no Confederate proj^erty in the place. 
Four gunboats remained, and the others proceeded up tlie river and 
landed troops at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson. FarraguL's fleet had 
been re-enforced with heavy mortar-boats, and he was instructed to 
open the Mississippi River from one end to the other. The enemy, in 
the mean time, after the retreat from Corinth, had concentrated a force 
under Van Dorn at Vicksburg, which is situated on the Mississippi 
River, three hundred and ninety-five miles above New Orleans, and 
seven hundred and ninety-nine below St. Louis. It is distant by water 
from Cairo about six hundred and thirty miles, and from Memphis 
nearly four hundred miles. It is also over a hvmdred miles above 
Natchez. The city is on elevated grovmd, on the east bank of the 
river, which just above it makes a sharp turn to the northeast, rounds 
a point and returns on its course southwest, thus forming a tongue of 
land twelve miles long and one wide, with intersections between Tus- 
cumbia and Vicksburg. The enemy had made the most of the natural 
advantages of the place ; a bluff below the town was surrounded with 
a fort, mounting eight guns, and the defences were otherwise formi- 
dable. The bank of the river rises gradually for a couple of miles back, 
and on this curved slope lies the town, imbedded in a natural cradle. 
Above and below the city, on the sides of the slope, lay the batteries. 
Above was a three-banked battery, with tiers rising one above the 
other, from a point half-way down the slope to the summit. Four 
heavy guns were in each tier. On the 26th of June, the fleet attacked 
the batteries, and continued to bombard them all day, with little 
result. On the 27th, the fire was resumed, and Cyommodore Porter 
ordered the town shelled. The women and children had been re- 
moved previously. On the 2Sth, Commodore Farragut, whose fleet 
was then lying about five miles below the city, got word to the 
mortars to open fire upon the batteries at four o'clock in the morning, 
and he would endeavor to run some of his vessels past the batteries. 
Accordingly, the bombardment was recommenced at the hour named, 
and during its continuance, Farragut succeeded in passing the entire 
Confederate batteries with eight vessels, viz. : three men-of-war, two 
sloops-of-war, and three gunboats. The Federal loss in passing the 
batteries was four killed, twenty wounded. The fleet passed up, and 
was joined by that of Commoilore Davis, descending from Memphis. 
Finding that Vicksburg would hold out, Farragut determined to open 
the Mississippi in another way, namely, by cutting a canal across the 
tongue of land opposite Vicksburg, thus opening a new channel for 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 369 

the river, and leaving Vicksburg far to one side. Instantly the work 
commenced. Negroes were gathered from every plantation around, 
and three or four hundred of them set to work. The canal was finally 
cut with much labor, but was found to be of no avail. The river was 
fast falling, and the water would not enter the ditch. General Wil- 
liams, with about three thousand troojjs, occupied the west bank of 
the river, and greatly aided the digging opei-ations. 

Meantime the fleet occupied the river above Vicksburg, near the 
mouth of the Yazoo River, up which stream there were in prgcess of 
construction some Confederate vessels. On the 26th June, Colonel 
EUet, with the rams Monarch and Lancaster, proceeded sixty-five 
miles up the Yazoo, with a view of destroying three new boats lying 
there, and of getting information of the iron-clad steamer Arkansas 
being built. On his approach the boats Avere set on fire and cast 
adrift, compelling Colonel Ellet to leave the river in haste. The 
enemy now erected heavy batteries at Grand Gulf, and Ellis Bluff, 
below Vicksburg, supported by infantry under Generals Bragg and 
Gustavus W. Smith, and several vessels on their way to New Orleans 
failed to get j^ast the batteries. On the morning of 15th July, the 
gunboats Carondelet and Tyler and the ram Queen of the West got 
under way, steamed up the river a short distance, turned, and headed 
up the Yazoo. Upon entering the river the Queen shot up ahead of 
the rest, the Carondelet following, while the Tyler brought up the 
rear. They had proceeded about five miles only, when the Arkansas 
was encountered on her way down. The Carondelet met her with a 
full broadside, but the shot glanced harmless from her plated sides. 
The ram ran into the Carondelet, receiving another harmless broadside 
as she struck her opponent on the quarter, at the same time delivering 
Iier fire. Captain Walker boarded his enemy, but could find no en- 
trance. He returned to his guns, but his vessel was a wreck, and a 
shot cut away the stetmi-pipe, scalding many men. The Arkansas 
then left iK'r and steered for the Tyler, which made the best of her 
way out of tlie river, closely followed by the enemy, into the midst of 
the fleet, several of the vessels of which, by some fatality, had not 
sufiicient steam to move. The Louisiana shore was lined with our 
transports, ordnance boats, &c., Avhile directly opposite them, three 
or four abreast, lay Farragut's and Davis's fleet, scarcely two of which 
could fire Avithout j^oui-ing their broadsides into some of their own 
vessels. The ram, keeping her guns busy, passed all the vessels in 
succession. The RichmouLl, the J. II. Dickey, the Champion, and the 
Hartford, were all fired into. The eleven-inch shot of the Oneida fell 
harmless from her sides, as did the smaller missiles of others of the 
fleet, and .she finally reached her destination imharmed, imder the 
guns of Vicksburg. The Union loss was thirty-four killed, sixty-six 
woundeil, and twenty-three missing. 

The Arkansas was an iron-clad vessel of one thousand three hundred 
tons, and was built at Memphis, but was removed from that point, in 
an un finished condition, previous to the evacuation by our troops. 
She was completed in the Yazoo River. Her commander reported : 

24- 



370 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOJS". 

" ViCKSEURa, July 16. 
" We engaged to-day, from six a. m., witli the enemy's fleet above Vicksburg, con- 
sisting of four or more iron-clad gunboats and two heavy sloops-of-\var, and four gun- 
boats and seven or eight rams. We drove an iron-clad ashore witli colors down and 
disabled, blew up a ram, burned one vessel, and damaged several others. Our smoke 
stack was so sliot to pieces that we lost steam and could not use our vessel as a ram. 
We were otherwise cut up, as we engaged at close quarters. Loss ten killed and fif- 
teen wounded, others with slight wounds. 

(Signed) " Is.\ac N. Brown, Lieutenant- Commanding.^' 

The insult thus sustained by the fleet, so similar to that which the 
navy in the waters of the Hampton Roads, sustained four months pre- 
vious, prompted the two comuumders-in-chief to destroy her at all 
hazards. It was determined in council that the fleet under Commo- 
dore Davis should attack the batteries above Vicksburg, and the ves- 
sels of Farragut the lower batteries, and that, during these attacks, the 
Essex, under Commodore W. D. Porter, should run in and attack the 
Arkansas. On the morning of the 23(;1 this plan was put in execution, 
but failed from want of combined action. The Essex, in running into 
the ram, missed her blow arf<l ran ashore, exposed to all the guns of 
the place, numbering, as reported by Porter, seventy in battery, and 
twenty field-pieces. His vessel, he reported, hit forty-two times, and 
the armor penetrated twice. She drew oft" and went down the river, 
whence she could not return to jcin Davis's fleet. 

The fleet was now in a critical position ; there was but eighteen feet 
of water in the river between New Orleans and Vicksburg, and the 
flag-ships and others drew sixteen feet ; as the water "was still subsid- 
ing, there were fears of grounding, until the fall rains. It was there- 
fore necessary to abandon Vicksburg and to go downi the stream. 
The vessels of Farragut, above tlie city, passed down amidst a shower 
of shot of two hours' duration, and joined the lower fleet without im- 
portant loss. The Arkansas took no part in this movement, inasmuch 
as she was undergoing repairs. The force of General Williams was 
taken down and landed at Baton Rouge. 

On the 5th of August, the Confederates, under Generals Breckin- 
ridge and Rnggles, attacked the Union force, under General Williams, 
with great vigor. There were in the river five Union gunboats, which 
aided the defence of Williams. The Confederates expected the lam 
Arkansas and her guns to aid the attack of Breckinridge, whose object 
was to possess the arsenal. After a severe struggle of five hours' 
duration, he fell back without accomplishing that object, but with 
much loss, including General Clarke. While the enemy's column was 
advancing to the attack, it received a volley of musketry from a wood, 
where was retired a body of partisan rangers, wdio fired upon their 
friends by mistake. The l^'nion loss was also large, including General 
Williams, who was shot through the heart. During the night, Farra- 
gut left New Orleans with the Brooklyn and four gunboats, and arrived 
at Baton Rouge at noon on the Gth. The cause of the failure of the 
enemy's attack was an accident to the ram Arkansas. On her way 
down, under Lieutenant Stevens, one of her engines was disabled, and 
she anchored fifty miles above the town. On the 6th, she was attacked 
by the Union gunboats, when her commander ran her ashore and iled. 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 371 

She blew up after the crew had made their escape. Thus ended the 
second iron-clad vessel of the enemy. E;ich of them had a very short, 
but very brilliant existence, povt^erfully illustrating the force of the 
new agents introduced into naval warfare. 



CHAPTER XXXni. 

Privateers. — Confederate Navy. — Oreto — Her Operations. — The Alabama — Her Move- 
ments. — Diplomatic Correspondence. — Captures — Hatteras Captured. 

The organization of the Confederate Government included a naval 
force, of which, however, they possessed only the officers, most of 
whom had been in the service of the Federal Government, and had 
embraced the Southern cause on the outbreak of the war. The South- 
ern States had never been commercial, nor were they possessed of 
much shipping or seafaring population ; hence the material of a 
navy did not exist, even if the strict blockade which the immense 
naval force of the North maintained on tlie Southern coast, had per- 
mitted ingress to and ingress from the numerous harbors of that sec- 
tion. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the naval authorities managed 
to get to sea the Sumter and several other small crai'ts, which did 
much damage upon the ocean to Northern property in the first year 
of the war. The operations of that class of Aessels closed with the 
year 1861, when the Sumter, having taken refuge at Gibraltar, was 
closely watched by the Federal steamer Tuscarora, and, being unable 
to procure coal, was finally abandoned. 

The successes of the Sumter and her colleague had, however, en- 
couraged the rebels to imdertake the formation of a more regular 
navy, and several large steamers were contracted for in England. 
The first of these was called the Oreto, and was in process of con- 
struction in Liverpool in February, 1862. "When Mr. Adams, the 
American ]\linister, called the attention of Earl Russell to the fact 
that an armed steamer was being built to cruise against the United 
States, Earl Russell replied that it was alleged that she v/as being built 
for the Italian Government, and he had no evidetice to the contrary. 
On the •25th of the same mouth, Jlr. Adams again addressed Earl 
Russell upon the same subject. Earl Russell replied : — 

" With reference to your observations with resrard to the infraigement of the enlist- 
ment law, I have to reniarlc that it is true the foreign enlistment act, or any other act 
for the same purpose, can be evaded by very subtle contrivances; but her Majesty's 
Government cannot, on that account, go beyond the letter of the existing law." 

Mr. Adams, having failed to secure her detention, she sailed, on the 
22d of March, with a crew of fifty-two British seamen, for Palermo 
and Jamaica, in ballast, which was alleged to be one hundred and 
seventy tons of arms. The Oreto arrived at Nassau, where, on the 
representation of the American consul, she was seized by the author- 
ities, but was released on the arrival of Captain Semmes, formerly of 



372 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIS'. 

the Sumter. She was soon after again seized, and again released. 
On the 4th of September, she suddenly appeared off Mobile harbor, 
into which she succeeded by a skilful ruse in entering. The Oreto, 
once in port, was fully armed and equipped for a cruise, and received 
as commander John Newland Maffit, who had entered the United 
States naval service in 1832, as a citizen of Georgia, although born in 
Ireland, and was a son of the celebrated preacher of the same name. 
Maffit bore the reputation of a very bold and skilful officer. In Jan- 
uary, 1863, the Oreto, thenceforth known as the Florida, left Mobile 
Bay on a cruise, in which she did great damage to the American 
shipping. 

The most active and formidable of the cruisers of the enemy during 
the year 18G2 was the " 290," or the Alabama, as she was subsequent- 
ly called. She was constructed at Birkenhead works, Liverpool, and 
it was commonly asserted that the funds were supplied by the sub- 
scriptions of two hundred and ninety merchants having business rela- 
tions with the Southern States. Captain Raphael Semmes, formerly 
of the Sumter, was appointed to command her. The ship Avas eleven 
hundred and fifty tons burden, fourteen feet draught, with engines 
built by Laird & Sons, the senior of the firm being a member 
of Parliament. She was a wooden vessel, propelled by a screw, 
copper-bottomed, about two hundred and ten feet long, and carried 
three long thirty-two-pounders on a side, a one-hundred-pounder pivot 
forward of the bridge, a sixty-eight-pounder pivot on the main deck, 
and a tweuty-four-pounder rifle pivot stern-chaser — all of the Blakely 
pattern. She was bark-rigged, with long, black lower masts, and 
wire rigging, and was rej^resented to go thirteen knots under canvas, 
and fifteen under steam. 

When this vessel was near her completion, it became known that 
she was destined for the Southern service, notwithstanding that rumors 
were spread that she was built for an Eastern Government. In Au- 
gust she was nearly ready for sea, and the Federal man-of-war Tus- 
carora cruised in St. George's Channel to intercept her passage. Be- 
fore she sailed, however, a large bark left the Thames for Demarara, 
loaded witli guns, stores, and munitions. The Alabama then left the 
Mersey, under Captain Bullock, with a set of English papers, and a 
crew of ninety-three old man-of-war's men, many of whom were expe- 
rienced gunners, and to avoid the Tuscarora, took the north channel out. 
She had on board no guns or Avarlike stores. After a run of eight days, 
she reached Tarissa, one of the western islands. On her arrival, she gave 
the Portuguese authorities the plea of damaged engines as a reason 
for making j^ort there. In the course of a week, the bark which had 
left the Thames for Demarara put in on pretence of having sprung 
aleak, and Avas quarantined three days. The Alabama immediately 
hauled alongside, and cranes were rigged by order of Cajitain Bullock. 
When in readiness, he began to transfer the cargo. This operation 
drew a protest from the Portuguese authorities against the infringe- 
ment of the quarantine laAVS. But it was alleged that the bark Avas 
sinking, and it Avas necessary to saA^e the cargo. On the folloAving 
day there arrived in port the British steamer Bahama, having on 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 373 

board Captain Semmes and other late oiRcers of the Sumter, twenty 
of the crew, and the remainder of the Alabama's armament, all of 
which was immediately transferred to that vessel. The patience of 
the Portuguese authorities, before sorely tried, was now exhausted, 
and they ordered all three vessels to leave port. They went a few 
miles to Angra Bay, and remained twenty-four hours, and were again 
ordered off. They took their departure at once, the Alabama towing 
the bark, which made sail for Cardiff for coals for the Alabama. Cap- 
tain Semmes then mustered the crew of the steamer, aiid read to them 
his commission as a post-captain in the Confederate navy. The docii- 
ment was signed, " Jefferson Davis, President Confederate States of 
America." He then opened and read his sealed orders, directing him 
to assume cofcimand of the Alabama, hitherto known as the " 290," 
on which he was to hoist the Confederate flag, and " sink, burn, and 
destroy every thiiag which flew the ensign of the so-called United 
States of America." The Confederate flag was next raised and salu- 
ted, and the crew addressed by tlie captain, and informed if any of 
them were dissatisfied or disinclined to enter the Confederate service, 
they had an oj^portunity to go on ])oard the English steamer Bahama, 
about to leave for England. The offer was declined, and the vessels 
parted company. 

The officers of the Alabama were : Captain Raphael Semmes ; first 
lieutenant, J. M. Kelt ; second lieutenant, R. J. Armstrong ; third 
lieutenant, J. T). Wilson; fourth lieutenant, J. Low. On parting 
company with the Bahama, the Alabama gave chase to a whaler, and, 
on the 6th of September, burned the ship Ocmulgee, of Edgartown. 
In the same month she burned eleven others, and before the close of 
the year, she had destroyed thirty-seven vessels, of a value, with 
cai-go, of some millions of dollars. Inasmuch as the Alabama had no 
port where she might send vessels for adjudication and condemnation, 
slie had no scruples against destroying whatever she might capture. 
Tlie ))rize-money, or half the value of the vessels destroyed, was, it is 
stated, regularly paid in money to the crew, and the good pay and 
easy condition enabled Captain Semmes to keep a crew of picked 
men from the vessels captured. The prisoners captured by the Ala- 
bama were, in some cases, landed, and in others placed on board of 
captured vessels which were bonded. The bonds taken by the Ala- 
bama were generally payable six months after the recognition of the 
Southern Confederacy. These depredations tipon the high seas ])ro- 
duced the greatest excitement at the North. The Navy Department 
dispatched many cruisers to capture the enemy, but without success. 
The effect upon the United States commerce was very disastrous, not 
only in the actual destruction caused, but in the loss of trade occa- 
sioned to American bottoms. Numbers of vessels were transferred 
to foreign ownerships, and foreign vessels commanded the freights. 
In England there was also much excitement, in consequence of the 
destruction of British property in the seized vessels. 

On June 23d, Mr. Adams addressed Earl Russell on the subject of 
the " 290," remarking : " This vessel has been built and launched from 
the dock-yard of persons, one of whom is now sitting as a member of 



374 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

the House of Commons, and is fitting out for the especial and mani- 
fest object of carrying on hostilities by sea. It is about to be com- 
manded by one of the insurgent agents, the same who sailed in the 
Oreto. The parties engaged in the enterprise are persons well known 
at Liverpool to be agents and officers of the insurgents in the United 
States." 

The note was accompanied by a letter from the United States con- 
sul at Liverpool, containing evidence as to the designs of the " 290," 
with other evidence to show the character of her intentions. On the 
31st of July, Mr, Adams wrote to Mr. Seward : "In spite of all my 
efforts and remonstrances, which as yet wait the opinion of the law 
officers of the crown, I received, on t!ie 29th inst., from Mr. Dudley, 
the consul at Liverpool, the news that she sailed without register or 
clearance from that port on that day. I immediately communicated 
the intelligence by telegraph to Captain Craven, of the Tuscarora, at 
Southampton. I learn from the consul at that place that the Tusca- 
rora sailed thence at eight p. m. on the 29th instant." 

Earl Russell subsequently remarked in relation to the " 290," that 
a delay in determining upon it had most unexpectedly been caused by 
the sudden development of a malady of the Queen's advocate. Sir 
John D. Harding, totally incapacitating him for the transaction of 
business. This had made it necessary to call in other parties, whose 
opinion had been at last given for the detention of the gunboat ; but 
before the ord^r got doAvn to Liverpool, the vessel was gone. He 
should, however, send directions to have her stopped, if she went, as 
was probable, to Nassau. " I said," he writes Mr. Adams, " I was 
aware that the gunboat was off; but I did not say, what I myself 
have little doubt of, that her sudden departure was occasioned by a 
notion, obtained somehow or other, that such a proceeding was im- 
pending. I added an expression of satisfaction that the law officers 
of the crown had seen their way to such an opinion, and that it was 
the disposition of her Majesty's Government to do something to check 
this outrageous abuse." 

Under date of September 26th, Mr. Adams wrote: "I have not 
been quite satisfied with the way in which my remonstrances respect- 
ing the outfit of the gunboat 'No. 290' had been left. In conse- 
quence, I seized the first opportunity in my power to remind Lord 
Russell that no written answer had been given me. This has had the 
desired effect. I have the honor to transmit copies of the two notes 
which have passed between us. In former days, it was a favorite 
object of Great Britain to obtain from the United States an admission 
of the validity of claims for damage done by vessels fitted out in their 
ports against her commerce. This was finally conceded to her in the 
seventh article of the treaty of 1V94. The reasoning which led to 
that agreement may not be without its value at some future time, 
should the escape of the gunboat " 290," and of her companion, the 
Oreto, prove to be of any serious injury to our commerce." 

Subsequently, Mr. Seward wrote to jMr. Adams : " The telegraph 
announces the destruction of another half-dozen American vessels on 
the high seas by the steamer ' 290.' The President is obliged to re- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION-i 375 

gard these destructions as being made by British subjects in violation 
of the law of nations, after repeated and ample notice, warning, and 
remonstrances had been given by me to the British Government. It 
is presumed that you have already brought the subject in that light 
to the notice of her Majesty's Government. The legal proofs in sup- 
port of a claim for indemnity will be collected and transmitted to you 
as speedily as possible." 

The most daring movement of the enemy's cruisers was made in 
January, 1863. While a United States squadron, composed of the 
Brooklyn, Hatteras, and five smaller vessels, was cruising off Galves- 
ton, a steamer, just after dark, appeared, in the judgment of the ofii- 
cers of the Hatteras, endeavoring to escape. The crew of the Hatteras 
being at quarters. Captain Blake gave chase, when the steamer lay-to 
under steam. When within hail, she replied to Captain Blake : — 
" Her Britannic Majesty's ship Spitfire." Immediately thereafter the 
Alabama ranged a little ahead ; her commander hailed, declaring her 
the Confederate steamer Alabama, and delivered her fire. The two 
vessels then, under full head of steam, exchanged broadsides as rapid- 
ly as possible. The Hatteras, a much inferior vessel in size and arma- 
ment to her antagonist, in a few minutes was in a sinking condition, 
and was compelled to surrender. The ofiicers and crew were taken 
to Kingston, Jamaica, and paroled. In the action, the Alabama was 
hulled fourteen times without much damage. 

The two vessels continued their depredations on the coast with 
complete impunity until the month of June, 1863, when the Florida, 
having captured the bark Tacony, put a crew on board, under Lieu- 
tenant Beed, to cruise on his own account. He made an excui'sion 
among the fishermen of the Grand Banks, capturing and destroying 
a great number, and threatening to break up the season's business. 
A number of vessels were sent out in search of her, and Lieutenant 
Reed formed tlie daring plan of ca|)turing the United States revenue 
cutter Caleb Gushing, then lying in Portland Harbor, her captain be- 
ing sick on shore. The crew of the Tacony, who had ]>reviously 
burned their vessel to avoid recognition, and transferred themselves 
to a schooner, boarded the Caleb Gushing on the night of June 24th, 
and, taking possession, made sail. The wind died away, however, 
and they could not gain the ofiing. As soon as it was discovered 
that she was gone, two steam-vessels were sent in pursuit, with the 
intention of running her down. She was, however, blown up and 
abandoned by the crew, who escaped in a boat, but were subsequently 
captured with their commander. 

In the early part of 1863, a third privateer, the Georgia, was built on 
the Clyde, received her armament on the coast of France, and joined 
in the work of destruction against American commerce. ' 

The operations of these Confederate cruisers were in the greatest 
degree injurious to the American commerce. They sailed without 
the authority of any recognized power, and although admitted to bel- 
ligerent rights by neutral nations, were not permitted to send in prizes 
for adjudication, and had no ports of their own to which they could 
gain access. Their work, therefore, was one of destruction ; and to 



376 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

such an extent was ibis successful, that a great change was effected in 
the nature of Northern commerce. The degree of this change is appar- 
ent in the following table of the business of the port of New York, 
for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1860 aud 1863, distinguishing 
foreign from American tonnage : — 

TearlSSO. Tear IS C3. 

In Amciiain In Foreign In American In Foreign 

vessels. vessels. vessels. vessels. 

Imports from Foreign Ports... $130, 505,1 56 $104,549,748 $08,856,292 $106,630,141 
Exports to Foreign Ports 75,471,927 63,274,900 83,321,290 133,094,774 

Total Trade of 1859 $213,977,083 $107,824,648 $150,277,588 $239,724,915 

Increase r $71,900,267 

Decrease $63,699,495 

In 1860 the commerce by American vessels exceeded that by foreign 
vessels to the amount of forty-six million dollars. In 1862 tiiis Avas 
reversed, and the commerce by foreign flags exceeded that by our own 
flag to the amount of eighty-nine million dollars. A considerable part of 
this change was doubtless owing to the greater employment of Ameri- 
can ships as Government transports; part of it Avas also due to the fact 
that much of the importing business was done by the steamers, under 
the foreign flag ; and still another reason for the change may be found 
in a covering transfer of vessels to a foreign flag for safety. But after 
making eveiy allowance for these influences, it must be evident that 
the fear of depredations on our commerce, by the Confederates and 
privateers, drove a large portion of our foreign trade to neutral vessels. 
The fact that the vessels which did this damage to American commerce 
were built, armed, and to some extent manned from English resources, 
and paid for by a loan of fifteen million dollars, contracted in England on 
Confederate account, secured upon cotton, was productive of great ill-will 
towards that nation. It was evident in the increased employment of 
foreign vessels in the international trade that she found her advantage 
in the course she pursued. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

General Pope's Army. — Its Condition. — McClellan's Army. — Enemy cross tiio Potomac. 
— McClellan in command. — Halleclv refuses Troops. — South Mountain. — Harper's 
Ferry. — Antietam. — Hooker. — Sumner. — Burnside. — Retreat of the Enemy — Ad- 
vance of the Army. — McClellan superseded. 

General McClellan had never been formally deprived of his com-, 
mand, which he retained at Aquia Creek and Alexandria, over the 
troops that remained tliere ; but all the troops were in succession 
detached from his command in sujiport of Pope, when they were no 
longer under his command, and he remained in Alexandria without 
any command. On the 1st September, he was ordered verbally to 
take command of the defences of Washington, but not to assume con- 
trol of the troops of Pope. On the 2d, Pope was ordered to retreat 



HISTOKY OF THE GIIEAT EEBELLION. 377 

upon Washington, and a formal order then issued to McClellan to take 
command of the troops in and around Washington, comprising those 
of Pope. Meantime the enemy, moving by their h'ft, with the design 
of invading Maryland, reached the Potomac above Washington. They 
crossed the river on the 4th, 5th, and Gth of September, marching at 
once upon Frederick, the cajjital of the State of Maryland, -whicli was oc- 
cupied by General D. H. Ilill. At that time, Colonel Miles, with eleven 
thousand troops, occupied Harper's Ferry, and the plan of the enemy 
seemed to be, for Jackson to move from Frederick by the main Ilagers- 
town road, and, leaving it at some point near Middleburg, to cross the 
Potomac near Sharpsburg, and endeavor to capture the garrison of 
Martinsburg, commanded by General Julius White, and cut oiF the 
retreat of the garrison at Harper's Ferry. General McLaws was or- 
dered, with his own command and the division of General Anderson, 
to move out by the same Hagerstown road, and gain possession of the 
Maryland Heights, opposite Harpers Ferry. General Walker, wdio 
was then apparently somewhere near the mouth of the Monocacy, was 
to move through LovettsviUe and gain possession of Loudon Heights, 
thus completing the investment of Harper's Ferry. General Longstreet 
was ordered to move to Hagerstown, with Ilill to serve as a rear- 
guard. Their reserve trains were ordered to take a position either at 
Boonesboro' or Hagerstown. After Jackson and the generals co-oper- 
ating with him had taken Harper's Ferry, they were to rejoin the main 
army at Hagerstown or Boonesboro'. 

Meanwhile the armies of Virginia and the Potomac were recruited 
by collecting stragglers, by resting the men, and by the addition of 
such troops as could be spared from the garrison of Washington, or of 
such of the new levies as were available. On September 8th, the united 
armies, now under the command of McClellan, were between Kockville, 
Maryland, and Washington, and the general plan of campaign agreed 
upon was, for the Federal troops to move up the Potomac, and, if pos- 
sible, get between Lee and the fords by which he had crossed into 
Maryland. The enemy on the 8rh issued a proclamation to the people 
of Maryland, calling upon them to throw otTthe restraints of the L'nion 
Government, and join the South. A general uprising of the ])eople was 
no doubt expected to result from this invitation, which, however, re- 
ceived no response, and the disappointment in this respect no doubt 
frustrated the evident plan of the enemy, to remain in Maryland and 
invade Pennsylvania. So great w^as the alarm in this resj)ect, that 
Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, called out the militia to defend the 
State, and seventy-five thousand troops responded to the call. 

Perceiving that his avenue of retreat into Virginia Avas threatened, 
Lee made haste to concentrate his troops m the neighborhood of 
Llagerstown, and at the same time sent A'arious small bodies of troops 
into Pennsylvania, to divert tlie attention of the L'nion commander. 
These movements enabled him to piess more closely the investment of 
Harper's Ferry, the capture of which place, with its garrison and 
stores, was one of the prime objects of his campaign. During the 9th 
and loth, McClellan moved cautiously northward, and on the 11th he 
telegraphed to General Halleck, that, as Colonel Miles could do nothing 



378 HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 

at Harper's Ferry, he should be ordered to join him at oBce with his 
command. To this suggestion Halleck replied as follows:— 

"Washington, D. C, Stptemler 11, 1862. 

"There is no way for Colonel Miles to join you at present. The only chance is to 

defend his works until you can open a communication with him. When you do so, he 

will be subject to your orders. ,„ „ „ i • m • f 

■' "H. W. Halleck, GeneraZ-in-C7ue/. 

" Major-General McClellan, Rockville." 

Such, in fact, had been the movements of Lee's generals, to invest 
Harper's Ferry, that an attempt by Miles to retire from the place and 
form a junction with McClellan would have resulted in his defeat by 
an overwhelming force, and probably in his capture. The reply of 
Halleck was, therefore, the only one which could have been made under 
the circumstances, and should have suggested to McClellan tliat the 
best plan for forming a junction with Miles was to push rapidly by the 
direct route for Harper's Ferry, if, indeed, it were not too late now to 
do that. Why he had delayed his recommendation for the withdrawal 
of Miles— which might have been possible a day or two previous — 
until the 11th, is not very easy to understand. The following extract 
from a dispatch from McClellan to Halleck, dated the 11th, is interest- 
ing, as showing the views entertained by the former at this crisis, and 
al^o that his estimate of the rebel strength, and his constitutional 
cautiousness, had in no degree been Jessened since the Peninsula 
campaign : — 

" I believe this armv fully appreciates the importance of a victory at this time, and 
■will fight well; but the result of a general battle, with such odds as the enemy now 
appears to have against us, might, to say the least, be doubtful ; and, if we should be 
defeated, the consequences to the country would be disastrous in the extreme. Under 
these circumstances, I would recommend that one or two of the three army corps now 
on the Potomac, opposite Washington, bo at once withdrawn, and sent to rc-cuforce this 
army. I would also advise that the force of Colonel Miles, at Harper's Ferry, where it 
can bo of little use, and is continually exposed to be cut off by the enemy, bo immedi- 
ately ordered here. This would add about twenty-five thousand old troops to our 
present force, and would greatly strengthen us. 

" If there are any rebel forces remaining on the other side of the Potomac, they 
must be so few that the troops left in the "forts, after the two corps shall have been 
withdrawn, will be sufficient to check them ; and with the large cavalry force now on 
that side, kept well out iu front to give warning of the distant approach of any very 
laro'e army, a part of this army m.ight be sent back within the intrenchmcnts to assist 
in repeUing an attack. But even if Washington should be taken while these armies are 
confronting each other, this would not, in my judgment, bear comparison with tlie ruin 
and disasters which would follow a single defeat of this army. If we shoidd be suc- 
cessful in conquering the gigantic rebel army before us, wo would have no difficulty in 
recovering it. On the other hand, should their force prove sufficiently powerful to 
defeat us, could all the forces now around Washington be sufficient to prevent such a 
victorious army from carrying the works on this side of the Potomac after they are 
uncovered by our army? I think not." 

In reply, Halleck showed that very few troops were then arriving in 
Washington, and that Porter, who, at McClellan's special request, liad 
been temporarily restored to his command, hud, on the 12ta, taken 
away twenty thousand men. He added: — 

"Until you know more certainly the enemy's force south of the Potomac, you 
are wrong in thus uncovering the capital. I am of opinion that the enemy will 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOTf. 379 

send a small column to Pennsylvania, so as to draw your forces in that direction, 
then suddenly move on Washington with the forces south of tlie Potomac, and those he 
may cross over. 

'•In your letter of the 11th you attach too little importance to the capital. I assure 
you that you are wrong. The capture of tliis place will throw us back six montlis, 
if it should not destroy us. Beware of the evils I now point out to you. You saw 
them when here ; but you seem to forget them in the distance. Ko more troops can 
be sent from here till we have fresh arrivals from the North." 

In his evidence before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct 
of the War, McClellan statcrl that the imp.ression which lie derived from 
this dispatch was, that Halleck thought he was wrong in going so 
far away from Washington. General Halleck, Avhen examined l>y the 
same committee, testitied that he had conveyed no such impression, 
but had telegraphed to McClellan that "he Avns going too far, not 
from y\"asliingtun, but from the Potomac, leaving General Lee the 
opportunity to come down the Potomac, and get bclwceu him and 
Washington." The api^jrehensions of tlie general-in-chief were amply 
coiiiirmed by events, since the f;iilure of McClellan to keep near the 
Potomac enabled Lee, whose rear-guard, under D. IL Hill, vras ordered 
to amuse jNIcClellan by threatening the passage into Pennsylvania, to 
make sure of Harper's Ferry. On the 12th, the forces destined to 
attack this place made their appearance before it, and while Jackson, 
with the main body, took ])Osition in the rear of Bolivar Heights, 
which had been strongly fortified by the Union forces, co-operating 
bodies occupied Maryland Heights on the Maryland sho: e, and Loudon 
Heights on the opposite bank of the Shenandoah, neither of wliich 
points, strange to say, had been permanently fortified, although they 
commanded the town of Harper's Ferry and Bolivar Heights, and 
strict orders had been given to put them in a condition of defence. 
Under such circumstances, but one result was to be expeqted. On the 
13th and 14th the rebels erected batteries on both heigl)ts, whence, on 
the latter day, they 0[)ened fire upon the Union g.arrison in Harper's 
Ferry, who thus lay at their mercy. The fire was resumed on the 
15th, and almost immediately the place surrendered. A few hours 
previous, twenty-five hundred Union cavalry cut their way through the 
enemy's lines ; but the remainder of the garrison, nmnbering over 
eleven thousand men, became })risoners of war, and were paroled. The 
rebels also captured fifty pieces of artillery and a quantity of stores. 

In tlie mean time, the main rebel body had fallen back from Fred- 
erick, before the advance of the L'nion army, towards the fords of the 
Upper Putomac, in the Hagerstown valley, to reach which it was neces- 
sary for the Union troops to force the mountain range, Avhieh com- 
manded the valley, and wliich was defended by bodies of the enemy at 
Turner's Gap and Cramptoivs Gap. The Ibrmer was carried on the 14th 
by the troops under General Bnrnside, and the latter on the same day by 
General Franklm, who thus obtained possession of the mountain range, 
and opened the debouches into the valley. The enemy retired towards 
Sharpsburg, and the corps commanded by Generals Sumner, Hooker, 
and Mansfield were ordered to follow them rapidly along the main 
turnpike. The corps of Burnside and Porter were ordered forward by 
a small road parallel to and on the left of the main pike, thus being in 



380 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT, 

position to support either Franklin or the right, as might be necessary. 
Franklin was ordered to cross into Pleasant Valley, and to do all that 
he could for the relief of Harper's Ferry. The orders given to the 
troops on the right were, that if they found the enemy on the mnrch, to 
attack him at once ; if they found him in a strong position, then to 
make all the arrangements for an attack and await orders. As has 
been already stated, Harper's Ferry surrendered on the morning of the 
15th, too late for Franklin to go to the assistance of the garrison ; and 
Jackson, after securing possession of his prisoners and spoils, had ample 
time to recross the Potomac, and march to the support of the main 
army under Lee, now concentrating near Sharpsburg, behind Antietam 
Creek, an affluent of the Potomac, to receive McClellan's advance. 
The Confederates were formed in two lines perpendicular to the road 
and about six miles long each, their road rmming through their centre, 
and had planted about sixty guns to command the Antietam bridge, 
by which the Union troops advanced. General McClellan arrived in 
front of the enemy on the afternoon of the 16th, and at once ordered 
Hooker to move three miles above Sharpsburg, cross the Antietam, 
and attack the rebel left wing. 

JMeantime the enemy had formed his dispositions. His force, con- 
cealed by a cover of woods, occupied a crescent-shaped height com- 
manding three lines of retreat to the Potomac, via the Shepherd stown 
road, the Ilagerstown road, and the Williamsport road. Along the 
front of his poi^ition ran the Antietam Creek, crossed by three bridges 
corresponding to the three roads named. His left was commanded by 
Jackson, his centre by Longstreet, and his right by A. P. Hill. The 
Union plan was generally as follows: Hooker was to cross on the 
right, establish himself on the enemy's left, if possible, flanking his 
position, and to open the fight. Sumner, Franklin, and Mansfield were 
to send their 'forces also to the right, co-operating Avith and sustaining 
Hooker's attack while advancing also nearer the centre. The heavy 
work in the centre was left mostly to the batteries. On the left. Burn- 
side was to carry a stone bridge, the lowest of the three already referred 
to, and advancing then by a road which enters the pike at Sharpsburg, 
turn at once the rebel flank and destroy his line of retreat. Porter and 
Sickles moved their infantry in the hollows of the centre, as reserves 
for all contingencies. 

The attack was commenced at dawn of the 1 7th by Hooker, and 
Meade's infantry and Ricketts's batteries opened the fire on the enemy's 
left. The engagement immediately became very sharp, and raged for 
half an hour in a sloping field of ploughed land, terminating in the rear 
in a cornfield, and skirted by a thick wood, at the end of which time 
the fire of the enemy began to decrease and his line to waver. As 
soon as tliis was perceived, Meade and his Pennsylvanians rushed for- 
ward with a cheer. The line carried before it the whole force of the 
retreating Confederates, who disai)[)eared into the Avoods, leaving great 
numbers of dead and wounded on their path. As the victorious bri- 
gade approached the skirt of the cover, a torrent of flame and shot 
swept through the advancing line, which hesitated, halted, closed up, 
and retired. It had sustained the overwhelming fire of fresh troops, 



HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT REBELLION'. 381 

wlio now issued from the woods in vast numbers, with wild veils, 
recovering the ground their comrades liad lost. Hooker sent forward 
a brigade to stay the torrent, but it was insufficient. Hartstuff's 
brigade then came into action with a run, and formed rapidly on a 
ridge in the cornfield. This they held for half an hour, wlien General 
HartstufF was wounded. 

Meantime, Ricketts's Division had fallen back with part of Mansfield's 
Corps, which had been sent to its relief, and which had lost its general, 
mortally wounded ; nevertheless, with Doubleday's guns in ])osition, 
the left could hold its own. Orders were then sent to Crawfoid and 
Gordon, Mansfield's remaining brigades, to advance, and the whole 
line was ordered forward to take a point of woods to the right of the 
cornfield, and which was the key of the position. The advance was 
led by General Hooker, who, at that moment, was wounded in the 
foot by a rifle-shot. It was now nine o'clock, and the battle had raged 
four hours, leaving a large portion of Hookei-'s broken, but his right 
and the two brigades of Mansfield still untouched. At this moment 
General Sumner arrived on the field and took conmiand. Sedgwick's 
Division was in advance, moving forward to su2:)port Crawford and 
Gordon. Rebel re-enforcements were approaching also, and the strug- 
gle for the roads was again to be renewed. Sumner sent forward two 
divisions. Richardson and French on the left. Sedgwick, moving in 
column of division through the roads in rear, deployed and advanced 
in line over the cornfield. There was a broad interval between him 
and the nearest division, and he saw that if the rebel line was com- 
plete, his own division was in immediate danger of being flanked. 

To extend his own front as far as possible, ho ordered the Thirty- 
fourth New York to move by the left flank. The manoeuvre was 
attempted under a fire of the greatest intensity, and the regiment 
broke ; so terrible was the fire, that half their officers were killed or 
wounded, their colors shot to pieces, the color-sergeant killed, every 
one of their color-guard wounded. Only thirty-two were afterwards 
got together. The Fifteenth Massachusetts went in with seventeen 
officers, six hundred men, and came out with six officers, and one hun- 
dred and thirty-four men. Sedgwick himself was wounded. General 
Howard, who took command of the division after Sedgwick was dis- 
abled, exerted himself to restore order, but it could notbe done there. 
General Sunmer ordered the line to be reformed under fire. The test 
was too severe for volunteer troops under such a fire. Sumner himself 
attempted to arrest the disorder, but to little purpose. As it seemed 
impossible to hold the position, Sumner withdrew the division to the 
rear, and once more the cornfield was abandoned to the enemy. At 
the same moment, the enemy, perceiving their advantage, came for- 
ward with fresh troops. 

It Avas now one o'clock, and affixirs on the right had a gloomy look. 
Hooker's troops were greatly exhausted, and their general away from 
the field. Mansfield's were no better. Sumner's command had lost 
heavily, but two of his divisions were still comparatively fresh. Rich- 
ardson, while gallantly leading a regiment under heavy fire, had been 
severely wounded. General Sleagher was wounded at the head of his 



382 HISTORY OF TlIE GREAT REBELLIO??-. 

brigade. The loss of general officers was becoming alarming. Artil- 
lery was yet playing vigorously in fi'ont, tliougli the animutntiou of 
many of the batteries was entirely exhausted, and they liad been com- 
pelled to retire. Doubleday held the right inflexibly. Sumner's head- 
quarters were now in the narrow field where tlie night before Hooker 
had begun the figlit, and all that had been gained in front had been 
lost The enemy's batteries, however, were fortunately either partially 
disabled or short of ammunition. French sent word he could hold his 
ground, and Sumner was confident that he could hold his own, but 
another advance was out of the question. The enemy, on the other 
hand, seemed to be too much exhausted to attack. 

At this crisis, Franklin came up with fresh troops, and Slocum was 
sent forward along the slopes lying under the first ranges of the hills 
held by the enemy, Avhile Smith was ordered to retake the cornfield 
and woods which all day had been so hotly contested. It was done in 
the handsomest style. His Maine and Vermont regiments went for- 
ward on the run, and, cheering as they went, swept like an avalanche 
through the cornfields, fell upon the woods, cleared them in ten 
minutes, and held them. They were not again retaken. Four times 
they had been lost and won, but finally remained with the Union 
troops, who were bent vipon preserving them against impending at- 
tacks. These, however, were suspended for some hours, perhaps 
through the exhaustion of the enemy. 

Meantime, affairs on the left were not more prosperous. Burnside 
was not ordered to attack until ten o'clock, and carried the bridge 
only after a most obstinate resistance at half-past one o'clock ; but the 
delay had been so great that at three o'clock but little real progress 
had been made. The rebels retired to a range of hills in the rear of 
the bridge, whence their batteries played with considerable effect on 
the Union troops. Thus, instead of the two attacks having been 
simultaneous, as was intended, the right had borne the whole weight 
of the enemy before Burnside made himself felt. At four o'clock. 
General McCleilan sent orders for Burnside to carry the batteries in 
his front at all hazards, and for Franklin to carry the woods on his 
left front. This latter was countermanded at the instance of Sumner, 
who thought it was not prudent to risk a repulse of Franklin, since it 
would uncover his own left, which he held with difficulty. Franklin 
therefore advanced his batteries to check the enemy on Burnside's 
right, who was about to establish himself on the Sharpsburg road in 
rear of the enemy. 

For this movement he had sixteen thousand men. Getting his 
troops well in hand, and sending a portion of his artillery to the front, 
he advanced tliem Avith rapiuity and the most determined vigor 
straight up the hill hi front, on top of which the rebels had maintained 
their most dangerous battery. Tlie movement was in plain view of 
Mc(Jlellan's position, and as Franklin, on the other side, sent his bat- 
teries into the field about the same time, the battle seemed to open in 
all directions with greater activity than ever. 

The guns of Burnside opened, irom his new position, with a fire 
that controlled the enemy's batteries. The long infantry columns 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]^'. 383 

■were seen moving up the green slopes with a rnpid and rletermined 
step. As they reached the crest, a thick cloud of dust rose over the 
road, where were planted the Coi)federate batteries. A short but 
furious struggle ensued, when a sudden shout announced that the hill 
was carried. Biirnside formed his columns in the near angles of two 
fields bordering the road, having high ground about them everyAvhere 
except in rear. 

In another moment, a Confederate battle-line appeared on the brow 
of the ridge above them, and moved swiftly down in the most perfect 
order, though met by incessant discharges of musketry, to which they 
offered no reply. White spaces show where men are falling, but they 
close up instantly, and still the line advances. The brigades of Burn- 
side are in heavy column ; they will not give way before a bayonet 
charge in line. The firm front seems to intimidate the enemy. 

There is a halt, the enemy's left gives way and scatters over the 
field, the rest stand fast and fire. More infantry comes up. Burnside 
is outnumbered, flanked, compelled to yield the hill he took so bravely. 
His position is no longer one of attack ; he defends himself with un- 
faltering firmness, but he sends to McCIellan for help. The latter, 
however, alarmed feu* the safety of his right wing, declines to send a 
single man of his fifteen thousand fresh troops in the centre to aid in 
offensive operations, and replies with a peremptory order to hold the 
bridge at nil hazards: "Tell him, if he cannot hold his ground, then 
the bridge, to the last man ! — always the bridge ! if the bridge is lost, 
all is lost." He, however, detached General Morrell, with five thou- 
sand men, to Burnside, to aid in holding the bridge, since if the enemy 
should pass over it on the flank and rear of the army, the disaster, he 
feared, would be fatal. At that moment the fire of the enemy slack- 
ened. It was sundown, and with the fading light the tumult of battle 
died a v.- ay. 

Hooker, Sumner, and Franklin held all the ground they had gained, 
and Burnside still hold the bridge and his position beyond. Every 
thing was favorable for a renewal of the fight in the morning. But 
the expected order to that eftect never came. jMcClellan deemed the 
army too disorganized and wearied to fight immediately, and the great 
battle of Antietam, with its immense loss of life, proved to have been 
simply the most bloody and one of the least decisive battles of the 
war. 

" I had arranged, however," says McCIellan in his ofiicial report, 
"to renew the attack at daybreak on the 19th, but I learned some 
time during the night, or early in the morning, that the enemy had 
abandoned his position. It afterwards proved that he moved with 
great rapidity, and, not being encumbered by wagons, was enabled to 
get his troops across the river before v/e could do him any serious 
injury. I tliiuk that, taking into consideration what the troops had 
gone through, we got as much out of them in this Antietam campaign 
as human endurance would bear." 

The concluding remark of this statement M-as doubted by at least 
two of his corps commanders, Burnside and Franklin, and the opinion 
was very generally entertained by the authorities at Washington that 



384 HISTORY OF TIIE GEE AT REBELLIOT?'. 

by neglecting to renew the attack on the 18th, a signal opportunity to 
cripple Lee was thrown away. 

McClellan slowly followed the rebel army, and took np a position 
on the "Maryland Heights on the 20th, and recaptured Harper's Ferry 
on the 23d, He stated the number of his army at ninety-three thou- 
sand men, of whom seventy-five thousand were engaged, and he 
reported his loss at twelve thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, 
which, with two thousand three hundred and twenty-five at South 
Mountain, made fourteen thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, 
and, added to the eleven thousand captured at Harper's Ferry, twenty- 
five thousand seven hundred and ninety-four. The number of the 
enemy engaged was somewhat less, and his total losses were estimated 
by McClellan at thirty thousand. 

Indecisive though it was, the battle of Antietam, by freeing Mary- 
land of the rebel armies, whose presence in a loyal State had caused 
great alarm throughout the country, was generally hailed as a Union 
victory, and the star of McClellan, whose lustre had been dimmed by 
the ignoble ending of the Peninsula campaign, was once more in the 
ascendant. So continuous had been the succession of Union reverses, 
that even a victory of this questionable character caused greater ex- 
ultation, pei'haps, than had been manifested since the commencement 
of the war, notwithstanding persons of calmer judgment showed that 
the boasted triumph of our arms was only another opportunity thrown 
away. Had JMcClcllan now taken advantage of this reaction in his 
favor to follow up the retreating rebels with vigor ; had he employed 
the vast resources again put into his hands to strike such a blow as 
the crisis required, and the opportunity offered, he might have regained 
and even increased the enthusiastic admiration with which he was sur- 
rounded in the beginning of his career. But, unfortimately for himself 
and for the country, he seemed to have learned nothing by the sad 
experience of the few preceding months, and we shall find him again 
delaying and temporizing, pleading the demoralization of his troops 
and the superior strength of the enemy, urging the necessity of re- 
enforcements and supplies, digging and fortifying, doing every thing 
in fact but move against the enemy, as the Government had ordered 
and his countrymen wished. So far as military acts may be presumed 
to show, his mind was always more occupied with plans to secure his 
safe retreat, iu case of necessity, from the presence of an enemy, than 
to assume the aggressive against that enemy; and, thanks to an in- 
genious pen and a lucid style, he had the flxculty of framing excuses 
for his shortcomings, which satisfied many, and silenced, if they did 
not convince, others;. The ill success of the summer campaign of 1862 
had now also developed a strong opposition party — which, protesting 
that official interference with the plans of McClellan, the radical views 
of the Administration on slavery and other subjects, and its evident 
intention not to restore the revolted States to their former condition, 
Avere the true causes of our defeats — gladly rallied round McClellan as 
their leader. A consorvativc himself, he sympathized with many of the 
Tiews which this party publicly put forth, and thenceforth his military 
policy was trammelled by political dogmas distasteful to a majority of 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION". 385 

the people, and which experience has shown were inconsistent with a 
vigorous prosecution of the war. 

The battle of Antietam was fought in the middle of September, and 
as at least two months of dry weather, well adapted to military opera- 
tions, would follow, it was confidently expected that, after a brief halt 
for rest and recruitment, the army would be pushed forward again 
against Lee. In this respect the country was destined to be grievously 
disappointed. McClellan advanced no further than Maryland Heights, 
where he at once proceeded to fortify, after making the customary 
demand for re-enforcements. On the 27th of September he wrote to 
Halleck that it was his present intention to keep the army where it 
then was, watching every effort of the enemy to cross the I'iver into 
Maryland. " When the river rises," he added, " so that the enemy 
cannot cross in force, I purpose concentrating the army somewhere 
near Harper's Ferry, and then acting according to circumstances, viz. : 
Moving on Winchester if, from the position and attitude of the enemy, 
we are likely to gain a great advantage by doing so ; or else devoting 
a reasonable time to the organization of the army and instruction of 
the new troops, preparatory to an advance on whatever line may be 
determined. In any event, I regard it as absolutely necessary to send 
new regiments at once to the old corps for purposes of instruction, and 
that the old regiments be filled at once. 

" My own view of the proper policy to be pursued is to retain in 
Washington merely the force necessary to garrison it, and to send 
every thing else available to re-enforce this army. The railroads give 
us the means of promptly re-enforcing Washington, should it be neces- 
sary. If I am re-enforced as I ask, and am allowed to take my own 
course, I will hold myself responsible for the safety of Washington." 

In his reply to this communication, Halleck stated that the opera- 
tions of the draft, then in progress, were so slow, that the army could 
not afford to await their results. Public expectation and military ex- 
pediency could not brook such delay. 

"I am satisfied," he said, "that the enemy are falling back towards 
Richmond. We must follow them and seek to punish them. There 
is a decided want of legs in our troops. They have too much immo- 
bility, and we must try to remedy the defect. A reduction of baggage 
and baggage-trains will effect something ; but the real difiiculty is, they 
are not sufliciently exercised in marching ; they lie still in camp too 
long." 

He also stated, what indeed was perfectly obvious to a large part of 
the community, that the allegations that the troops needed long rests 
were unfounded, since the average marches made by the Union troops 
were less severe than those of the rebels, or of European troops in 
time of war. 

Early in October, President Lincoln visited the army encamped 
around Maryland Heights, and after his return to Washington in- 
structed McClellan, under date of October 6th, to " cross the Potomac 
and give battle to the enemy, or drive him South." The President 
advised, but did not order him to take the interior line between Wash- 
25 



386 msTOEY OF tub geeat rebellion. 

ington and the enemy, in which case he promised him a re-enforcement 
of thirty thousand men. If the hnc of the Shenandoah should be 
selected, Mr. Lincohi, remembering how the capital had twice been 
imperilled by being left uncovered, declined to re-enforce him by more 
than twelve or fifteen thousand men. On the succeeding day McClellan 
annomiced his intention to select the line of the Shenandoah. He 
thought it v.'ould be at least three days before the First, Fifth, and 
Sixth Corps, which were in need of clothing, could move from their 
camps, but added that not an hour should be lost in carrying the Pres- 
ident's mstructions into effect. 

On the 10th of October the rebel general, J. E. B. Stuart, with 
eighteen hundred cavalry and four pieces of horse artillery, crossed the 
Upper Potomac, near Hancock, on a raid into Maryland and Pennsyl- 
vania. Proceeding through Mercersburg to Chambersburg, he thence 
turned south, and passing through Emmetsburg and across the Mono- 
cacy, destroyed a portion of the track of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, and on the 12th recrossed the Potomac at White's Ford, near 
Poolesville, with one thousand captured horses, and with the loss of 
only seven prisoners. During the raid he destroyed many thousand 
dollars worth of public property. This daring ride around the Union 
lines, which was but feebly opposed by the Union cavalry, was the 
source of much alarm and mortification. Its success was ascribed by 
McClellan, writing on the 13th, to our deficiency in cavalry, and he 
took occasion to urge the necessity of at once supplying the army with 
horses, predicting that unless this was done, rebel cavalry raids would 
be of frequent occurrence. To this Halleck replied that the Govern- 
ment was making every possible effort to remount the cavalry force. 
"The President," he added, "has read your telegram, and directs me 
to suggest that if the enemy had more occupation south of the river, 
his cavalry would not be so likely to make raids north of it." 

On the 13th the President sent the following communication to 
General McClellan, with reference to the operations of the army : — 

"Executive Mansion, "WAsniNGTOX, October 13, 1862. 

"Mt Dear Sir: — Ton remember my speaking to you of what I called your over- 
cautiousness. Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you cannot do what 
tho enemy is constantly doing? Should you not claim to be at least his equal in 
prowess, and act upon the claim ? 

" As I understand, you telegraphed General Ilalleck that you cannot subsist your 
array at Winchester, unless the railroad from Harper's Perry to that point be put in 
working order. But the enemy does now subsist his army at Winchester at a distance 
nearly twice as great from railroad transportation as you would have to do without the 
railroad last named. He now wagons from Culpepper Court-llouse, which is just 
about twice as far as you would have to do from Harper's Ferry. He is certainly not 
more than half as well provided with wagons as you are. I certainly should be 
pleased for you to have tho advantage of the railroad from Harper's Ferry to Winches- 
ter; but it wastes all tho remainder of autumn to give it to you, and in fact ignores the 
question of tiine, which cannot and must not be ignored. 

"Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you know, is, 'to operate upon the 
enemy's communications as much as possible without exposing your own.' You seem 
to act as if this applies against you, but cannot apply in your favor. Change positions 
with the enemy, and think you not ho would break your communication with Richmond 
within the next twenty-four hours? Tou dread his going into Pennsylvania. But if 
be does so in full force he gives up his communications to you absolutely, and you havo 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 387 

nothing to do but to follow and ruin him; if he does so with less than full force, fall 
upon and beat what is left behind all tiie easier. 

"Exclusive of the water-line, you are now nearer Richmond than the enemy is by 
the route tliat you can and he must take. . Why can you not reach there before him, 
unless you admit that he is more than your equal on a march? His route is the arc 
of a circle, while yours is the. chord. Tlie roads are as good on yours as on his. 

" You know I desired, but did not order, you to cross the Potomac below instead of 
above the Shenandoah and Blae Ridge. My idea was, that this would at once menace 
the enemy's communications, which I would seize if he would permit. If ho should 
move northward, I would follow him closely, holding his communications. If he should 
prevent our seizing his communications, and move toward Richmond, I would press 
closely to him, fight him if a favorable opportunity should present, and at least try to 
beat him to Richmond on the inside track. I say ' try ; ' if we never try, we shall never 
succeed. If he make a stand at Winchester, moving neither north nor south, I would 
fight him there, on the idea that if we cannot beat him when he bears the wastage of 
coming to us, we never can when we bear the wastage of going to him. This proposi- 
tion is a simple truth, and is too important to be lost sight of for a moment. In coming 
to us, he tenders us an advantage which we should not waive. We should not so 
operate as to merely drive him away. As we must beat him somewhere, or fail finally, 
we can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far away. If we cannot beat the enemy 
where he now is, we never can, he again being within the intrenchments at Richmond. 

" Recurring to the idea of going to Richmond on the inside track, the facility of sup- 
plying from the side, away from tlie enemy, is remarkable, as it were, by the different 
spokes of a wheel, extending from the hub towards the rim, and this whether you move 
directly by the chord or on the inside arc, hugging the Blue Ridge more closely. The 
chord line, as you see, carries you by Aldie, Haymarket, and Fredericksburg, and you 
see how turnpikes, railroads, and finally the Potomac, by Aquia Creek, meet you at all 
points from Washington. The same, only the lines lengthened a little, if you press 
closer to the Blue Ridge part of the way. The gaps through the Blue Ridge I under- 
stand to be about the following distances from Harper's Ferry, to wit : Vestal's, five 
miles; Gregory's, thirteen; Snicker's, eighteen; Ashby's, twenty-eight; Manassas, 
thirty-eight; Chester, forty-five; and Thornton's, fifty -three. I sliould think it prefer- 
able to take the route nearest the enemy, disabling him to make an important move 
without your knowledge, and compelling him to keep his forces together for dread of 
you. The gaps would enable you to attack if you should wish. For a great part of 
the way you would be practically between the enemy and both Washington and Rich- 
mond, enabling us to spare you the greatest number of troops from here. When, at 
length, running for Richmond ahead of him enables him to move this way ; if he does 
so, turn and attack him in the rear. But I think he should be engaged long before 
such point is reached. It is all easy if our troops march as well as the enemy, and it 
is unmanly to say they cannot do it. This letter is in no sense an order. 
* " Yours truly, 

"A. LiNCOLX. 

" Major-General McClellan." 

The following is the reply of General McClellan : — 

" IIead-Quauters Army op the Potomac, ) 
"Camp in Pleasant Valley, October n, 1862. J 

" Sir : — Your letter of the 13th instant reached me yesterday morning, by the hands 
of Colonel Perkins. 

" I had sent out strong reconnoissances, early in the morning, in the direction of 
Charlestown, Leetown, &c., and, as sharp artillery firing was heard, I felt it incumbent 
to go to the front. I did not leave Charlestown until dark, so that I have been unable 
to give to your Excellency's letter that full and respectful consideration which it merits 
at my hands. 

" I do not wish to detain Colonel Perkins beyond this morning's train. I therefore 
think it best to send him back with this simple acknowledgment of the receipt of your 
Excellency's letter. I am not wedded to any particular plan of operations. 
I hope to have, to-day, reliable information as to the position of the enemy, 
whom I still believe to be between Bunker Hill and Winchester. I promise you 



388 HISTOBY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOW. 

that I will give to your views the fullest and most unprejudiced consideration, and 
that it is my intention to advance the moment my men are shod, and my cavalry are 
sufficiently renovated to be available. 

" Your Excellency may be assured that I will not adopt a course which differs at all 
from your views, without first fully explaining my reasons, and giving you time to issue 
such instructions as may seem best to you. 

" I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" George B. McClellan, 
^^ Major- General, United States Adtit/. 

" His Excellency the President." 

Week after week had passed away since the President's order of 
October 6th, and still no advance of the army took place. McClellan 
was asking for clothing, for horses, for quartermaster's supplies, and 
multiplying obstacles in the way of progress. Without wearying the 
reader with further statements of the various excuses which he put 
forth for his delay, we give the following correspondence, which ex- 
plains itself: — 

"War Department, "Washington City, October 27, 1862. 

" General : — It has been publicly stated that the army under General McClellan has 
been unable to move during the fine weather of this fall, for want of shoes, clothing, 
and other supplies. You will please report to this Department upon the following 
points : 

^' First: To whom, and in what manner, the requisitions for supplies to the army 
under General McCleUan have been made since you assumed command as General-in- 
Chief; and whether any requisition for supplies of any kind has since that time been 
made upon the Secretary of War, or commvmication had with him, except through 
you? 

^'■Second: If you, as General-in-Chief, have taken pains to ascertain the condition of 
the army in respect to the supplies of shoes, clothing, arms, and other necessaries ; and 
whether there has been any neglect or delay, by any department or bureau, in filling 
the requisitions for supplies ; and what has been, and is, the condition of that army, aa 
compared with other armies, in respect to supplies ? 

" Third : At what date, after the battle of Antietam, the orders to advance against 
the enemy were given to General McClellan, and how often have they been repeated ? 

" Fcmrth : Whether, in your opinion, there has been any want in the army under 
General McClellan of shoes, clothing, arms, or other equipments or supplies, that ought 
to have prevented his advance against the enemy when the order was given ? 

" Fifth : How long was it after the orders to advance were given to General McClel- 
lan before he informefl you that any shoes or clothing were wanted in his army, and 
what are his means of promptly communicating the wants of the army to you, or to 
the proper bureaus of the War DepartmcBt ? 

" Edwin M. Stanton^ Secretary of War. 

" Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief." 

" Washington, Ocloher 28, 1862. 

"'Sir : — In reply to the several interrogatories contained in your letter of yesterday, 
I have to report : 

" First: That requisitions for supplies to the army under General McClellan are made 
by his staff officers on the chiefs of bureaus here ; that is, for quartermaster's supplies 
by his Chief Quartermaster on the Quartermaster-General; for commissary supplies 
by his Chief Commissary on the Commissary-General, &c. No such requisitions have 
been, to my knowledge, made upon the Secretary of War, and none upon the General- 
in-Chief 

''Second: On several occasions General McClellan has telegraphed to me that his 
army was deficient in certain supplies. All these telegrams were immediately referred 
to the heads of bureaus, \vith orders to report. It was ascertained that in every in- 
stance the requisitions had been immediately filled, except one, where the Quarter- 
master-General had been obliged to send from Philadelohia certain articles of clothing; 
tents, &c., not having a full supply here. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 389 

"There has not been, so far as I can ascertain, any neglect or delay in any depart- 
ment or bureau in issuing all supplies asked for by General McCleUan, or by the officers 
of his staff. Delays have occasionally occurred in forwarding supplies by rail, on ac- 
count of the crowded condition of the depots or of a want of cars ; but whenever no- 
tified of this, agents have been sent out to remove tlie difficulty. Under the excellent 
superintendence of General Haupt, I think these delays have been less frequent and of 
shorter duration than is usual with freight trains. Any army of tlie size of that of 
General McCleUan will frequently be for some days without the supplies asked for, 
on account of neglect in making timely requisitions, and unavoidable delays in for- 
warding them, and in distributing them to the different brigades and regiments. From 
all the information I can obtain, I am of the opinion that the requisitions from that army 
have been filled more promptly, and that the men, as a general rule, have been better 
supplied than our armies operating in the West. The latter have operated at much 
greater distances from the sources of supply, and have had far less facilities for trans- 
portation. In fine, I beheve that no armies in the world, while in campaign, have been 
more promptly or better supplied than ours. 

" Third: Soon after the battle of Antietam, General McCleUan was urged to give me 
information of his intended movements, in order that, if he moved between the enemy 
and Washington, re-enforceraents could be sent from this place. On the 1st of Octo- 
ber, finding that he proposed to operate from Harper's Ferry, I urged him to cross the 
river at once and give battle to the enemy, pointing out to him the disadvantage of 
delaying tUl the autumn rains had swollen the Potomac and impaired the roads. On 
the 6th of October he was peremptorUy ordered ' to cross the Potomac and give battle 
to the enemy, or drive him south. Your army must move now whUe the roads are good.' 
It will be observed that three weeks have elapsed since the order was given. 

^^ Fourth: In my opinion there has been no such want of supplies in the army under 
General McCleUan as to prevent his compliance with the orders to advance against the 
enemy. Had he moved to the south side of the Potomac he could have received his 
supplies almost as readily as, by remaining inactive, on the north side. 

" Fifth: On the Tth of October, in a telegram in regard to his intended movements, 
General McCleUan stated that it would require at least three days to supply the Fiist, 
Fiftli, and Sixth Corps ; that they needed shoes and other indispensable articles of 
clothing, as weU as shelter tents. No complaint was made that any requisitions had 
not been fiUed ; and it was inferred from his language that he was only waiting for 
the distribution of his supplies. 

"On the 11th he telegraphed that a portion of his supplies, sent by rail, had been 
delayed. As already stated, agents were immediately sent from here to investigate this 
complaint ; and they reported that every thing had gone forward. Ou the same date 
(the 11th) he spoke of many of his horses having broken down by fatigue. On the 
12th he complains that the rate of supply was only one hundred and fifty horses per 
week for the entire army, there and in front of Washington. I immediately directed 
the Quartermaster-General to inquire into this matter, and to report why a larger num- 
ber was not furnished. General Meigs reported on the 1-ith that the average issue of 
horses to General McCleUan's army, in the field and in front of Washington, for 
the previous six weeks, had been one thousand four hundred and fifty per week, 
or eight thousand seven hundred and fifty -four in all; in addition, that a large number 
of mules had been supplied ; and that the number of animals witj^ General McCleUan's 
army on the Upper Potomac was over tliirty-one thousand. He also reported that he 
was then sending to the army aU the liorses he could procure. 

"On the 1 8th General McCleUan states, in regard to General Meigs's report, that he 
had filled every requisition for shoes and clothing: ' General Meigs may have ordered 
those articles to be forwarded, but they have not reached our depots ; and unless 
greater effort to insure prompt transmission is made by the department of which 
General Meigs is the head, they might as well remain in New York or PhUadelphia, so 
far as this army is concerned.' I immediately called General Meigs's attention to this 
apparent neglect of his department. Ou the I'Sth he reported, as the result of his in- 
vestigation, that forty-eight thousand pairs of boots and shoes had been received by 
the quartermaster of General McCleUan's army at Harper's Ferry, Frederick, and 
Hagerstown; that twenty thousand pairs were at Harper's Ferry depot on the 21st; 
that ten thousand more were on their way, and fifteen thousand more ordered. Col- 
onel Ingalls, aide-de-camp and chief quartermaster to General McCleUan, telegraphed 



390 HISTOEY OF TITE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

on the 25th: 'Tlie suffering for want of clothing is exaggerated, I think; and certainly 
might have been avoided by timely requisitions of regimental and brigade quarter- 
masters.' On the 24th he telegraphed to the Quartermaster-General that: 'the clothing 
was not detained in the cars at the depots ; such complaints are groundless. The fact 
is, the clothing arrives and is issued; but more is still needed. I have ordered more 
than would seem necessary from any data furnished me ; and I beg to remind you that 
you have always very promptly met all my requisitions as far as clothing is concerned. 
Our department is not at fault. It provides as soon as due notice is given. I foresee 
no time when an army of over one hundred thousand men will not call for clothing and 
other articles.' 

'•In regard to General McClellan's means of promptly communicating the wants of 
his army to me, or to the proper bureaus of the "War Department, I repeat that, in ad- 
dition to the ordinary mails, he has been in hourly communication with Washington by 
telegraph. 

" It is due to General Meigs that I should submit herewith a copy of a telegram re- 
ceived by him from General McClellan. [See documents.] 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"H. TV. Halleck, General-in-Chief. 

" Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

On the 22d of October, McClellan announeefl to the President that 
he had decided to adopt the plan of advance originally suggested by 
the latter, and particularly explained in his letter of the 13tb, and at 
length, on the 26th, the main body of the army began the passage of 
the river at Berlin, six miles below Harper's Ferry. The advance 
proceeded by way of Leesburg, pushing forward scouts towards Aldie 
and Middleburg, and moving parallel to and east of the Blue Ridge. 
The enemy were in the valley west of the Blue Ridge, and spread 
from Winchester southward, with re-enforcements at Gordonsville, 
seventy-five miles south of Winchester, whence the railroad runs to 
Richmond. A continued series of skirmishes of outposts and cavalry 
corps resulted in the Union possession of the passes of the Blue Ridge. 
On the 1st of November, an artillery duel took place at Philomont, 
between General Pleasonton and one battery of Stuart's cavalry. The 
latter retired, leaving the Union troops in possession of the place. On 
the 3d, General Hancock occupied Snecker's Gap ; and on the following 
day General Porter sent a force through the gap to reconnoitre, which 
it did with small loss. On the same day General Stahl took possession 
of Thoroughfare Gap, driving out the enemy, and General Pleasonton 
reached Upperville, and the enemy were driven out of Ashley's Gap. 
On the 5th, the enemy fell back before the cavalry of Colonel Wynd- 
ham, in the direction of Warrenton, which was occupied by the Union 
forces. 

At this juncture the country Avas surprised, though scarcely unpre- 
pared for the announcement, by the publication of the following order, 
relieving General McClellan from his command : — 

"GE>fERAL ORDERS — NO. 182. 

" War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, ) 
" Washington, November 5, 1862. y 

"By direction of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Major-General 
McClellan be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and that Major- 
General Burnsido take the command of that army. 
" By order of the Secretary of War. 

"E. D. TowKSEND, Assistant AdjiUant- General.''^ 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI^. 391 

The reasons for this action of the President must have been suf- 
ficiently apparent from what has been previously related of General 
McCIellan's military career. Admirable as an organizer of an army, a 
skilful engineer, and possessing no mean knowledge of theoretical 
military science, he seems, from a constitutional cautiousness, to have 
been imsuited to play the many-sided part of an active commander in 
the field ; and in great emergencies, such as the attack of Lee upon his 
communications, and the seven days' fighting on the Chickahominy 
which succeeded, he utterly failed in that quickness of apprehension 
which detects the weak point in an opponent, and changes a threatened 
defeat into a success. From the moment he got his array upon the 
Peninsula, he seemed to have made up his mind to manoeuvre it and 
conduct the campaign with the precision of an instructor in military 
art, illustrating his remarks by the movement of automaton figures. 
Beyond this pedantic style of warfare he never advanced, and hence 
each crisis found him wanting in every quality — except that of organ- 
izing escape — which the crisis demanded. His plans once deranged, he 
became bewildered and disheartened. In addition to his incapacity 
as an active commander, he had displayed a dilatoriness and unwill- 
ingness to obey his superiors in command, and a reluctance to aid a 
brother general when hard pressed, which excited grave suspicions ia 
some quartets. The President had, with singular patience, already over- 
looked many instances of flagrant disobedience, and the result was 
seen in the f lilure of the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns. A new 
campaign was about to commence, the issue of Avhich, to judge from 
the events of the few previous weeks, would be very similar. But the 
country ill relished the idea of fresh defeats, and McClellan was re- 
moved. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Burnside in Commnnd. — Change of Plan. — Pontoons Delayed. — Plans of Crossing. — 
Two Attacks. — Franklin's Movements. — Seizure of Fredericksburg. — Sumner. — 
Terrible Slaughter. — Repulse on the Right. — Inaction. — Withdrawal of the Army. — 
End of Campaign. — Intrigues. — Order No. 8. — Burnside Relieved. 

Gejjekal Burnside having assumed the command of the army, the 
plan of operations, at his suggestion, underwent an entire change. In- 
stead of moving upon Richmond by the Gordonsville route, it was de- 
termined to make a direct attack by the way of Fredericksburg. That 
city is situated on the south side of the Rappahannock, and is connected 
with Richmond, sixty-five miles distant, by a railroad wliich has a 
double track forty-two miles to Hanover Junction. Tliiity-seven miles 
from Fredericksburg, the railroad crosses the Mattapony at Milford, 
and three miles further the Pamunkey. Thus between Falmouth on 
the north bank of the Rappahannock, opposite to Fredericksburg and 
Richmond, there are two main and two minor lines of defence. The 
banks of the Rappahannock, above Falmouth, are lined with high hills, 
which, with the narrow fords and rocky bottoms, make the crossing 



392 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

very difficult for large bodies of troops. Below Falmouth, the river 
spreads, winding through spacious plains, forming numerous necks of 
land that command the south bank of each water stretch. In front 
of Fredericksburg, the northern bank commands the southern shore, 
which is a plain running back one and a half miles, and then rising 
into a succession of heights, which command the plains to the river. 
After the new plan of advance became known to the enemy, they occu- 
pied those heights, taking advantage of every natural means of de- 
fence. Their position then consisted of two lines of batteries, one a 
mile in the rear of the other, and both overlooking the city. They 
extended in a semicircle, from Port Royal to a point six miles above 
Fredericksburg. The right, under Jackson, held the line from Port 
Royal to Genning's Station, on the railroad. Longstreet, in the centre, 
reached to the Telegraph road ; and the left, under Stuart, was west 
of the Massaponax Creek. The reserves were under A. P. Lee. 

This was the position which, after consultation between Generals 
Burnside, Halleck, and Meigs, November 12, at the head-quarters of 
the former, it was determined to assail. It was then settled that the 
line of operations should be transferred from Warrenton to the rail- 
road to Aquia Creek, where supplies could arrive by water, and the 
crossing of the Rappahannock be aided by the gunboats. General 
Burnside stated that his plan was " to concentrate the army in the 
neighborhood of Warrenton ; to make a small movement across the 
Rappahannock, as a feint, with a view to divert the attention of the 
enemy, and lead them to believe that we were going to move in the 
direction of Gordonsville, and then to make a rapid movement of the 
whole army to Fredericksburg ;" for the reason that " we would all 
the time be as near Washington as would the enemy, and after ar- 
riving at Fredericksburg we would be at a point nearer to Richmond 
than we would be even if we should take Gordonsville." It was in- 
dispensable to any sudden movement of this nature that the army 
should be provided with a complete pontoon train, and directions 
were at once sent to Washington for a sufficient number of pontoons 
to be sent to Aquia Creek to enable the army to cross the Rappahan- 
nock. Generals Halleck and Meigs then left for Washington to perfect 
their part of the operations, and the army commenced its march early 
on the 16th, General Sumner having the advance. The whole com- 
mand now underwent reorganization. The Second and Ninth Corps 
formed what was called the right grand division, under Sumner ; the 
First and the Sixth, the left grand division, under Franklin ; the Third 
and Fifth, the centre, under Hooker. The Eleventh Corps was in 
reserve, under Sigel. The advance of the army, under Sumner, reached 
Falmouth on the 1 7th, but as the promised pontoons did not make 
their appearance until the 12th December, or nearly four weeks after 
I'the time anticipated, all hope of surprising the enemy had to be aban- 
doned, and the important question of where and when to cross was 
debated in council. Several plans were proposed, but General Hooker 
opposed all that involved a division of the army, and urged that the 
whole force should cross at the United States Ford, twelve miles above. 
On the arrival of the pontoons, General Burside, governed by informa- 



HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION-. 393 

tion tliat the enemy had thrown a force down the river, and by the 
consequent hope of cutting the enemy's centre, decided to cross in 
two places ; one at Fredericksburg, and one four miles below. In this 
view, he detached the command of Franklin with two divisions of 
Hooker's command, altogether fifty to sixty thousand men, to the lower 
crossing. The orders to Franklin were, that the whole command was 
to be kept in readiness for a rapid movement down the old Richmond 
road, and while one division should seize the heights on the north side 
of the Massaponax, taking care to keep its line of retreat open, another 
column was to be sent to occupy the heights at the junction of the 
plankroad and the Telegraph road. The whole command was to be kept 
in readiness to march as soon as the fog, with which the day opened, 
should lift. On Friday, December 12th, the bridges being laid 
without much resistance from the enemy, the crossing took place, and 
the troops occupied Fredericksburg with little opposition. On the 
morning of the 13th, the attack on the heights commenced. The right 
of Franklin restecj on the outskirts of the city. The centre was 
advanced about a mile from the city, and the left rested on the Rappa- 
hannock, about three miles below. The attack of Franklin was made 
by the division of Meade, four thousand five hundred men, supported 
on its right by that of Gibbon, five thousand, and on the left by Doub- 
leday. Birney's Division of Stoneman's Corps was formed directly 
in the rear of Meade. The attack was made with the utmost vigor 
and skill, but failed, for the reason that the enemy were in much 
greater force than had been supposed, and because Franklin, thou<Th 
having more than half the whole army imder him, sent an inadequate 
number of men into action, and failed to support these properly. Both 
Meade's and Gibbon's Divisions were badly cut up, and the first was 
replace<l by Doubleday's. Those of Howe and Brooks held the right, 
protecting the bridges, and the enemy accimiulating force towards 
three o'clock, handled them very severely. The men held their ground 
with a determination and heroism beyond all praise. The enemy then 
made a forward movement, under General Hill, and were repulsed 
with severe loss, but returned upon the left in such force as to threaten 
its safety. At nightfoll, by dint of severe fighting, Franklin's extreme 
left had gained a mile of ground, though at a fearful sacrifice of life. 
The attack upon the left was intended by Burnside to be the main 
operation of the day. The greater part of the Federal troops had been 
massed there, and upon the success of this wing depended the opera- 
tions of the right and centre. The failure of Franklin to accomplish 
ttie part assigned to him is thus commented Upon by the Congressional 
Committee on the Conduct of the War : — 

" The testimony of all the witnesses before your Committee proves most conclusively 
that, had the attack been made upoa the left with all the force which General Franklin 
could have used for that purpose, the plan of General Burnside would have been com- 
pletely successful, and our army would have achieved a most briUiant victory." 

Meanwhile the right wing of the army had also been hotly engaged. 
The Confederate forces occupied the woods and hills in rear of 
the city, in a very strong position, and at ten o'clock the division of 



394 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIf. 

French, supported by that of Howard, was ordered to drive them out 
at the point of the bayonet. A stone wall ran across the plain in front 
of the ridge held by the enemy. The line advanced steadily until 
close to the wall, when there poured forth from it a murderous fire, 
which threw the column into some confusion, and it retired to the 
cover of a ravine. It was here re-formed upon its supports, and again 
advanced at the double-quick, but the space which it was obliged to 
cross to reach the wall was now swept by a terrific fire of musketry 
and artillery, which thinned the ranks with fearful rapidity, and 
finally its centre broke and retired. With marvellous determination 
the line again formed, and again the storm of shot swept through it. 
Steadily the ranks closed up on the centre and pressed on, but the 
line visibly shrank up as it advanced, and for the third time its shat- 
tered ranks recoiled before that volcano. Sumner then ordered up 
his artillery to play upon the stronghold, and the fire, without much 
eflEect, was continued until dark. 

During the morning. Hooker, in the centre, opened the attack with 
artillery upon the works of the enemy, which was replied to as long 
as the fog lasted, with little or no effect on either side. At noon an 
attempt was made to carry the works by assault, with the same re- 
sults as tliose which attended Sumner's movement. The attempt was 
repeated in the afternoon Avith no better success. At dark the firing 
ceased on both sides. Early on the morning of the 14th, General 
Burnside sent the following dispatch to the President : — 

"I have just returned from the field. Our troops are all over the river, and hold the 
first ridge outside the town and three miles below. "We hope to carry the crest to-day. 
Our loss is heavy, say — five thousand. 

"A. E. BuiHJsroE, Major- General^ 

The army i-emained quiet during the 14th, and on the night of the 
15th, Burnside, finding all his generals strongly averse to renewing 
the attack, withdrew, his troops to the north side, and took up the 
bridges. The enemy, fortunately, did not perceive the movement 
until it was too late to do any damage. General Burnside then sent 
the following message to Washington : — 

"The army was withdrawn to this side of the river, becaus^ I felt the position in 
front could not be carried, and it was a military necessity either to attack or retire. 
A repulse would have been disastrous to us. The army was withdrawn at night, 
without the knowledge of the enemy, and without loss of either property or men. 

"A. E. BuRNSU)E, Major-General." 

The Federal loss was reported at twelve thousand three hundred 
and twenty-one. The Confederate loss was comparatively small, inas- 
much as they were under cover. 

Thus ended the third campaign against Richmond. General Burnside, 
however, published a statement taking the blame of the failure upon 
himself, and exonerating the authorities at Washington. The matter 
became afterwards the subject of investigation, in the course of which 
was developed such a chapter of blunders, intrigues, and jealousies 
on the part of inferior officers as shocked and disheartened the coun- 
try. The delay in procuring the pontoons was a prime cause of failure. 



mSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 395 

The evidence given before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, 
in relation to this point, was as follows: — 

General Woodbury stated that he received that order on the morn- 
ing of the 13 th of November. He testifies : — 

"General Halleck's order to me of the 13th made it apparent that the army was pre- 
paring to march to Fredericksburg. As to the time when the movement would be 
made, I never received any information. Fearing, however, that the movement would 
be precipitate, I went to General Halleck's office and urged him to delay the move- 
ment some five days, in order that the necessary preparations might be made to in- 
sure success. To this he replied that he would do nothing to delay for an instant the 
advance of the army on Richmond. I rejoined that my suggestion was not intended 
to cause delay, but rather to prevent it. In making this suggestion I had referenca 
not only to the pontoon train, but the landings still to be created for the quartermaster 
and conamissary departments." 

General Halleck testifies : — 

" I will state that all the troops in Washington and its vicinity were under the com- 
mand of General McCleUan when he was relieved, and he issued his orders directly to 
the commanding officer at Washington, with one single restriction — that no troops 
should be moved from the command of Washington until I was notified by General 
McClellan or the commanding officer here. In all other respects they were all under 
his direction. General Burnside, when he relieved him, was told that they remained 
precisely the same as before. On my visit to General Burnside, at Warrenton, on the 
12th of November, in speaking about the boats and things that he required from here, 
I repeated to him that they were all subject to his orders with tliat single exception. 
To prevent the necessity of the commanding officer here reporting the order for the 
boats here, the order was drawn up upon his table, and signed by me, directly to 
General Woodbury, on the evening of the 12th, I think — the evening that I was there. 
I saw General Woodbury on my return, and he told me he had received the order. I 
told him that in all these matters he was under General Burnside's direction. I had 
nothing further to give him, except to communicate that order to him. In conversa- 
tion with him and General Meigs, it was proposed that the train of pontoons should go 
down by land, as they could be gotton down sooner in that way, without interfering 
with the supphes which had to be sent to Aquia Creek. I gave no other order or 
direction in relation to the matter than that all other matters were under General Bum- 
side's direction. He also informed me, while at Warrenton, that Captain Duane, chief 
of the engineers, had also sent an order to Harper's Ferry for the pontoon train there 
to go down. The order had been issued. They being imder General Burnside's im- 
mediate and direct command, I did not interfere at all in relation to them. 

" QiLestion. Do you know whetlier there was any delay in starting them, or in their 
progress there ? 

" Answer. I heard that there was a delay from the steamer's getting aground with 
the pontoons, and there was a delay, as I understood, in the train going down by land, 
on account of the difficulty of the roads, and the inexperience, perhaps, of the officers 
in command, and it had to be taken by water part of the way; it could not get through 
by land. I considered, from the reports I received, that these delays resulted mainly 
from accident and the elements, that no man had any control over. General Burnside 
telegraphed to me in relation to General Woodbury, thinking that he had not used 
due diligence ; but afterwards told me he was perfectly satisfied with what General 
Woodbury had done, and that he did not know but what the commanding officer of 
the train that went down had done his duty also ; that he was disposed to make no 
further investigation of that matter ; tlial he was pretty well satisfied. 

" Question. Was there any recjuest for you to delay the advance of the men until 
the boats arrived, or any thing of that kind ? 

" Answer. No, sir. I remember this, that General Woodbury, in conversation with 
me, said that General Burnside could not get down for several days after I told him ; 
and that he could not land the boats until General Burnside arrived ; I think I re- 
marked to him that I did not know exactly the day when General Burnside would 



896 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

move ; but I could not tell him, as the general did not know himself. Wliile I was at 
TVarrenton ho proposed this movement, and ho was directed to make all preparations 
for it, but not to begin it until the President was consulted. I returned on the after- 
noon of the 13tli, and I think, on the morning of the 14th, I had an interview with 
the President, in wliich ho consented to General Burnside's plans, and I immediately 
telegraplied to him to go ahead as he had proposed. I understood tliat there was 
considerable delay in getting the boats from Aquia down to the Rappalianncxik River, 
on account of the bad roads, difficulty of transportation, &c., but no other delay than 
that which would naturally occur over a rough country like lliat ; and accidental 
delay in laying the bridges was reported to me, from the experience of the pontoniers 
who laid the upper bridges; there was considerable delay in liiat. We could not 
commence the repair of the railroad until General Burnsido took possession of it, as 
it was all in tlio possession of the enemy. That was understood between Jam and 
General Ilaupt, in my presence. General Ilaupt went out with me to make the 
arrangement for repairing the roads as early as possible. I remember the conversa/- 
tion ; he could not land any thing, but would have every thing down ready as sooa 
as ho could, and when he found General Burnside was in jjossession, ho would com- 
mence." 

Soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, General Burnsicle devised 
a new plan for attacking the enemy in his front, in connection with 
which a cavalry raid was projected. A force of two thousand five 
hundred men was to proceed to Kelly's Ford, where one thousand 
were to cross and destroy the bridges over the Rapidan, and continue 
through to Suffolk, blowing up and destroying bridges on the route. 
The other fifteen hundred men were to ])roceed in different directions 
to distract the attention of the enemy, while a general movement was 
to be made across the river. On the 26th of December, an order was 
issued for the men to take three days' cooked rations, and ten days' 
rations in wagons, and be ready to move at twelve hours' notice. 

At this time occurred a remarkable intrigue, which is best given in 
the words of the committee : — 

"Shortly after that order was issued, General John Newton and 
General John Cochrane — the one commanding a division and the 
other a brigade, in the left grand division, under General William B. 
Franklin — came up to Washington on leave of absence. Previous to 
obtaining leave of absence from General Fianklin, they informed him 
and General William F, Smith, that when they came to Washington 
they should take the opportunity to represent to some one in authoi'ity 
here the dis[)irited condition of the army, and the danger there was 
in attempting any movement against the enemy at that time. 

" When they reached Washington, General Cochrane, as- he states, 
endeavored to find certain members of Congress, to whom to make 
the desired communication. Failing to find them, he determined to 
seek an interview with the President for the purpose of making the 
communication directly to him. On proceeding to the President's 
house, he there met Secretary Seward, to whom he explained the 
object of liis being there, and the general purport of his proposed 
communication to the President, and requested him to procure an 
interview for them, which Mr. Seward promised to do, and which 
he did do. 

" That day the interview took place, and General Newton opened 
the subject to the President. At first the President, as General New- 
ton expresses it, 'very naturally conceived that they had come there 



HI8T0EY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 397 

for the purpose of injuring General Bumside, and suggesting some 
other person to fill hie place.' General Newton states, that while he 
firmly believed that the principal cause of the dispirited condition of 
the array was the want of confidence in the military capacity of Gen- 
eral Burnside, he deemed it imj^roper to say so to the President ' right 
square out,' and therefore endeavored to convey the same idea indirectly. 
When asked if he considered it any less improper to do such a thing 
indirectly than it was to do it directly, he qualified his previous asser- 
tion by saying that his object was to inform the President of what he 
considered to be the condition of the army, in the hope that the Pres- 
ident would make inquiry and learn tlie true cause for himself Upon 
perceiving this impression upon the mind of the President, Generals 
Newton an(i Cochrane state that they hastened to assure the President 
that he was entirely mistaken, and so far succeeded that at the close 
of the interview the President said to them he was glad they had 
called upon him, and that he hoped that good would result from the 
iuterview." 

"To return to General Burnside. The cavalry expedition liad start-* 
ed; the brigade of infantry detailed to accompany it had crossed the 
Rappahannock at Richards'sFord, and returned by way of Ellis's Ford, 
leaving the way clear for the cavalry to cross at Kelly's Ford. The 
day they had arranged to make the crossing, General Burnside received 
from the President the following telegram : — 

" ' I have good reason for saying that you must not make a general movement witli- 
out letting me know of it.' " 

General Burnside states that he could not imagine at the time what 
reason the President could have for sending him such a telegram. 
None of the officers of his command, except one or two of his staff 
who had remained in camp, had been told any thing of his plan beyond 
the simple fact that a movement was to be Tiiade. lie could only sup- 
pose that the dispatch related in some way to important military move- 
ments in other parts of the country, ui which it was necessary to have 
co-operation. 

"Upon the receipt of that telegram, steps were immediately taken 
to halt the cavalry expedition where it then was (at Kelly's Ford) 
until further orders. A portion of it was shortly afterwards sent off 
to intercept Stuart, who h;id just made a raid to Dumfries and the 
neighborhood of Fairfax Court-IIouse, which it filled to do. 

" General Burnside came to Washington to ascertain from the Pres- 
ident the true state of the case. He was informed by the President 
that some general officers from the Army of the Potomac, whose names 
he declined to give, had called upon him and represented that General 
Burnside contemplated soon making a movement, and that the army 
was so dispirited and demoralized, tliut any attempt to make a move- 
ment at that time must result in disaster; that no prominent officers 
in the Army of the Potomac were in favor of any movement at that 
time. 

" General Burnside informed the President that none of his officers 
had been informed what his plan was, and then proceeded to explain 



398 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

it in detail to the President. He urged upon the President to grant 
him permission to carry it out ; but the President declined to do "so at 
that time. General Ilalleck and Secretary Stanton were sent for, and 
then learned, for the first time, of the President's action in stopping 
the movement ; although General Halleck was previously aware that 
a movement was contemplated by General Burnside. General Hal- 
leck, with General Burnside, held that the ofiicers who had made these 
representations to the President should be at once dismissed the ser- 
vice. General Burnside remained here at that time for two days, 
but no conclusion was reached upon the subject. 

" When he returned to his camp he learned that many of the details 
of the general movement, and the details of the cavalry expedition, 
had become known to the rebel sympathizers in Washington, thereby 
rendering that plan impracticable. When asked to whom he had com- 
municated his plans, he stated that he had told no one in Washington, 
except the President, Secretary Stanton, and General Ilalleck ; and in 
his camp none knew of it, except one or two of his staff officers, who 
remained in camp all the time. He professed himself unable to tell 
how his plans had become known to the enemy." 

General Burnside then devised a new plan, and proceeded to put it 
in execution, but was obliged to abandon it because of the inclemency 
of the weather and the opposition of his officers. He then prepared 
Order No. 8, which dismissed Generals Hooker, Brooks, and Newton 
from the service, and relieved other officers of their commands, subject 
to the approval of the President. The publication of the order was 
delayed until General Burnside went to Washington and laid it before 
the President, whom he asked to sanction it or accept his resignation. 
The President acknowledged that Burnside was right, but declined to 
decide until he had consulted his advisers. After doing so, he relieved 
Burnside from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and ap- 
pointed General Hooker in his place. Thereupon General Burnside 
insisted that his resignation be accepted. This the President declined 
to do ; and, after some urging. General Burnside consented to take 
a leave of absence for thirty days, with the understanding that at the 
end of that time he should be assigned to diity, as he deemed it im- 
proper to hold a commission as major-general and receive his pay 
without rendering service therefor. Burnside objected to the word- 
ing of the order which relieved him from his command, and which 
stated that it was " at his own request," as being unjust to him, and 
unfounded in fact ; but upon the representation that any other order 
would do injury to the cause, he consented to let it remain as it then 
read. 

On January 26th, General Hooker assumed command of the Army 
of the Potomac, and by an order issued by the War Department on 
the 28th, Sumner and Franklin were relieved from duty Avith the 
army, the former at his own request. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 399 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Situation in Kentucky. — Bragg's Invasion. — Mumfordsville. — Buell's Advance. — 
Perrysville. — Retreat of the Enemy. — Features of Campaign. 

On the retreat of Beauregard's forces from Corinth, the main body, 
under Bragg, fell back upon Tupello, Mississippi. General Kirby 
Smith was at Chattanooga, and there was also a force at Knoxville. 
These drew their supplies mainly over the railroad from At- 
lanta, Georgia. At the same time Grant held the line of West 
Tennessee, from luka to Memphis. General Buell remained at Ste- 
venson, holding the Memphis and Charleston Railroad from that point 
westward, and threatening Chattanooga, and General Rosecrans was 
in command of Pope's old troops. Early in June the guerrillas be- 
came very active in the lower counties of Kentucky, under Colonel 
John Morgan. On the 10th of June, General Buell left Corinth, in 
the direction of Chattanooga, and took positions at Battle Creek, 
Iluntsville, and McMinnsvillo. In the mean time. General Bragg 
had suddenly broken up his camp, and, by forced marches through 
Alabama and Georgia, reached Chattanooga in advance of Buell. 
His force was then composed of three corps, of fifteen thousand men 
each, under Generals Hardee, Polk, and Kirby Smith, which were 
severally occupied in preparations for an advance into the heart of 
Kentucky, for the purpose of obtaining supplies, and of recruiting 
their ranks from the secessionists of the State, while Morgan was 
very active with his guerrillas, in the hope that the ])eople of Ken- 
tucky would rise. On the 5th of July, Lebanon, at tlie termination 
of the Nashville and Louisville Railroad, was taken by them, while 
Murfreesboro', in Tennessee, was captured at the same time by a 
gueiTilla force under Colonel Forrest. A Federal force at Cynthiana 
was defeated by Morgan, and Henderson occupied. Clarksville was 
captured, with large military stores, and a Federal force at Gallatin 
repulsed. At this time, August 22d, Kirby Smith, with a consider- 
able force, forming the advance of Bragg's army of invasion, broke 
camp from Knoxville, passed the Big Creek Gap, and marched upon 
Richmond, Kentucky, the capital of Madison County, and fifty miles 
southeast of Frankfort. A Federal force held the place, composed 
of nine regiments, with nine guns, and a squadron of Kentucky horse, 
under Generals Manson and Crufts. This force attacked Smith four 
miles south of Richmond, on August 30th, and was defeated, vv^ith the 
loss of several pieces of artillery. As the retreat began. General Xel- 
son, arriving from Lexington, endeavored to rally the troops, but was 
wounded, and obliged to retire. This defeat uncovered the State 
capital to the enemy's advance. The Legislature was then in session, 
and immediately adjourned to Louisville, carrying the archives of the 
State and the treasure of the banks. The Governor, James F. Rob- 
inson, issued a proclamation, calling upon all citizens to rally to the 
defence of the State. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOX. 401 

I' • 

Smith's fidvance-giiard entered Lexington on the 2d of September. 
He at once issued a proclamation, to the effect that the Confederate 
army had come as liberators ; and inviting the citizens of Kentucky 
to join in driving out the invading Federal force. The capital of the 
State was occupied September 6th, a government organized, and re- 
cruiting stations opened. In the mean time, Bragg, with the main 
rebel army, crossed the Tennessee on the 21st ot August, and, pusliing 
rapidly northward, occupied Bowling Green, on the line of the Nash- 
ville and Louisville Railroad, on September 5th, and thence moved on 
to Murafordsville, which was held by Colonel Wilder with three 
thousand men. The garrison were attacked on the 13th by the 
Confederates, under General Duncan, who were repulsed after seven 
hours' struggle. On the following day the place was re-enforced by 
Colonel Dunham, who assumed command. The Confederates re- 
newed the attack on the 1 6th, and, after a stubborn resistance against 
greatly superior numbers, the Federal force, amounting in all to four 
thousand men and ten guns, surrendered. On the 18th, General 
Bragg issued an address to the people, dated at Glasgow, in which he 
reiterated the expressions uttered by Kirby Smith, stating also that 
he required supjilics, which would be paid for. The Confederate 
force now moved in a direction to form a junction with Kirby Smith, 
Humphrey Marshall, and Morgan, apparently for the purpose of 
making a combined attack upon Louisville. From Bardstown, Gen- 
eral Bragg issued the following address to the people of the North- 
west, the object of which was to open separate negotiations for peace 
with the people of that section : — 

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTHWEST. 

"Head-Quarters C. S. Army in Kentucky, ) 
"Bardstown, Ky., September 2&, 1862. ) 

" On approaching your borders at th-e head of a Confederate army, it is proper to 
announce to you the motives and the purposes of my presence. I therefore make 
known to you: 

" 1. Tliat tlie Confederate Government is waging this war solely for self-defence ; that 
it has no designs of conquest, nor any other purpose, than to secure peace, and the 
abandonment by the United States of its pretensions to govern a people who never 
have been their subjects, and who prefer self-government to a union with them. 

" 2. That the Confederate Government and people, deprecating civil strife from the 
beginning, and anxious for a peaceful adjustment of all differences growing out of a 
political separation, which they deemed essential to their happiness and well-being, at 
the moment of its inauguration, sent commissioners to Washington to treat for these 
objects, but that their commissioners were not received or even allowed to communicate 
the object of their mission ; and that on a subsequent occasion a communication from 
the Pre^^ident of the Confederate States to President Lincoln remained without answer, 
although a reply was promised by General Scott, into whose hands the communication 
was delivered. 

"3. That among the pretexts urged for the continuance of the war, is the assertion 
that the Confederate Government desires to deprive the United States of the free navi- 
gation of tlie Western rivers, although the truth is that the Confederate Congress, by 
public act, prior to the commencement of the war, enacted that ' the peaceful naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi River is hereby declared free to the citizens of any of the States 
upon its border, or upon the borders of its tributaries' — a declaration to wliich our 
Government has always been, and is still ready to adhere. 

"From these declarations, people of the Northwest, it is made manifest, that by the 
26 



402 HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT KEBELLIOIST. 

invasion of our territories by land and from sea, we lia%-e been unwillingly forced into 
a war for selt-defence, and to vindicate a great principle once dear to all Americans, to 
■wit : that no people can be rightly governed except by their own consent, "We desire 
peace now. We desire to see a stop put to a useless and cruel effusion of blood, and 
that waste of national wealth, rapidly leading to, and sure to end in national bank- 
ruptcy. We are, therefore, now, as ever, ready to treat with the United States, or any 
one or more of them, upon terms of mutual justice and liberality. And at this juncture, 
when our arms have been successful on many hard-fought fields, when our people 
have exhibited a constancy, a fortitude, and a courage worthy of the boon of self- 
government — we restrict ourselves to the same moderate demand that we made at the 
darkest period of our reverses — the demand that the people of the United States cease 
to war upon ns, and permit us in peace to pursue our path to happiness, while they, in 
peace, pursue theirs. 

" We are, however, debarred from the renewal of former proposals for peace, because 
the relentless spirit that actuates the Government at Washington leaves us no reason 
to expect that they would be received with the respect naturally due by nations in 
their intercourse, wiiether in peace or war. It is under these circumstances that we 
are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an 
enemy who pursues us with an implacable and apparently aimless hostility. If the war 
must continue, its theatre must be changed, and with it the policy that has heretofore 
kept us on the defensive on our own soil. So far, it is only our fields that have been 
laid waste, our people killed, our homes miade desolate, and our frontiers ravaged by 
rapine and murder. The sacred right of self-defence demands that henceforth seme of 
the consequences of the war shall fall upon those who persist in their refusal to make 
peace. Witli the people of the Northwest rests the power to put an end to the in- 
vasion of their homes ; for, if unable to prevail upon the Government of the United 
States to conclude a general peace, their own State Governments, in the exercise of 
their sovereignty, can secure immunity from the desolatmg effects of warfare on their 
soil, by a separate treaty of peace, which our Government will be ready to conclude 
on the most just and liberal basis. 

" The responsibility then rests Avith you, people of the Northwest, of continuing an 
unjust and aggressive warfare upon the people of the Confederate States. And in the 
name of reason and humanity, I call upon you to pause and reflect what cause of quarrel 
BO bloody liave you against these States, and what are you to gain by it? Nature ha.g 
set her seal upon these States, and marked them out to be your friends and allies. She 
has bound them to you by all the ties of geographical contiguity and conformation, 
and the great mutual interests of commerce and productions. When the passions of 
thi3 unnatural war shall have subsided, and reason resumes her sway, a community of 
interest will force commercial and social coalition between the great grain ar.d stcck- 
growing States of the Northwest, and the cotton, tobacco, and sugar regions of the 
South. The Mississippi River is a grand artery of their mutual national lives, which 
men cannot sever, and which never ought to have been suffered to be distuibed by 
the antagonisms, the cupidity, and the bigotry of New England and the East. It ia 
from the East that have come tlie germs of this bloody and most unnatural strife. It 
is from the meddlesome, grasping, and fanatical disposition of the same people who 
have imposed upon you and us alike those tariffs, internal improvement, and fishing 
bounty laws, whereby we liave been taxed for their aggrandizement. It is frtni the 
East that will come the tax-gatherer to collect from you the miglity debt which is 
being amassed mountain high for the purpose of ruining your best customers and 
natural friends. When this war ends, tlie same antagonisms of interest, policy, and 
feeling, which have been pressed upon ns by the East, and forced us from a political 
union where we had ceased to find safety for our interests or lespect for our rights, 
will bear down upon you, and separate you from a people whose traditional policy it is 
to live by their wits upon the labor of their neighbors. Meantime, you are being used 
by them to fight the battle of emancipation, a battle which, if successful, destroys our 
prosperity, and with it your best markets to buy and sell. Our nuitual dependence is 
the work of the Creator. With our peculiar productions, convertible into gold, we 
should, in a state of peace, draw from you largely the products of your labor. In us, 
of the South, you will find rich and willing customers. In the J'ast you must coufrovit 
rivals in productions and trade, and the tax-gatherer in all the forms of partial legisla- 
tion. You are blindly following abohtionism to this end, while they aru nicc-ly ealcu- 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOlf. 403 

lating the gain of obtaining your trade on terms that •would impoverish your country. 
You say you are fighting for the free navigation of the Mississippi. It is yours freely, 
and has always been, without striking a blow. You say you are fighting to maintain 
the Union. That Union is a thing of the past. A Union of consent was the only 
Union ever worth a drop of blood. When force came to be substituted for consent, the 
casket was broken, and the constitutional jewel of your patriotic adoration wa3 forever 
gone. 

"I come then to you with the olive-branch of peace, and offer it to your acceptance, in 
the name of memories of the past, and the ties of present and future. With you re- 
main tiie responsibility and the option of continuing a cruel and wasting war, which can 
only end, after still greater sacrifices, in such treaty of peace as we now offer; or of 
preserving the blessings of peace by the simple abandonment of the design of siibju- 
gating a people over whom no right of dominion has been conferred on you by God or 
man. 

" Braxton Bragg, General C. S. Army." 

A few days after the issuing of this address, the ceremony of in- 
augurating the provisional rebel Governor of Kentucky, Richard 
Harris, was performed at Lexington, all the leading Confederate 
generals being present. General Bragg had issued an order, provid- 
ing for the event, as follows : — 

" Head-Quarters, Armt op Kextuckt, } 
"Lexington, October 2, 1SG2. J" 
" Installation of the provisional Governor at Frankfort, on Saturday, October 4, at 
12 M. Major-General Smitli is charged witli the management of the military and escort 
guard and salute. The Governor will be escorted from his quarters by a squadron of 
cavalry, and accompanied by the commander of the Confederate States forces, ilajor- 
General Buckner, Brigadier-General Preston, and their respective staffs. The com- 
manding general will present the Governor to the peojjle, and transfer, in behalf of tlic 
Confederate States, the civil orders of the Stale, and public records and propert}-. 
" By order, 

"Braxton Bragg, General Commanding." 

While these events were taking place, much alarm was felt in Cin- 
cinnati, and, under apprehensions of an invasion, business was sus- 
pended, and General Lewis Wallace, commanding in the city, pro- 
claimed martial law, as follows : — 

"Cincinnati, September 2, 1862. 

" The undersigned, by order of Major-General Wright, assumes command of Cincin- 
nati, Covington, and Newport. 

"It is but fair to inform our citizens that an active, daring, and powerful enemy 
threatens them with every consequence of war; yet the cities must be defended, and 
tiie inhabitants assist in the preparations. 

" First. — All business must be suspended at nine o'clock to-day. lilvery businees 
house must be closed. 

" Second. — Under the direction of the mayor, the citizens must, within an hour after 
the suspension of business, assemble in convenient pubUc places, ready for orders, and 
as soon as possible they will then be assigned to their work. 

"This labor ought to be one of love; and the undersigned trusts and believes that it 
will be so. Anyhow, it must be done. The willing shall be promptly credited ; the 
unwilling promptly visited. 

"The principle adopted is: — 'Citizens for the labor; soldiers for the battle.' 

" Martial law is hereby proclaimed in the three cities. Until they can be relieved by 
the military, the injunctions of this proclamation will be executed by the police. 

' Third. — Ferry-boats will cease plying the river after four o'clock in the morning, 
until further orders. 

"Lewis Wallace, Major-General Commanding." 



404 



niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJf. 



PROCLAMATION OF THE MAYOR. 

" In accordance with the proclamation of Major-General "Wallace, I give the public 
notice that the police force will, until further orders, act as a provost guard ; and I 
order and enjoin upon all good citizens to respect and obey thera. 

"All orders from the general commanding, through the police, will be enforced 
strictly. 

" Geoege Hatch, Mayor.'"'' 

CLOSING LIQUOR STORES. 

general order — no. 1. 

" Head-Quarters United States Forces, ) 
" Cincinnati, September 2, 1862. ) 
" All places in the cities of Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport, where hquors of any 
kind are sold, must be closed at four o'clock this morning; and all soldiers are directed, 
upon any foilure or refusal to obey this order, to seize the stock on hand, that it may 
be contiscated for sanitary purposes. 

" By order of Major-General Lewis Wallace. 

" H. Elston, Jr., Aide-de-Camp and Chief of Staffs 

The utmost efforts were made to place Cincinnati in a state of de- 
fence, and works for this ])urpose were formed in Kentucky, on the 
south bank of the river. 

Meanwhile, on August 23d, Buell's army commenced evacuating its 
posts to follow Bragg, but although it had tlie shorter line of nmrch 
to Bowling Green, the advance did not reach that place until Sep- 
tember 14th, Bragg being then at Glasgow, thirty miles east. On 
the 21st, Buell reo'ccupied Mumfordsville, and on the 24th he reached 
Loviisville. The whole command, numbering above thii-ty-five thou- 
sand men, were marched to the river shores above the city, where they 
were temporarily encamped. A pontoon bridge, thrown over the 
river to JetTersonville, carried them to the north bank, where the 
bulk of the Army of the Ohio reposed on the Indiana shore. While 
General Nelson * was receiving and providing for these men, and re- 
organizing new corps, he was killed in an affray with General Jefferson 
C. Davis, one of the defenders of Fort Sumter, whom he had grossly 
insulted. 

A day or two after the arrival of Buell, an order was received 
from General Ilalleck, directing a fusion and reorganization of the 
armies of Ohio and Kentucky. He was about carrying tliis order out, 
when Colonel McKibben, of General Halleck's staff, arrived from 
Washington with an order directing liini to turn over the chief com- 
mand to Major-General Thomas, and assume command of the paroled 
prisoners and camp of instruction at Indianapolis. The dihitoriness 
of his movements had alarmed the Administration, and in view of the 
serious danger menacing Kentucky, it was determined to intrust the 
chief command of the Union forces in that State to a more active gen- 



* William Nelson was born in Maysvillo, Kv., 
In IS'25, entered the navy in 1840, served in the 
Mexican war, and at the outbreak of the rebellion 
■was;:, lieutenant on ordnance duty at Washington. 
Ho was then promoted to be lieutenant-com- 
mander, and detailed to command gunboats on 
the Ohio Kivor; but for the purpose of strength- 
ening the loyal sentiment in Kentucky ho was, in 
the autumn of ISOl, transferrcU to the military 



service, and commissioned a brigadier-general of ■ 
volunteers. He organized Camj) Dick Robinson, 
was successful in raising troops, and in the spring 
of 1862 commanded a divi.-^ion in Buell's army, 
lie took part in the siu-ond day's fighting at 
Shiloh, was svbsequently commissioned a major- 
general of volunteers, took command at Louisville, 
when that city was menaced by Bragg, and was 
killed there by General Davis on September 29th. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 405 

eral. General Thomas immediately telegraphed to Washington, ask- 
ing for the reinstatement of General Buell, and Generals Crittenden, 
Roiisseau, Jackson, Boyle, and one or two others, also sent remon- 
strances, in consequence of which the order was rescinded, and Gen- 
eral Buell restored. On General BuelFs restoration, the work of 
reorganization was completed. One regiment of new troops was 
attached to each brigade, and the Army of Ohio was divided into three 
corps — named first, second, and third. The brigades averaged fullv 
two thousand five hundred men, giving a total infantry force for 
twenty-six brigades of nearly seventy thousand men. Of artillery, 
there was one battery attached to each brigade, giving twenty-six 
batteries, with a total of one hundred and sixty guns. Of cavalry, 
each corps had a small complement attached, while the main body 
of mounted troops operated in three independent brigades, represent- 
ing an effective total of about six thousand men, and commanded by 
Acting-Brigadiers McCook, Zahm, and Gay. It thus appears that 
General Buell entered upon the campaign with an infantry and cav- 
alry force at least one-third stronger than that of the enemy, and with 
double his strength in artillery. 

The Confederate troops were now scattered through Scott, "Wood- 
ford, Franklin, Spencer, Anderson, Boyers, and Boyce Counties, to 
the south of Louisville, and busily engaged in foraging and recruiting. 
N"o body of any considerable strength was within two days' march of 
Louisville. 

The following was the army organization of the forces in Kentucky: 

DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO. 

Commander-in-Chief — Major-General D. C. Buell. 
Commander in the Field — Major-General George W. Thomas. 

CORPS. 

First — right wing — Major-General Alexander McDowell McCook. 
Second — left wing — Major-General Thomas L. Crittenden. 
Third — centre — Major-General C. C. Gilbert. 

DIVISION COMMANDERS. 

Tliird corps, first division — Brigadier-General Albion Schoepif ; first 
corps, second division, Brigadier-General Sill; first corps, third division, 
Brigadier-General Lovell Rousseau; second corps, fourth division, 
Brigadier-General W. L. Smith ; second corps, fifth division, Briga- 
dier-General Van Cleve ; second corps, sixth division, Brigadier-Gen- 
eral W. Wood ; seventh division, Brigadier-General George W. 
Morgan ; eighth division, Brigadier-General James L. Negley ; first 
corps, ninth division, Brigadier-General Jackson; third corps, tenth 
division, Major-General Granger ; third corps, eleventh division, Brig- 
adier-General Sheridan ; third corps, twelfth division, Brigadier-Gen- 
eral E. Dumont; third corps, thirteenth division, Brigadier-General 
Robert B. Mitchell. 

The enemy gathered an immense booty in cattle and supplies, as 
well as munitions. Some seven hundred wagons, left behind bv Buell 



406 IIISTOEY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLION. 

at Cowling Green, were captured, with all their contents, clothing, 
tents, arms, &c. The whole territory between Louisville and Naslb 
ville and Cumberland Gap liad been overrun by him. 

On October 1st the pursuit of the rebels was commenced by Buell. 
The main force of the enemy, about forty thousand, under Bragg, was 
encamped in the neighborhood of Bardstown, forty miles south of 
Louisville, Kirby Smith, with fifteen thousand, was between Frank- 
fort and Lexington, Humphrey Marshall, with four thousand, was 
at Georgetown. In Central Kentucky two bodies of guerrillas, under 
Morgan and Scott, Avere collecting food and munitions. There were 
also three camps of rendezvous lor two or three thousand men, re- 
cruited since the advent of Kirby Smith — one near Lexington, another 
at Camp Dick Robinson, and the third at Bryantsville. The new 
levies wei'e well armed with the pieces captured from our troops at Kich- 
mond, but were only indifferently drilled and disciplined. Upon the 
whole, the aggregate effective strength of the enemy was hardly sixty 
thousand, inclusive of about five thousand cavalry and ninety pieces of 
artillery. If united, this would have formed a formidable force ; but 
the several portions being separated from each other, its niomentuui 
was greatly weakened. 

These being the general positions, the army of Buell moved over 
four different roads, as follows : Of the First Corps, the Second Division, 
under Sill, took the direct road from Louisville to Frankfort, via 
Shelby ville ; the Third, Rousseau, and Tenth, Jackson, of the same corps, 
under the immediate command of Major-GeneralMcCook, followed the 
road from Louisville to Taylorsville. The Second Corps, consisting of 
the divisions of Wood, Van Cleve, and Smith, moved upon Bardstown, 
over the direct road from Louisville, The Third Corps, composed of 
the divisions of Generals Schoepff, Mitchell, and Sheridan, marched 
also upon Bardstown, but by a detour via Sheppardsville. General 
Dumont's Division started in the wake of General SilFs, three days 
after the latter had left Louisville. 

The general plan was to separate Kirby Smith and Marshall from 
Bragg by the movement of the First Corps, while Bragg should be 
attacked with the two other corps at Bardstown, where it was ex- 
pected he would give battle, and where, if the movement was success- 
ful, his flank and rear would be turned. Although the First Division, 
under Sill, had the longest route, it moved the quickest, and reached 
Frankfort on the 4th, on which day McCook was at Taylorsville. On 
the same day the Confederate generals Avere all at Frankfort, attend- 
ing the inauguration of the Governor. On the evening of the same 
day Smith commenced to evacuate Frankfort, taking with him his 
immense material and spoil, and proceeding via Versailles on Ilarrods- 
burg. The retreat from Bardstown commenced on the 3d, and was 
completed on the morning of the 4th, on which day the place was 
entered by Crittenden's Corps, Thus the hope of meeting General 
Bragg's army at Bardstown vanished. The Confederates retreated 
through Springfield upon Perrysville, followed on the 5th by Gilbert's 
Corps, with Crittenden in his rear. On the 6th, the enemy, having 
effected a junction of their forces, were already in possession of liar- 



niSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI^' 40 7 

rodsburg, which was the point of rendezvous for the two bodies of 
McCook's Corps. The hope of dividiug the enemy, equally with that 
of forcing a hght at Bardstown, proved fallacious. General Bragg 
was, however, impressed with the idea that he had only Gilbert's 
Corps on his hands, and that it was by tliat body only that Hardee 
liad been pressed in his retreat from Bardstown, while he supposed 
Sill's Division on Smith's rear to be the main Federal force. He there- 
fore rallied three divisions, under General Polk, to* give battle at 
Harrodsbm-g, and another corps of three divisions he sent to aiii Smith 
against Sill. Thus Buell sent two corps against one of Bragg's, and 
the latter sent two corps against one of Biiell's. The corps of Gilbert, 
which had arrived by the Springfield road, had orders to form within 
three miles of Perrysville, across the Springfield road. Crittenden's 
Corps formed with its left on Gilbert's and its right on the Haysville 
road. McCook's Divisions, as they arrived from the Mackville road, 
formed on the left of Gilbert, having their line extended beyond the 
Mackville road. The three divisions of Hardee foi-med on the morn- 
ing of the 8th, with their left on the heights overlooking Perrysville, 
and their left at Chaplin River, which they commanded. This 
brought the enemy's right nearer to BuelFs left than was his left to 
Buell's right. In other words, McCook was nearer to his line than 
was Gilbert. McCook's Divisions got into line by two p. m., but 
Buell postponed his attack until tlie next day, not dreaming of being 
himself attacked. Bragg, however, still under the impression that he 
had but one corps before him, ordered a vigorous attack. In accord- 
ance with these orders the enemy fell with great fury upon McCook's 
men, mostly new levies, soon after they were got into line. These 
were five brigades — Starkweather's Brigade on the extreme left; 
Terrell's in front, and to the right of it, in the left centre; Harris's in 
the right centre; Webster's in the rear of Harris's, in the position of 
a reserve ; Ly tie's on the right of Harris, as the extreme right of the 
line. Six batteries were distributeil at suitable points along the line, 
and the fighting strength of the command was about eleven thousand 
five hundred. Starkweather and Terrell encountered the fii'st burst 
of the storm from overwhelming numbers — more than three to one — 
and General Jackson fell at the first fire. The troops soon gave way 
in confusion, and were driven from the field with the loss of a bat- 
tery. The stubborn fighting of Tiousseau's veterans saved the line from 
disaster, while Starkweather, with three regiments and two batteries, 
withstood the utmost efi:brts of the enemy to move him, until, his am- 
munition failing, he was forced tu full back for a supply, after which 
he kept his ground until dark. When Harris's ammunition gave out 
he had orders to fall back in line with Starkweather. Lytle's bi'igade, 
on the extreme right, was not so fortunate. It fought with great valor 
and success until four p. m., when it was turned on the right by fresh 
troops, and compelled to retire. At this moment McCook arrived 
from head-quarters, and ordered Webster to support Lytic. In doing 
so, Webster was killed, and his men, being new troops, got into dis- 
order, and the enemy pressed his advantage. Gooding's Brigade ar- 
rived ou the ground at this juncture, followed by Steadnian, and these 



408 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOIS^ 

fresh troops, after a severe struggle, forced back the enemy, and the 
firing ceased for the day. 

The three divisions sent "by Bragg to aid Smith against Sill did not 
come up with the latter, because he had, instead of pressing the pur- 
suit of vSmith, turned off from Laurenburg, in a westerly direction, to 
Chaplin. It was important to rcjohi those divisions with Smith. Ac- 
cordingly, in the night, Bragg moved from Perrysville, in an easterly 
direction, ten miles to Harrodsburg, Avhich he reached on the 9th. 
Smith arrived on the 10th, and on the 11th the entire united force 
marched to Bryantsville and Camp Dick Robinson ; thus having 
moved twenty-two miles in four days afier the battle. Bnigg then, 
with all the vast stores he had collected, resumed his march for Cum- 
"berland Gap, to leave the State. The movement of Buell was very 
slow. It was not imtil the evening of the 12tli October that he 
reached Harrodsburg, whence, on the 14th, the pm-suit was renewed. 
The three corps moved, by parallel roads, to Danville, which they 
reached on the same day on which Bragg was at Mount Yernon with 
his trains, beyond Rockcastle River, and further pursuit was hopeless. 

The general result of the Avhole movement was, that while the cam- 
paign had given the rebels abundant spoils, it left Buell with the Union 
army in about the same position it had occupied the year previous. 
The loss of the enemy in all the encounters had been five thousand two 
hundred men, and the Federal loss twelve thousand, including four 
thousand killed, wounded, and captured at Perrysville. At Richmond 
and I\Iumfordsvi!le the rebels had captured ten thousand choice arms, 
and thirty-four guns. They gathered, also, thousands of mules, cattle, 
hogs, wagons, and an immense stock of clothing, boots, shoes, forage, 
provisions, besides two thousand six hundred barrels of poi-k, and two 
thousand bushels of wheat, left at Camp Dick Robinson for Avant of 
transportation. The wagon train of supplies brought out of Kentucky 
was described as forty miles long. Their great success was due to 
the singular audacity of Bragg in venturing Avithin the grasp of 
Buell's army, with half his strength, and from which he escajied only 
in consequence of the culpable dilatoriness of Buell, when by all rule 
he should have met his destruction. However successful the campaign 
in Kentucky may have been for the Confederates in obtaining supplies, 
they were disappointed in the primary object of rousing the State 
against the Union, and obtaining recruits. 



CHAI'TER XXXYII. 

Cumberland Gap. — Mor,Q:an's Escape. — Inka. — Price Retreats. — Corinth. — Repulse of 
the Enemy. — Vicksburg Expedition. — Reorganization of the Ohio Army by Rose- 
crans. — His Advance. — Battle of Stone River. — Defeat of the Enemy. 

When the army of Bragg entered Eastern Kentucky, it cut the line 
of communication between the Federal forces at Cumberland Gap and 
the North, and compelled the evacuation of the Gap, which is about 
one hundred and fifty miles south from Lexington. The Cumberland 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 409 

range of mountains undergoes a clepression at tins place, which 
makes the summit a little more easy of access, tlie mountains on each 
side of the Gap being twelve hundred feet high, and the Gap itself 
but four hundred feet. Through this notch passes a good road, 
coming from Lexington, The occupation of this Gap was of great 
imj)ortance to the rebels, as it commanded the entrance to East Tennes- 
see from the north, and gave them the means of passing into Eastern 
Kentucky. At the commencement of Ijostilities, a Confederate force 
occupied it, and held possession until June ISth, when it was taken, 
after a brilliant series of operations, by a Union force under General 
George W. Morgan, wlio retained possession, with a force of ten thou- 
sand, until the l7th September. Finding then his supplies cut oft' by 
the advance of Bragg, and his rations nearly exhausted, he evacuated 
the place, leaving his sick and four siege-guns, and made ibr tlie Ohio 
River, which he reached in safety October 4lh. 

When the Union forces, early in June, were divided by the move- 
ments of Buell towards Chattanooga, and subsequently by the iuA'asion 
of Kentucky by Bragg, the remaining rebel forces under Lovell, Van 
Dorn, and Price, began to concentrate for a forward movement against 
Grant. As the Confederate movement began to threaten the line be- 
tween Corinth and Tuscumbia, the Union advance at that point, under 
Colonel Murjthy, fell back thirty miles upon luka. On the day fol- 
lowing, a Confederate cavalry force charged into luka, and drove out 
the brigade of Murphy, capturing large stores, including six hundred 
and eighty barrels of flour. Murphy was placed under arrest, and his 
brigade ordered back to luka, under Mower. It, however, wns halted 
at Jacinto. Price then occupied luka in force, in the hope of drawing 
Grant from Corinth, which was about to be attacked by Van Dorn. 
The main object of Price was, however, to cross the Tennessee, and 
harass the rear of Buell, who then, under the pressure of Bragg's ad- 
vance, was falling back upon Nashville. This being the position of 
affairs, Generals Rosecrans and Grant formed the design of cutting oft" 
Price, and forcing him to surrender. In this view, Grant and Ord, 
with eigliteeii tliousand men, were to make a direct attack on Price in the 
direction of Burnsville, while Rosecrans, with a part of his army, mov- 
ing by way of Jacinto, should take him in flank. The remainder of the 
Federal troops were to march by the Fulton road, to cut oft" Price's 
retreat. Rosecrans's two divisions reached Jacinto in a drenching rain 
on the evening of September 18th, and on the following morning 
encountered, at Barnett's Corners, the enemy's pickets, which they 
drove in six miles towards luka. The whole column had now arrived, 
and were listening for the guns, which, as Rosecrans supposed, should 
announce Grant's direct attack on the west and north. Alter the 
lapse of two hours, a dispatch arrived from Grant, seven miles distant, 
saying that he vfas waiting for Rosecrans, who immediately moved 
forward until, within two miles of luka, he discovered the Confed- 
erates occu])ying a position of much strength, and which commanded 
the country for some distance. The division of Hamilton, with the 
Eleventh Ohio battery, had the advance, and Avere received with a mur- 
derous fire of artillery and musketry. After a very severe struggle of 



410 IIISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

f5omo two hours, the Confederates charged, and captured the six guns 
of the Ohio battery. The contest continued with great obstinacy until 
nightfdL And on the succeeding morning it was discovered that 
Price had made a precipitate retreat, abandoning the captured guns, a 
large number of wounded men, and quantities of stores. He retired 
in the direction of Bay Spring, followed some distance by the Federal 
cavalry. The Union loss in the eugngement was one hundred and for- 
ty-eight killed, five hundred and seventy wounded, seventy-four miss- 
ing. The Confederate loss was as considerable, including three generals, 
Lytic, Berrj^, and Whitfield, and nearly a thousand prisoners. 

Price, continuing his retreat vlit Bay Spring, in a soutlnvesterly 
direction, reached Baldwin, Mississippi. He then marched upon Du- 
mas, where he formed a junction with Van Dorn, and soon after he 
was joined by Lovell, at Pocaliontas. The combined rebel forces, 
numbering forty thousand men, then marched on Corinth, A\hich they 
expected to find inadequately defended. On the 30th of September 
their advance encountered the brigade of Ogleby, which had been 
thrown forward by Posecrans, upon the Chewalla road, in the design 
of falling back, and thus leading the enemy under the heavy guns at 
Corinth. The resistance oifered by Ogleby was very solid, and McAr- 
thur was ordered forward to his support, succeeded by Davies. These 
three brigades were pushed back on the 3d, by the accumulating force 
of the enemy, wath the loss of Ogleby wounded, and General liackel- 
man killed. 

The position of Corinth was very strong. In addition to the origi- 
nal works, of great extent, built by Beauregard, to resist the Union 
advance under Halleck, the latter had constructed a new line of works, 
of less extent than those of Beauregard ; and now Rosecrans, expect- 
ing the attack of Price, had constructed a third line, still more com- 
pact. These consisted of four redoubts, covering the whole front 
of the town, and protecting the flanks, where, also, the ground was 
broken and swampy. The Union army faced north. Its extreme 
right was held by General Hamilton, on whose left was erected, on 
the niglit of October 3d, a new five-gun battery, which commanded 
the road from Bolivar. The Chewalla road, which, coming over hills, 
enters the town on the left centre, was commanded by Fort Willianis, 
with its twenty-four-pound Parrotts, and Fort Pobinson on a high 
ridge, enfiladed both roads. The Confederate plan included an attack 
by Price, by the Bolivar road, and a simultaneous attack under Van 
Dorn, by the Chewalla road. General Davies's Union Division was on 
the left of ILimilton. The Illinois and Missouri sharpsliooters were 
on his left, and th'e line was prolonged by McKean's and Arthur's brig- 
ades of Staidey's Division. The cavalry were in reserve. 

The Confederates, following up the retreating brigades from the 
Chewalla road, on the night of the 3d, came in front of the Union 
position, and formed Hues one thousand yards distant. During the 
night they planted batteries at two hundred yards, and at daybreak 
of the 4th opened a fierce fire upon Corinth. The batteries were 
soon silenced by the guns of Fort Williams. At ten o'clock dark 
masses of the enemy Averc observed mo\ing up the Bolivar road. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 411 

This was the force under Price. They advanced with great impetuosity, 
but, coming witliin range of the Federal batteries, were smitten with a 
storm of shot that opened great gaps in their ranks. They closed 
steadily up, pressed up the glacis, and, receiving the fire of tlio Union 
line with marvellous fortitude, returned it with such vigor that the 
division of Davies broke in disorder. The enemy rushed in at the 
opening, and took possession of the head-quarters of Rosecraus. The 
retiring troojis, however, were quickly rallied by the opportune ad- 
vance of the Fifty-sixth Illinois, and, returning the charge, recovered 
the ground. The Confederates now wavered, and a general advance 
of the Union Une drove them to the woods in front. Meantime, Van 
Dorn, having great difficulties to encounter, advanced much slower than 
Price, who had ah'cady suffered defeat before Van Dorn was in line. 
The two forts, Robinson and Williams, were one hundred and fifty 
yards apart, on high ground, the latter commanding the former. The 
Ohio Brigade of Fuller was formed belund the ridge. The Forty- 
third Ohio was on the right, and the Twenty-seventh and Sixty-third, 
in succession, towards the left, which rested on Fort Robinson. The 
Forty-third stoc^d at right angles with the Sixty-third, and extended 
between the two forts. The Eleventh Missouri was in the angle. 
The Thirty-seventh supported the Twenty-seventh. The enemy ad- 
vanced, with tlie Mississippians and Texans in front. As they ap- 
proached, the batteries made havoc in tlieir ranks, but they came on 
with a determined and unbroken front \mtil they reached a ditch 
which lined the front of the position. The Ohio troops were lying flat 
behind tlie ridge, with orders to reserve their fire until the enemy were 
at short range. As the latter advanced, under a storm of grape from 
the fort, they rose and delivered their fire with terrible effect. The 
rebels dropped by scores, and fell back upon their supports. These 
came on with terrible vigor. The Sixty-third Ohio, however, opened 
fire, and the Missourians came into line just as the enemy rushed in. 
A hand-to-hand combat ensued, until the enemy at last gave way, and 
the day was won. The battle had lasted two hours. The enemy 
gradually drew back, masking his movements so skilfully as to keep 
up the impiession that he would renew the attack. At three o'clock 
on the morning of the 5th, General Rosecrans, having been re-enforced 
by fresh troops from Jackson, sent out a force in pursuit. The Federal 
loss in the battle was stated at three hundred and fifteen killed, one 
tliousand three hundred and twelve Avounded, two hundied and thirty- 
two prisoners. That of the rebels was over fourteen hundred killed, 
eighteen hundred wounded, and two thousand two liundred and fifty 
prisoners. They also lost fourteen stand of colors, two pieces of ai'til- 
lery, and a large quantity of small-arms and ammunition. 

The Confederate army retired by the Avay it came, and at the HaU 
chie bridge was attacked by a part of Grant's command, under Gen- 
erals Oid and Hurlburt, defeated and driven off" with a loss of six guns. 
This action interrupted Price's retreat, but he finally crossed at Crum's 
3Iills, and was pursued to Ripley, losing one thousand prisoners, 
eleven guns, and much ammunition and stores. The battle decided 
the fate of West Tennessee, which was now securely held. 



412 niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOX 

The Confederates, having fallen back, gradually concentrated and 
reorganized their broken force, and, having brought it into good con- 
dition, again advanced northeast, and occupied Holly Springs, near 
Grand Junction. In the mean-time, General Rosecrans was ordered to 
Cincinnati to take command of the Army of the Ohio, vice Buell. Gen- 
eral Grant's force was increased by new levies, and he occupied Co- 
lumbus, Trenton, Jackson, and Bolivar, on the line of the railroad; thus 
approaching A^thin twenty miles of the position of Price and Van Dorn, 
The opposing forces remained in their relative positions, with little 
change, until towards the end of November. 

It was now determined to make a new attempt to capture Vicksburg, 
and an expedition for that purpose was organized at Cairo and Mem- 
phis, under General W. T. Sherman, who was to descend the Missis- 
sippi and attack Vicksburg in front, while General Grant should pro- 
ceed by the railroad route, and operate on the rear of the city. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 28th of November, General Hamilton's Corps was put 
in motion for Holly Springs, which point he reached on the following 
day. The remaining troops followed, and on the 1st of December 
Grant encamped at Lumpkin's Mills, seven miles north of the Talla- 
hatchie River. The enemy, commanded by General Pemberton, had 
thrown up extensive works, with a view of defending the passage of 
the river ; but, simultaneously with the advance of Hamilton, General 
Hovey had bean detached with a division, seven thousand strong, of 
General Curtis's troops, from Helena, Arkansas, to cross the river, and 
make a flank movement upon the Confederate position of the Talla- 
hatchie. Intelligence of this movement caused Van Dorn, who held 
the Confederate advance, to fall back, and on the 3d he passed through 
Oxford, his rear-guard skirmishing with the Federal advance. General 
Pemberton continued his retreat to Granada, under the impression that 
the combined force of Curtis and Grant, in his front, was very large. 
Hove}^, however, after destroying some property on the railroad, and 
boats on the river, returned to Helena, when Pemberton immediately 
assumed the offijnsive. Grant's head-quarters were at Oxford, and his 
chief depot of supphes was at Holly Springs, thirty miles north. Ac- 
cordingly, a considerable cavalry force was organized, Avhich, making 
a circuit, sm-prised Holly Springs on the 20th December, capturing the 
force there with immense stores. The prisoners were paroled, and the 
stores and cotton which had been purchased in the neighborhood were 
destroyed. Simultaneously with this movement, attacks were made 
on Jackson, Tennessee, Humboldt, and Trenton. The latter place was 
surrendered by Colonel Fry, who was in commanil, and stores and 
cotton burned. These operations, cutting up Grant's line of commu- 
nication, compelled him to retreat to Holly S|)rings, thus defeating his 
plan of co-oi)eration. A division, ten thousand strong, of his troops, 
was, however, detached to support Sherman's ex|)edition. 

After the successful retreat of Bragg from Kentucky, the forces of 
Buell fell back in order to obtain forage and supplies ; and in the latter 
part of October, Rosecrans was ordered to take command of the Army 
of the Ohio, Buell being relieved. The army, somewhat shattered by 
its campaign, required reorganizing and recruiting. The calls made by 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 413 

the President for six hundred thousand men, under the laws of July 
and August, Avere now producing results, and tlie new troops arriving 
freely at camp required to be organized and drilled, and properly 
equipped for active seiwice. To this task Rosecrans sedulously devoted 
himself. On the 1st of November, general head-quarters were at 
Bowling Green, Avhence on the Vth they were transferred to JSTashville. 
Rosecrans at once hastened the opening of the Louisville and Nashville 
Railroad in order to obtain supplies, and proceeded with the great work 
of perfecting the condition of his new army, which occupied a position 
southeast of Nashville and about ten miles distant from it. 

In the mean time, Bragg had brought off his army, with its immense 
spoils, into Tennessee ; had rested his men, recruited by an inexorable 
conscription, and aided by bodies of mounted men, formed into a 
guerrilla-like cavalry, to avoid the hardships of conscription and infantry 
service. He had taken position at McMinnsville, Murfreesboro', and 
Lavergne, facing the new position of Rosecrans. His force was esti- 
mated at about forty-five thousand, comprising the three corps of Smith, 
Hardee, and Polk, and was greatly superior in cavalry. The difficulties 
of an advance into that country, against such a force, and at such dis- 
tance from his base of operations, with which he was connected by a 
single precarious thread, made it manifest that Rosecraus's policy was 
to induce Bragg to travel over as much as possible of the space that 
separated theni ; thus avoiding for us the wear and tear and diminution 
of our forces, and subjecting the enemy to all these inconveniences, 
besides increasing for him, and diminishing for us, the dangerous con- 
sequences of a defeat. Both parties remained comparatively quiet 
until towards the close of December. At that time, Bragg, under the 
belief that Rosecrans with his raw troops would go into winter-quarters 
at Nashville, had weakened his force by dispatching Colonel Forrest 
to make an attack upon Grant's communications, in aid of Pemberton, 
who had commenced his forward movement. He also sent an intantry 
force in the same direction. Aware of these facts, Rosecrans deter- 
mined to seize the opportunity for a movement, which was appointed 
for Christmas night. The position of the Confederate army at this 
time was approachable by several roads. Hardee held the left at 
Nolinsville, Polk the centre at Lavergne, and Kirby Smith the right 
at Murfreesboro'. The right of the Union army, opposed to Hardee, 
was under McCook, at Franklin turnpike. The centre, under Critten- 
den, with Wood's, Palmer's, and Van Cleve's Divisions, was at Break- 
ville, and the left under Thomas, Avho had succeeded Gilbert, at Mill 
Creek. The general plan was for each corps to advance by the high- 
way before it, while General Negley should attemj^t to turn the Con- 
federate left. At dawn of the 26tb, the men went forward with great 
enthusiasm. McCook drove in the advance posts of Hardee, capturing 
one gun, while Crittenden advanced to Lavergne, on the Murfreesboro' 
pike, Avithont serious opposition. The Confederates retired, and were 
so sharply pushed that they had no time to destroy the bridges over 
which they passed on the Jefterson and Murfreesboro' turnpikes. The 
Federals therefore followed uninterruptedly until they reached Stone 
River, Avhere the Confederates were concentrated. On the 29tha 



414 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 

McCook moved within seven miles of Murfreesboro', having Thomns 
on his left, while Crittenden was on the left of Thomas. On the 30th, 
the commanders met at head-quarters, and the plan of battle was ex- 
plained to them. 

General McCook was cantloncd that in liis present position lie faced 
too much to the east, and should change more to the south, and that 
the success of the whole plan of turning the enemy's right depended 
upon his holding his position three hours. General Smith held the 
Confederate centre, masked by cedar forests. Their right comprised 
the three divisions of Cheatham, Breckinridge, and Buckner, under 
Polk, and rested on Lebanon Turnpike and Stone River. At this time 
there were several attacks on the Federal rear, by which some wag- 
ons were captured and the communications threatened. 

The morning of the 31st was very foggy. The troops were under 
arms at daylight, and at seven were preparing for battle, the opposing 
forces being separated by a valley, which narrowed towards the Feder- 
al left. The corps of McCook was drawn up with Johnson on the right, 
Davis ill the centre, and Sheridan on the left. The movement on the 
Union side commenced by the advance of Van Cleve on the left. The 
enemy had, however, made earlier provision to attack the Union right. 
At half-past six o'clock their batteries opened with a furious fire, ur^der 
which the infantry advanced in heavy columns of regiments, at the; 
double-quick, and attacked Willich's and Kirk's Brigades of Jolmson's 
Division, which, being without support, were, after a sharp contes^, 
driven back, leaving Edgarton's and j^art of Goodspeed's Batteries in 
the hands of the enemy. 

The enemy, following up, attacked Davis's Division, and speedily 
dislodged Post's Brigade; Carlin's Brigade was compelled to follow, as 
Woodruff's Brigade had previously left its position on his left. John- 
son's ti-oops, on retiring, inclined too far to the west, and were too 
much scattered to make a combined resistance, though they fought 
bravely at one or two points before reaching Wilkinson pike. The 
reserve brigade of the division, advancing from its bivouac near Wil- 
kinson pike, towards the right, took a good position, and made a grdlant 
but ineffectual stand, as the whole Confederate left was moving'u]) on 
the ground abandoned by our troops. Within an hour from t^he time 
of the opening of the battle, a staff officer from General ]\f cCook an- 
nounced to General Rosecrans that the right wing was heavily pressed, 
and needed assistance. 

The retreat of Johnson and Davis imcovered the division of Sheridan, 
which offered firmer resistance, and struggled manfully to maintain its 
ground, mitil the others might rally on the supports, and again come 
up. The effort was vain, however. The division retreated slowly, 
until it again got into line with the others, which had meantime re- 
formed, but only again to break. They formed for the third time, 
under cover of the advance of the centre, under Negley, who came to 
their aid, and, being supported by Rousseau, succeeded in checking 
the Confederate advance. Sheridan, after sustaining four successive 
attacks, gradually swung his right from a southeasterly to a north- 
westerly direction, repulsing the enemy four times, vrith the loss, how- 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 415 

ever, of tlie gallant General Sill of his riglit, and Colonel Roberts of 
his left brigade, wlien, having exhausted his ammunition — Negley's 
Division being in the same predicament, and heavily pressed — after 
desperate fighting, he fell back through the cedar Avoods, in which 
Rousseau's Division, with a portion of Negley's and Sheridan's, met the 
advancing enemy and checked his movements, relieving Sheridan from 
the pressure. This violent irruption of the Confederates on the Union 
right prevented Rosecrans from throwing forward his left, as he had 
intended. He therefore massed his artillery in great strengh upon his 
centre, at the probable point of attack. The Confederate force, con- 
sisting of the centre and left wing, flushed with success, advanced with 
great impetuosity, when Negley's covering force retired, and brought 
the Confederate line within a most destructive concentric fire of artil- 
lery, which staggered and caused it to pause, amidst the most terrible 
slaughter, then waver and partly retire. Meantime, McCook had suc- 
ceeded in re-forraing his troops, and getting into line on the right of 
Thomas. It was now noon ; the Rebels had fallen back, and firing had 
ceased along the entire line. The Union troops had been driven back 
between two and three miles, with the loss of twenty-eight guns, two 
hundred wagons, four thousand prisoners, and three thousand killed 
and wounded. The Confederate loss was not known. 

The left and centre of the Union army, occupying very strong posi- 
tions, was now perpendicular to the Murfreesboro' road, and the right 
was parallel to the road, being tlius at right angles with the centre. 
The communication with Nashville had been cut otf by the Confeder- 
ate cavalry, which had captured large quantities of hospital stores. 
With great i:)romptness and skill, Rosecrans re-formed his lines, and at 
about three r. m. the rebels resumed the battle with nndimniished 
vigor. Four desperate assaults were repulsed with prodigious slaughter, 
and at nightfall Bragg drew olf his discomfited troops, and Ijoth 
armies rested. 

Although the Union troops were worsted in the figliting, the day 
had not been one of unmixed disaster to them. Their new position 
was strong, and the ease with which the assaults of the enemy had 
been repelled in the afternoon showed that the defeat of the right 
wing had not demoralized the army. The enemy had, moreover, suf- 
fered terribly in the latter part of the day, and would be cautions of 
again pushing too hard an opponent, over whom he had apparently 
triumphed with so much ease in the morning. At a council of Union 
generals, held at Rosecrans's head-quarters, in the evening, it was deter- 
mined to maintain the position then occupied by the army, and, if op- 
portunity should olFer, to turn the enemy's right, and get possession of 
Murfreesboro'. " We conquer or die right here," were the words of 
Rosecrans, and the announcement jumped with the wishes of his ofii- 
cers, not one of whom counselled.a retreat to Nashville. During the 
night of the 31st, the Union lines were strengthened, and the morning 
of January 1st found them almost impregnable to tlie attacks of the 
enemy. In vain did the latter reconnoitre from riglit to left : every- 
where he was met with an artillery fire which drove him back with 
heavy loss» and night fell without any decisive or important action. 



416 IIISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

Meanwhile, ill pursuance of his plan of turning the rebel right, Rose- 
crans liad sent a portion of Van Cleve's Division across St-one Kiver, 
for the purpose of thi-eateuing Breckinridge, who held that ])art of 
Bragg''s line. Notliing of interest occurred on the 2d, until about 
three o'clock in the afternoon, wlicn a large rebel force suddenly issued 
from the woods on the opposite shore of the river, and advanced, in 
three heavy lines, with great impetuosity, upon Van Cleve's troops, 
"who, after several ineffectual volleys, retired in confusion across the 
river. On came the enemy, in proud disdain of his opponents, expect- 
ing to double up and crush the Union left as readily as ho had over- 
powered McCook's troops two days before. But a fiir diiferent recep- 
tion awaited him now. The Union artillery, massed on the ridges 
that crowned the river bank, awaited but the word to play with full 
force into the dense columns whicli swept up with yells of triumph 
and detianee. At length the range was complete, and a dozen batteries 
opened such a fire as would have staggered the best troops in the 
world. The rebels, brave and confident as they were, recoiled in con- 
fusion, but, as if by magic, the frequent gaps in their lines quickly 
closed up, and they resumed the advance, only to encounter a still 
more close and deadly fire of artillery, to which were now added vol- 
leys of musketry. The slaughter was here prodigious, but, with desper- 
ate resolution, a portion of the advance was pushed to the river's 
brink, in the vain hope of storming the opposing batteries. But 
scarcely a man of those who made the mad attempt ]i\-cd to return, 
and gradually the whole force, refusing longer to obey their officers, 
fell back in irreparable confusion. At this moment, the Union troops 
dashing across the shallow river with fixed bayonets, drove the routed 
foe in wild confusion within the shelter of the woods, whence they 
had emerged scarcely lialf an hour previous. In this brief but brilliant 
affair the Union troops inflicted a loss of not less than twenty-five hun- 
dred on Breckinridge's Corps, besides capturing a battery, several thou- 
sand small-arms, and several sets of colors. Darkness alone prevented 
Rosecrans from ordering the pursuit to be continued to Muifrecsboro'. 

The result greatly depressed Bragg, who judged wisely that the suc- 
cesses of the 81st of December had been more than neutralized by the 
afternoon's disaster. At a council of rebel generals, held on the morn- 
ing of the 3d, it Avas determined to retreat on the same night, and at 
the appointed hour the disheartened and tired columns moved sullenly 
off in the direction of Shelbyville, twenty miles south of Mui-freesboro'. 
On the fifth, the advance of Rosecrans, under Thomas, entered Mur- 
frcesboro', and the cncmyliaving by that time got a considerable start, 
and the roads being almost impassable for artillery, no further pursuit 
was attempted. After the fatigues of the previous week, the army 
was greatly in need of rest, and Rosecrans at once Avent into winter- 
quarters. 

General Rosecrans's statement of force and losses in the three days* 
fighting was as follows : — 

We moved on the enemy with the following forces : — 

Infantry 41,421 I Cavalry 3,296 

ArtiUery 2,223 | 

Total ^ 46,940 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 417 

We fought the battle with the following forces : — 

Infantry 31,911 I Cavalry 3 2OO 

Artillery 2,223 | *_! 

Total 43,400 

We lost in killed : — 

Officers 92 I Enlisted men 1,441 

Total 1,533 

We lost in wounded ; — 

Officers 384 | Enlisted men. 6,865 

Total . 7,241 

Total killed and wounded 8,778 

Being 20.03 per cent, of the cnth-e force in action, and three tliou- 
sand six hundred missing. 

lie estimated the enemy's force at sixty-two thousand four hundred 
and ninety men. The rebels estimated their loss at one thousand 
killed and tliirty-five hundred wounded, which is probably not more 
than fifty per cent, of the whole amount. 



CHAPTER XXXVm. 

Turn of the Tide of "War. — New Combinations. — Vicksburg. — Sherman's Attack.^- 
Arkansas Post. — Renewal of Attempt upon Yicksburg. — Passage of Uatteries by tho 
rieet. — Flanking March of Grant 

The tide of victory, which had run so uninterruptedly in favor of 
the North from the beginning of tlie war, and which had excited the 
highest liopes of a speedy termination of the war, seemed to have 
reached its ebb at midsummer, 18G2. There had been great success 
on the part of the Federal arms. Western and Middle Tennessee had 
been overrun and occupied by the Government troops. The Con- 
federates had been driven out of Missouri. New Orleans had been 
occupied, and the Federal forces were ascending the IVIississippi, while 
all its strong points above had been seized by the Government, Vicks- 
burg and Port Hudson alone offering obstacles to the free navigation 
of the river. The sea-coast, from Norfolk, skirting North and South 
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, was under the Federal rule, and the 
limits of the Confederacy seemed to be rapidly contracting under the 
pressure of the National power. 

Suddenly the public were startled with the announcement that the 
iron-clads, for the first time, had failed to accomj)lish their object. The 
IMonitor and her consorts had attacked Fort Darluig, which had been 
looked upon as a slight obstruction, and had been repulsed, and that* 
so effectually, that the attack was never renewed. From that moment, 
the general course of events was adverse to the Federal arms. The 
defeat of McClellan followed, and other reverses troubled the public 
mind. 

27 



418 



HISTOET OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



These were grave events, and resulted, as we have seen, in the act of 
July 1, calling for three hundred thousand volunteers for the war, and 
that of August 9, callhig for three hundred thousand men for nine 
months, who were to be drafted unless they promptly vohniteered. 
These six hundred thousand men Avere designed to open campaigns of 
great vigoi". Rosecrans was to cross Tennessee and penetrate Alabama, 
the heart of the Confederacy, with an irresistible force, and the Mississippi 
was to be opened by a grand combination upon Vicksburg tVcmi above 
and below, while the reorganized and re-enfoi'ced Army of the Potomac 
was to renew its march upon Richmond. The six hundred thousand 
men were soon mustered into the service of the Government, since 
the large bounties oftered to volunteers sufficed to fill the quotas with- 
out resort to drafting, and the expeditions and campaigns were opened. 
These grand combinations unfortunately produced no practical results. 
The Army of the Potomac, reorganized under Butnside, gained no 
ground towards Richmond. The Army of the Ohio, under Buell, 
failed of its mission, and, under Rosecrans, succeeded only in hold- 
ing West Tennessee, without peneti-ating Alabama. Grant had 
made some progress towards the rear of Vicksburg, hut had sud- 
denly retrograded when his communication was threatened. The 
plan for the opening of the Mississippi contemplated an assault on 
Vicksburg on the 25th of December, Christmas-Day. In that view 
an expedition was fitted out under General Banks, for New Or- 
leans, whence he was to ascend the river, in company with the 
fleet under Farragut, Avhile an expedition under Geueriil Sherman * was 
to leave Memphis and descend the river with Commodore Porter, and 
General Grant was to operate upon the rear of Vicksburg. The 
main strength of the combination was the expedition under Sherman. 
This rendezvoused at Memphis and Helena, and on the 26th of De- 
cember entered the Yazoo River, which empties into the Mississippi 
River ten miles above Vicksburg. At this time, Sherman was ignorant 
of the fact that Grant had filled in his co-operative movement. Vicks- 
burg is situated on a higli blutf, rising nearly a hundred feet .above the 
water, and facing very nearly to the west. This, as has been pre- 
viously stated, furnishes a natural defence against any force attempting 
to get mto the rear of the city from the north, of which full advantage 
had been taken. Where the bluffs approach the Yazoo River there 



* William Tccumseh Sherman was born in Lan- 
caster, Oliio, in 1820, graduated at West Point in 
1840, and in the same year was ajjpointed second 
lieutenant of the Third Artillery lie served in 
CaJifornia during the Mexican war, was brevetted 
captain in 18o(), and in 1853 resisncd his commis- 
Blon. After enpiginirin business in San Francisco, 
he became, in 1858, president of the military acad- 
emy In Louisiana, but resigned his office at the 
outbrealt of the rebellion. In June, ISGl, he was 
commissioned colonel of the Thirteenth Regular 
Infantry, and subsequently n brinradier-pcner.al of 
Tolunteers. He ])articipated in the first battle of 
Bull Run, and in the ensuing autumn and winter 
served in Kentucky and Missouri. In the spring 
of 1862, he commanded a division in Grant's 
army, and (iistinguished himself at the battle of 
BJiiloh, cjrninj; thereby his promotion to be major- 
ceneral of volunteers. Ho made on unsuccessful 



attack on Vicksburg in December, 1862, and took 
part in the subsequent campaign against that 
place under Grant. He accompanied Grant to 
Chatt.anooga in October, 186^, soon alter marched 
to the relief of Knoxville, and early in 1S64 con- 
ducted a successful raid through Southern Missis- 
sippi. In March he was placed over the middia 
division of the Mississippi, and soon after com- 
menced his succes.sful campaign .against Atlanta, 
which he occupied in September. In the suc- 
ceeding Noveml)er, after driving Hoo<l into North- 
ern .'Mahama, ho commenced his march through 
Georgia, and reached Savannah in December. 
Thence he maroaed north to Goldsboro', N. C, and 
in April, 1S6.5. received the surrendnr of Johnston's 
army. ITe now commands the military division 
of the Mis.sissippi, with the rank of major-general 
In the regular army. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 419 

•were constructed formidable batteries, that prevented the passage of 
all manner of craft. Just above these batteines, and defended l»y them, 
they had placed a heavy raft of timber and iron in the stream, making 
a most effectual blockade. 

Thus it was impossible to flank this range of bluffs, and they were 
to be attacked, if attacked at all, full in front. Against this the enemy 
guarded themselves by fortifying the entire range, from Vicksbuvg to 
Haines's Bliiif. These fortifications consisted of abatis in front of the 
bluffs to a width on the average of a mile. At the foot of the bluff they 
had rifle-pits the entire way. Above the rifle-pits, and in the face of 
the bluff, they had constructed batteries mounting one gun each, at 
short intervals all the way along. On the summit of the blufls they 
had earthworks thrown up, ready to cover field artillery whenever it 
should be desirable to bring it into action from any of these points. 
Thus these entire ranges of hills were one complete, bristling fortifica- 
tion, dangerous to approach and difficult to capture. 

These formidable works were held by the combined armies of Pem-_ 
berton and Price, amounting to some fifty thousand troops, with one 
hundred and sixty guns, who had concentrated after Grant had re- 
turned to Holly Springs on the 20th. The attack and reduction of 
these works promised to be a matter of extreme difficulty. On Satur- 
day morning, the 27th, the Benton and other boats made an attack on 
Haines's Bluff, about twenty miles from the mouth of the Yazoo River. 
While this was in progress, the same day, General Sherman landed his 
forces on the right bank, ten miles up the river. The line of battle 
was at once formed. General A. J. Smith took the right. General 
Morgan L. Smith the right centre. General Steele the lefl centre, and 
General G. W. Morgan tlie extreme left. Our line was formed in this 
order parallel with the blufts, and in the edge of the timber that skirts 
the abatis, bringing it about a mile from the enemy's lines. The ad- 
vance of the line was through almost impracticable groimd. The old 
roads had been destroyed, and felled trees and other obstacles were 
profusely strewn in the path. It was therefore found to be impracti- 
cable to carry out General Sherman's design of pushing on to the bluffs 
the same night. On Monday morning there was a heavy fog until 
eight o'clock, when a bombardment began from one hundred and fifty 
guns, which for some hours rained shot upon the bluffs, without much 
apparent effect. Finally the line of infantry began to emerge from the 
woods in which it was formed. In front of Morgan L, Smith, on the 
right centre, was a bayou which it was necessary for the troops to pass. 
In front of Steele was a broad plain, covered with abatis, and cut up 
with gullies in which were sharpshooters, and Morgan on the left en- 
countered similar obstacles. The advance of Smith to cross the bayou 
was made with great courage and determination, but was met with a 
terrific fire which staggered and forced back the column. Smith rushed 
to the head to hold his men to their work, when he received a shot 
which compelled him to quit the field, and his men, who were now 
without a leader, and exposed to a withering fire, fell back. On his 
right, General A. J. Smith crossed the bayou, but won the ground 
slowly, amid the gullies and felled trees, where his men were exposed 



420 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

to a biting fire, wliich they could not effectnally return. Their num- 
bers rapidly wasted in the fierce struggle, when they were opportunely 
aided by the openmg of a battery upon the Confederate force which 
was pressing hard upon the Fifty-fourth Ohio and Eighth Missouri. 
Meantime the divisions of Steele and Morgan had pushed through all 
obstacles, and with great determination had cleared the rifle-pits and 
gained considerable ground, some of the men, with rare courage, even 
reaching the blufis, but in numbers too weak to hold tlie ground. The 
position proved, hoAvever, to be too strong to be carried, and the line 
retired to the camping-groimd of the previous night, A violent storm 
and rain, such as usually succeeds heavy cannonading, set in soon after, 
and drenched the weary men resting on their arms, causing suflering 
to the numbers of wounded that strewed the plain in front. 

In consequence of the wound of General M. L. Smith, General A. L. 
Smith was placed in command of his division, and General Burbridge 
succeeded to the command of Smith. On the 2d January, General 
McClernand arrived and assvmied command of the army, by virtue of 
his priority of commission. He held a council of war, in which it was 
determined to abandon the siege, since, through the failure of Banks, 
Farragut, and Grant to co-operate as previously intended, the force 
was not suflicient. The men were accordingly promptly embarked, 
and retired to Milliken's Bend, twelve miles above the mouth of the 
Yazoo. The Arkansas Kivcr was now navigable, and it was deter- 
mined to strike a blow at Arkansas Post. General Gorman, who was 
in command at Helena, received orders to co-operate in the movement. 
The expedition proved completely successful, ami on the 11th January 
the place was captured, with five thousand prisoners. Three other 
forts were also captured — St. Charles, Duval's Bluff, and Desarc. The 
main body then returned to Vicksburg, and, being largely re-enforced 
by troops under General Grant, who now assumed the chief command, 
landed on the Louisiana side, five miles below the mouth of the Yazoo, 
and commenced to reopen the canal begun in the previous year across 
the tongue of land in front of Vicksburg, and designed to turn the 
channel of the river. A force of five thousand men was piit to work 
to enlarge the canal, with a view of floating through the troops and 
landing them for the attack of Vicksburg on its southern side. The 
Union fleet concentrated there comprised one hundred and seven ves- 
sels, of Avhich ninety-six Avere transports and nineteen gunboats, the 
latter being under the command of Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter. 

While the canal was in process of digging, the troops were concen- 
trated at Milliken's Bend for reorganization and drill. Little of inter- 
est occurred in the j^rogrcss of the Avork until the 2d of February, 
when the ram Queen of the West ran the batteries at Vicksburg 
down the river without injury, arriving at Natchez the same evening. 
She soon after made an excursion up the Red River to attack Fort 
Taylor. On the Avay up she captured, February l7th, the Confed- 
erate steamer Ev9, and forced her pilot, John Burke, to take the ves- 
sel up to the batteries, which Avere not far aliead, although when he 
was placed at the wheel under a guard, he informed the commander 
•f the Queen that they were fifteen miles distant. He then ran close 



HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT BEBELLIOK. 



421 



into tlie batteries, which opened upon the advancing vessel with a 
shot that disabled her. The pilot jumped over in the confusion and 
gained the shore. The steamer dril'ted ashore, and was captured, 
with eighteen of her men. She was soon repaired and placed in the 
rebel service. Meantime, on the 14th of February, the gunboat In- 
dianola ran the batteries m order to join the Queen of the West. 
Unfortunately, however, she was almost immediately captured by the 
Queen of the West, and both were subsequently destroyed by the 
TJniou gmiboats. The operations on the canal were prolonged until 
it became evident that it would not succeed, and that even if it could 
be made passable for the transports, its debouch upon the river was 
so commanded by the new batteries erected by the enemy that it 
would not answer the object. Finally, owing to a sudden flood which 
broke the dam and overflowed the adjacent country, it had to be 
abandoned. 

Attempts were next made to enter the Yazoo River by the old Yazoo 
Pass, which enters the Mississippi many miles above Vicksburg, and 
subsequently by a more circuitous route through Steele's Bayou, Black 
Bayou, Duck Creek, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork, and Sunflower River, 
none of which succeeded, although abundant resources and energy were 
expended upon them. It was, however, the opinion of Grant that 
Vicksburg could only be turned from the south side, and as the cnnal 
had proved a failure, attention was turned to the project for cutting 
a canal from the Mississippi to Lake Providence, in ISTortheasteru 
Louisiana, whence transports might pass throxigh Bayou Baxter and 
Bayou Macon, and the Tensas, Wachita, and Red Rivers, into the Mis- 
sissippi, about a hundred miles below Vicksburg. This also proved im- 
practicable, and, after mature deliberation. Grant determined to adopt 
the hazardous scheme of running past the Vicksburg batteries with a 
portion of the gunboats and transports, and marching his troops down 
the west bank of the Mississippi to a point whence they could be trans- 
ferred to the opposite shore. 

This had been attempted with some success by the fleet of Farra- 
gut* from below, which passed Port Hudson the 14th of March, for 
the purpose of co-operating with Grant. The enemy's batteries ex- 
tended some four miles at that formidable point, yet the passage was 
attempted by seven vessels — the Hartford, Albatross, Richmond, 
Kineo, Monongahela, Genesee, and Mississippi — while a number of 
mortar-boats kept up a bombai'dment from the reai-. Of the fleet, the 
Hartford and Albatross succeeded in passing. The Richmond put 
back with damage, and the Mississippi was destroyed. About eighty 



* David G. Farragut was born near Knoxville, 
Tennesse, in ISOl, entered the navy in ISU, and 
saw much active service in the war of 1812, as a 
midshipman on the frigate Essex. Ho subse- 
quently served in all parts of the world, and in 
1855 reached the grade of captain. In the latter 
part of 1891 ho was appointed to command the 
naval part of the ex-pedition against New Orleans, 
and at the same time assumed command of tl»e 
West Gulf Blockading Squadron. In April, li6'2, 
he successfully accomplished the passage of Forts 
Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the ap- 



proaches to New Orleans, and during the next 
two months he was actively employed in the same 
waters. In .July he was promoted to be a rear-ad- 
miral. In March, 1S03, he i>assed the batteries at 
Port Huuson, on the Mississippi, with two of his 
vessels, and rendered valuiible services to Grant, 
then besiegins Vicksburg. In August of the suc- 
ceeding year he made his memorable passage of 
the forts at the entrance of Mobile harbor, for 
which he was afterwards promoted to be vice-ad- 
miral, which grade was epeciallj created by Con- 
gress for him. 



422 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

were killed in the passage. At Grand Gulf the Hartford again en-- 
countered the enemy's batteries, and received fourteen shot, and on 
the 22d she anchored below Vicksburg. Soon after, on the 25tl), the 
Lancaster and Switzerland, of Porter's fleet, attempted to run past 
Vicksburg and join Farragut. The Lancaster was destroyed, but the 
Switzerland got down in a disabled condition, but, being taken in tow 
by the Albatross, was again made serviceable. 

On tlie night of the 16th of April, a portion of Admiral Porter's 
fleet and the transports Silver Wave, Forest Queen, and Henry Clay, 
ran the batteries. * The boilers of the transports were protected as 
well as possible with hay and cotton. More or less commissary stores 
were put on each. All three of these boats were struck, and the 
Henry Clay, by the explosion of a shell, or by other means, was set 
on fire and entirely consumed. The other two boats were somewhat 
injured, but not seriously disabled. No one on board of either was 
hurt 

As these boats succeeded in getting by so well, General Grant ordered 
six more to be prepared in like manner for running the batteries, viz. : 
the Tigress, Anglo-Saxon, Cheeseman, Empire City, Horizonia, and 
Moderator, which left Milliken's Bend on the night of tlie 22d of 
April, and got by in a somewhat damaged condition, with the excep- 
tion of the Tigress, which received a shot in her hull, below the water- 
line, and simk on the Louisiana shore soon after passing the last of 
tlie batteries. The crews of these steamers, with the exception of 
that of the Forest Queen, Captain D. Conway, and the Silver Wave, 
Ca[>tam McMillan, were composed of volunteers from the army. Upon 
the call for volunteers for this dangerous enterprise, officers and men 
presented themselves by hundreds, anxious to undertake the trip. 

The fleet concentrated at New Carthage, where the troops continued 
to arrive. The roads from Milliken's Bend to that place were intoler- 
ably bad. Nevertheless, on the 29th March, the Thirteenth Army 
Corps, McClernand commanding, was directed to take up its line of 
march thither, to be followed by the Seventeenth Corps, McPherson, 
moving no faster than supplies and ammunition could be transported 
to them. The Fifteenth Army Corps, W. T. Sherman commanding, was 
left to protect the communications and supplies and deceive the ene- 
my. To prevent heavy re-enforcements going from Vicksburg to the 
assistance of Grand Gulf, where Grant intended to land, he directed 
Sherman to demonstrate against Haines's Blufl", and to make all the 
show possible. From information afterwards received from prisoners 
captured, this ruse succeeded admirably. Arriving at Smith's plan- 
tation, two miles from New Carthage, it was found that the levee 
of Bayou Vidal was broken in several places, thus leaving New 
Carthage an island. 

It became necessary to march around Vidal to Perkins's plantation, 
a distance of twelve miles more, making tlie whole distance to be 
marched from Milliken's Bend to reach water cmnmunication on the 
opposite side of the point, thirty-five miles. Ultimately the march 
was prolonged to Hard Times, seventy miles from Milliken's Bend. 
Over this distance, with bad roads to contend against, supplies of ord- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 423 

nance stores and provisions had to be hauled by wagons, with which 
to commence the campaign on the opposite side of the river. 

On the 29th April, the Thirteenth Army Corps got on b^ard the 
transports and barges, and were moved to the front of Grand Gulf. 
It was intended that the navy should silence the guns of the enemy, 
and the troops land under cover of the gunboats, and carry the place 
by storm. The position of Vicksburg would thus be effectually 
turned, and the garrison compelled either to evacuate or stand a siege, 
with the hope of succor from Bragg in Tennessee. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Flank Movement against Vicksburg. — Battles of Raymond, Jackson, and Cham- 
pion Hills. — Investment of the City. — Obstiaate Defence. — Surrender. — Chronology 
of Events. — Grierson's Raid. 

The Federal Army was now below Vicksburg, supported by the 
fleet; and those formidable defences, which had so often defied the 
efforts directed from the North, were no longer of any avail. The 
southern side of the position was now to be approached, with much 
better hopes of success. 

The troops were soon concentrated and formed for a lodgment on 
the Mississippi side, which was effected at Bruin sburg, sixty-five miles 
below Vicksburg, on the 30th April. On the same day the gunboats 
attacked Grand Gulf, without effect. The Thirteenth Corps imme- 
diately advanced, followed by the Seventeenth, upon Port Gibson, held 
by the Confederates, under General Bowen, who were defeated, on the 
1st of May, with heavy loss. The Union loss was five hundred and fifty 
killed and wounded. This placed Grant in the rear of Grand Gulf, 
which was consequently abandoned by the enemy. Admir.al Porter, 
two days after the engagement at Port Gibson, returned to Grand 
Gulf, and found it abandoned. He reported it to have been the strong- 
est place on the Mississippi. Had the enemy succeeded in finishing 
the fortifications, no fleet could have taken them. General Grant then 
made Grand Gulf his base of operations. 

In the afternoon the army was again in motion in the direction of 
Raymond. It had been Grant's original intention to effect a junction 
with Banks, and reduce Port Hudson, and then co-operate upon Vicks- 
burg. The state of affairs on landing, however, induced him to ad- 
Vance at once upon Jackson. Simultaneously with the movement 
just described, Sherman had made a demonstration against IIaines'3 
Bluff" on the Yazoo, to distract the attention of the enemy, after which 
he marched rapidly down the river and crossed over to Grand Gulf, 

On the Vth of May an advance commenced, McPherson's Corps 
keeping the road nearest Black River to Rocky Springs, McCIernand's 
the ridge road from Willow Springs, and Sherman following with his 
corps divided on the two roads. All the ferries were closely guarded 
until our troops were well advanced. It was the intention of General 




a. JF j£ :e x_Xi^!£__^ 



mSTOET OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOK 425 

Grant here to follow the Black River as closely as possible Avith 
McClernand's and Sherman's Corps, and get tliem to the railroad at 
Bome place between Edwards's Station and Bolton. McPherson was 
to move by way of Utica to Raymond, and from there into Jackson, 
destroying the railroad, telegraph, public stores, tfcc, and push west 
to rejoin the main force. Orders were given to McPherson accord- 
ingly. Sherman was moved forwanl on the Edwards's Station road, 
crossing Fourteen Mile Creek at Dillon's plantation ; McClernand 
was moved across the same creek, further west, sending one division 
of his corps by the Baldwin's Ferry road as far as the liver. At the 
crossing of Fourteen Mile Ci-eek, both McClernand and Sherman had 
considerable skirmishing with the enemy to get possession of the 
crossing. On the morning of the 0th of May, the advance cavalry 
of the Seventeenth Corps fell in with the enemy's horsemen at Ray- 
mond, and reported to General McPherson the presence of a large 
infantry force in front. The force proved to be four thousand men, 
under General Gregg, of Texas. In consequence of this report, the 
Second Ohio Brigade, of Logan's Division, Avas ordered to advance in 
column of regiments towards the heavy timber which concealed the 
enemy, who opened upon them on overwhelming hre. The first and 
third brigades were ordered forward in su])port, but could not dis- 
lodge the enemy, and were compelled to give ground when the artillery 
of the enemy opened upon them. This was replied to by the Eighth 
Michigan l^attery. The enemy then made an attempt to take the 
battery by a charge, but were repulsed with loss, and fell back to a 
position in the rear of Farnden's Creek. The brigades of Dennis and 
Smith then renewed the attack, but were taken in flank by the enemy, 
and a terrible struggle ensued, in which the Union loss was heavy. 
The Twentieth Ohio and Twenty-third Indiana narrowly escaped 
annihilation, and the enemy was rapidly gainmg ground, when the 
opportune arrival of Stevenson's Brigade restored the battle, and 
finally compelled the enemy to give ground, leaving to the Union 
troops a dearly-bought victory. The enemy, being mostly under 
cover, suffered nmch less than the Uni6n troops. General McPher- 
son moved on the 13th to Clinton, destroyed the railroad and tele- 
graph, and captured some important dispatches from General Pem- 
berton to General Gregg, who had commanded the day before in 
the battle of Raymond. Sherman moved to a parallel position on 
the Mississippi Springs and Jackson road ; McClernand moved to a 
point near liaymond. 

On the same day Crocker's Division of McPherson's Corps left 
Clinton to encounter the enemy under Johnston, who had just ar- 
rived at Jackson with a force of nine thousand. It Avas necessary for 
Grant to defeat this force bef )re turning upon Vicksburg, in order 
to clear his rear. He therefore assailed it promptly and vigorously. 
Crocker's Division leading the advance, soon fell in with the enemy's 
pickets, which fell back to within three miles of Jackson, where the 
main body of the enemy was in jiosition on high ground. The rest 
of the corps of McPherson supported the division of Crocker. The 
first brigade, Sanborne, and the second brigade, Holmes, of Crocker's 



426 HISTOET OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 

Division, immediately formed in line to commence the attack. They 
advanced steadily over two hills in their front. Between these hills 
swept a storm of shot, and a halt was made imder cover of a hill-side, 
until the remainder of the force got into position. The men rested, 
were harangued, and then resumed their forward movement up the 
slope, with a vigor so irresistible that a few minutes sufficed to plant 
the stars and stripes on the crest, amidst shouts of victory. The 
Confederates retired with comparatively little loss, since they were 
under cover. The Union loss was two hundred killed and wounded, 
mostly by artillery. The result of this conflict was the occupation 
of Jackson, with a number of pieces of artillery. Johnston retired on 
Canton, twenty-five miles north of Jackson, and connecting Avith the 
road leading to Vicksburg. General Grant sent the following dis- 
patch to Washington : — 

"Jackson, Miss., May 15, ) 
^^Vid Memphis, Tenn., Mmj 20. ) 
" Major-General H. "W. Halleck, General-in-Chief, Washington : 

" This place fell into our hands yesterday, after a fight of about three hours. Joe 
Johnston was in command. 

" The enemy retreated north, evidently with the design of joining the Vicksburg 
forces. 

"U. S. Grant, Major-General" 

Meantime, McClernand occupied Clinton with one division, Missis- 
sippi Springs with another, Raymond with a third, and bad his fourth 
division, and Blair's Division of Sherman's Corps with a w.agon 
train still in the rear, near New Auburn, while McArthur, with one 
brigade of his division of McPherson's Corps, was moving towards 
Raymond on the Utica road. General Grant now learned that Gen- 
eral Johnston, as soon as he had satisfied liimself that Jackson was 
to be attacked, had oi-dered Pemberton peremptorily to march out 
from the direction of Vicksburg and attack our rear. Availing him- 
self of this infonnatian, he immediately issued orders to McClernand, 
and Blair of Sherman's Corps, to face their troops towards Bolton, 
with a view of reaching Edwards's Station. These troops were ad- 
mirably posted for such a move. McPherson was ordered to retrace 
his steps early in the morning of the 15th, on the Clinton road, while 
Sherman was left in Jackson to destroy the railroads, bridges, fac- 
tories, workshops, arsenals, and every thing valuable for the support 
of the enemy. This was accomplished in the most efiectual manner. 

The arrival of General Johnston at Jackson was for the purpose 
of relieving Pemberton in Vicksburg, who was informed that if he 
could hold out fifteen days, one hundred thousand men would succor 
him. Johnston therefore manceuvred to keep open the communica- 
tion Avith Vicksburg, and threaten Grant's flank, while aAvaiting the 
troops that were hurrying up from all directions. It Avas under these 
circumstances imperative upon Grant to strike quickly, since, although 
he was closing in upon Vicksburg, the enemy Avere also closing in upon 
him, and a little time Avould place him betAveen two fires. If Pember- 
ton could hold Grant before Vicksburg until Johnston should be in 
strength, Grant Avould be placed in a dangerous position. It Avas 
Rimilar to the Marengo campaign, Avhen Messeua, by his obstinacy in 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 



42Y 



holding Genoa, kept Melas in the southwest corner of Italy, nntil the 
legions of Napoleon had closed in on his rear. 

Grant had no recourse but to act promptly. The enemy, under 
Pemberton,* were posted at Baker's Creek, some miles east of the 
l^ig Black River, numbering about twenty-five thousand men. On the 
morning of the 16th, at 8 a. m., Sherman left Jackson for Bolton. 
Blair was ordered to Edwards's Station, McClernand was ordered to 
establish communications with Blair and with Osterhaus, of his own 
corps, and McPherson to join McClernand. 

A range of hills running north and south comes to an abrnjjt ter- 
mination near Baker's Creek, the last eminence being known as 
Champion Hill. The main road to Yicksburg runs to the north of it. 
The hill itself is covered with timber, and on each side are deep 
ravines and gullies, filled with scrub oak. Posted on this hill, the 
enemy were discovered on the 16th. Hovey's Division of the Thir- 
teenth Corps was disposed for attack on the road, while two divisions 
of McPherson's Corps were on the right of the road, threatening the 
enemy's rear. These were awaiting the ariival of McClemand's 
Corps, which was advancing on a road about the centre of the enemy's 
line, and two and a half miles distant. While waiting their arrival, 
the skirmishing of Hovey in front gradually became more serious, and 
assumed the importance of a battle by eleven o'clock, when the pres- 
sure upon him became very severe. His troops stood up to the work 
with marvellous energy, until re-enforced by two brigades of Crocker's 
Division. 

Logan's Division of McPherson's Corps had meanwhile proceeded 
up the main road to Vicksburg, on the enemy's left and rear. The 
advance was made with increased caution, to allow of the arrival of 
the remainder of McPherson's Corps in support. The engagement 
soon became very warm, and relieved the ])ressure upon the front. 
The Seventeenth Corps then crossed an open field to the foot of the 
hill, at eleven o'clock, and commenced the action, which raged with 
great fury imtil 4 p. m. The enemy were deficient in artillery, but 
served some rifled six-pounders with great vigor. It appears that the 
Vicksburg road, after following the ridge in a southerly direction for 
about one mile, to where it intersects one of the Raymond roads, 
turns almost to the west, down the hill and across the valley in which 
Logan was operating on the rear of the enemy. One brigade of 
Logan's Division had, unconscious of this important fact, jjenetrated 



* Lieutenant-Getieral John C. Pemberton, a 
native of Pennsylvania, born in 1813, was appointed 
acailetin 1833. Ho graduated on June 30, 1S37, 
standing No. 2T in a class of fifty members, 
among whom were Generals Benham, Scammon, 
L. G. Arnold, Vogdes, Williams (dead), French, 
Sedgwick, Hooker, Todd, and others in the Union 
army ; Braxton Bragg, Mackall, Early, and others 
in the rebel army. He was promoted to be second 
lieutenant of the Fourth Artillery July 1, 1837, and 
to be first lieutenant March 19, 1842. In the 
Mexican war he was aid to General Worth from 
1846 to 18-tS, and was brevetted captain September 
23, 184(5, for gallant conduct at Monterey, and 
major September 8, 1847, for services in the battlo 



of Molino del Key. He was distinguished and 
wounded in the capture of thp city of Mexico. He 
was promoted to captain on tho 10th of September, 
1850. On the lOtli of April, 1861, he resigned his 
connection with the United States army, and at 
once joined with its enemies. He was made a col- 
onel of the regular army, and for some time re- 
mained with this rank, when suddenly he was 
raised to tho rank of lieutenant-t'eneral, and 
placed in command of the works around Vicks- 
burg and the Department of Mississippi and Fast 
Louisiana. On July 4, 1863, he capitulated to 
General Grant. He subsequently held uo impor- 
tant command in the rebel service. 



428 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

nearly to this road, and com]iellcd the enemy to retreat to prevent 
capture. As it was, much of liis artillery, and Loring's Division of his 
army was cut off, besides the prisoners captured. He retired, closely 
followed by the troops of Osterhaus and Carr, of McClernand's Corps, 
who had orders to pursue to Black River and cross if they could. The 
enemy, however, retarded the pursuit, and made good its retreat upon 
Black River Bridge, twelve miles east of Vicksburg. The battle of 
Champion's Hill, or Baker's Creek, was fought mainly by Hovey's 
Division of McClernand's Corps, and Logan's and Quimby's Divisions 
(the latter commanded by Brigadier-General M. M. Crocker) of Mc- 
Fhersou's Corps. The Black River, on its way to the Mississippi, 
runs due south, after leaving Bridgeport, until it approaches Cham- 
pion Hill, when it bends westwardly for a few miles, and then re- 
news its southerly course. The direct road to Vicksburg crosses the 
stream after it resumes its southerly course. The Confederates in- 
trenched themselves on the east bank of this river, hoping to hold it 
until their material should have crossed, and occupied a strong position 
on the 17th, when McClernand's advance came up with them. At ten 
o'clock, Carr's Division assaulted the works, and carried them with 
little resistance, capturing some guns, and about two thousand jtris- 
oners, comprising Green's Missouri Brigade, and that of General 
Vaughn. The main body of the enemy, in the mean time, had crossed, 
and planted batteries so as to command the bridge, which was then 
destroyed. In this engagement the Confederate General Tilghman 
was killed, and General Osterhaus was wounded. The engineer corps 
immediately began the construction of pontoons, and many were sent 
to General Shei-man on the right, to enable him to cross in the direc- 
tion of Haines's Blufi". He crossed on the 17th, near Bridgeport. The 
corps of McPherson and McClernand crossed on the l^th, and the 
advance was resumed. Sherman, on the right, moved upon the 
Haines's Bluff and Spring Dale roads, encountering the advance of 
Johnston, which retired on the approach of McPherson. The centre 
followed the Vicksburg and Jackson roads, while McClernand, on 
the left, took possession of Baldwin's Ferry road, and the division of 
McArthur closed the road from Warrenton to Vicksburg. On reach- 
ing Bovina, General Grant was joined by General Dwight froiji 
Banks's army. The three corps now converged around Vicksburg, 
within supporting distance, and every approach to the place was 
closed. The whole army encamped in this position, in the open fields, 
on the night of the 1 8th. 

General Pemberton, on retiring within his works, felt himself un- 
able to defend so long a line as the heights from Vicksburg to Haines's 
Bluff, and ordered the evacuation of the latter place. "The ti'oops, 
and as many of the stores as possible, Avere removed before our 
arrival, A squad of cavalry, of General Steele's escort dompany, 
found Haines's Bluff evacuated, and took possession. A force from 
Admiral Porter's fleet also landed, and found the place evacuated. 

The works of the enemy consisted of a scries of redoubts, arranged 
with great skill, and extending from the rear of Haines's Bluff round to 
the Warrenton road, a distance of ten miles. The ground is singu- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 429 

larly broken, being, in fact, a vast plateau, upon which a multidue of 
little bills seem to have been sown broadcast; and of course the rebel 
redoubts were so disposed as to sweep every neighboring crest, and 
enfilade every approach. 

The corps of General Sherman moved upon the Haines's Bluif road, 
taking j^ossession of the ground which he had once vainly attempted 
to gain. McPherson advanced on the Jackson road, covering the 
ground from Sherman's left to the railroad, while McClernand's corps 
occupied the front from the railroad to the extreme left, Smith's 
Division on the right, Osterhaus on the left, and Carr in the reserve. 
These dispositions having been completed, an assault was ordered for 
the 19th. The action began by a slow fire from our artillery along 
the whole line, our guns having a pretty long range, and eliciting but 
feeble response from the enemy. About noon, Osterhaus's Division 
advanced to the left, to within about six hundred yards of the enemy's 
works, to find themselves confronted by fifteen redoubts, with their 
rifle-pits, which vomited a terrific fire. At two o'clock the order for 
a general advance was given. This was attempted to be executed, 
but it Avas found, on attaining the crest ot the ridge, that it was only 
the first of several ridges which were to be crossed, the ravines be- 
tween being swept by the guns of the enemy. The advance was 
checked, and finally the whole line fell back and went into camp. 

During the night of the 1 9th heavy siege-guns were jDlanted, earth- 
works thrown up, and the light artillery moved nearer. The 20tli was 
employed in endeavoring to level the enemy's works, by means of 
artillery, but without success. The 21st was passed in comparative 
inaction. A regular assault along the whole line was determined for 
the 22d, or rather three simultaneous assaults by the three corps. At 
two o'clock on the morning of that day, heavy guns were opened 
upon the works to silence the leading batteries, but without much 
success. Ten o'clock in the morning was fixed for the assault, 
and promptly at the hour the three corps moved forward to the 
attack, but were met by overwhelming numbers of the intrenched 
foe. 

The fighting on the left was done by the divisiofts of Generals Carr, 
Osterhaus, and Smith, and was of a more desperate character and of 
longer duration than that upon the right or centre. McClernand and 
his men performed their part with energy and determination, but were 
unable to dislodge the enemy from his works. The assault on the 
right was commenced by General Thayer's Brigade of Steele's Divi- 
sion, consisting of Iowa regiments. The men of this command marched 
forward heroically, under the leadership of Thayer. The assault was 
made by them at a terrible cost; but the prize had to be abandoned. 
General Blair, on the left of the right wing, moved his men forward 
for the bloody work soon after its commencement by Steele, As- 
sisted by Tattle's Division, the troops made a desperate charge, but 
were repulsed with heavy loss. The Union loss was put at three thou- 
sand. The assault was gallant in the extreme, on the part of all the 
troops ; but the enemy's position was too strong, both naturally and 
artificially, to be taken in that way. At every point assaulted, and at 



430 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIO]sr. 

all of them at the same time, the enemy was able to show all the force 
his works could cover. 

The loss of the enemy was comparatively not large, and after the 
battle. General Pemberton addressed his men as follows : — 

"You have heard that I was incompetent and a traitor, and that it was my inten- 
tion to sell Vicksburg. Follow me, and you will see the cost at which I will sell Vicks- 
burg. When the last pound of beef, bacon, and flour, the last gram of corn, the last 
cow, and hog, and horse, and dog shall have been consumed, and the last man shall 
have perished in the trenches, then, and only then, will I sell Vicksburg." 

It now became evident to Grant that the works could not be carried 
by assault, and that a regular siege was inevitable to reduce the place. 
This was at once undertaken, and parallels were commenced against 
the northeastern and southeastern fronts, while every exertion was 
made to procure re-enforcements, and to guard against Johnston, who 
continued to hover in the neighborhood, slowly gathering a force that 
might suffice to raise the siege. If fortifications and natural position 
alone could avail, Vicksburg might laugh a siege so scorn. Its weak- 
ness lies in the fact that communication with the outer world is cut off; 
the stock of ammunition and food once exhausted, there is no escape 
from surrender. 

The siege was, prolonged, by the obstinate defence of the enemy 
under Pemberton, until, the provisions and ammunition being entirely 
exhausted, surrender became inevitable. General Johnston had been 
imable to collect a sufficient force to make any serious diversion in 
favor of the garrison. On the 30th June, however, he made a forward 
movement, corresponding with an attempted sortie by the enemy on 
the same day on the Union left. The movement failed. On the 3d, 
Major-General Bowen, under a flag of truce, brought a sealed dispatch 
for General Grant, proposing to surrender, and the following corre^ 
spondeuce took place : — 

" Head-Qtjarters, Vicksburg, Juhj 3, 1863. 
"Major-General Grant, commanding United States Forces: 

"General: — I have the honor to propose to you an armistice for — hours, mth a 
view to arranging term# for the capitulation of Vicksburg. To this end, if agreeable 
to j'ou, I will appoint tliree commissioners, to meet a like number to be named by your- 
self, at such place and hour to-day as you may find convenient. I make this proposi- 
tion to save tlie further effusion of blood, which must otherwise be shed to a frightful 
extent, feeling myself fully able to maintain my position for a yet indefinite period. 
This communication will be handed you under a flag of truce by Major-General James 
Boweu. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"J C. Pembeeton." 

To this General Grant replied as follows : — 

" Head-Quarters Department of Tennessee, ) 

"In the Field, near Vicksburg, July 3, 1863. ) 
" Lieutonant-Gencral J. C. PEirBERTON, commanding Confederate Forces, &c. : 

"General: — Your note of this date, just received, proposes an armistice of several 
hours, for the purpose of arranging terms of capitulation throiigh commissioners to be 
appointed, &c. The effusion of blood you propose stopping by tliis course can be ended 
et any time you may choose, by an unconditional surrender of the city and garrison. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 431 

Men who have shown so much endurance and courage as those now in Vicksburg will 
always challenge the respect of an adversary, and, I can assure you, will be treated 
with all the respect due them as prisoners of war. I do not favor the proposition of 
appointing commissioners to arrange terms of capitulation, because I have no other 
terms than those indicated above. 

"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, Major- General." 

GENERAIi grant's OFFER FOR THE SURRENDER. 

" Head-Quarters Departjient of Tennessee, ) 
"Near ViCKSBURO, J'^;?/ 3, 1S63. f 

" Lientenant-General J. C. Pemberton, commanding Confederate Forces, Vicksburg, 
Mississippi: 
" General : — In conformity with the agreement of this afternoon, I will submit the 
following proposition for the surrender of the city of Vicksburg, public stores, &c. 
On your accepting the terms proposed, I will march in one division, as a guard, and 
take possession at eight o'clock to-morrow morning. As soon as paroles can be made 
out and signed by the officers and men, you will be allowed to march out of our lines, 
the officers taking with them their regimental clothing, and staff, field, and cavalry 
officers one horse each. The rank and file will be allowed all their clothing, but no 
other propertj'-. 

"If these conditions are accepted, any amount of rations you may deem necessary 
can be tai\en from the stores you now have, and also the necessary cooking utensils for 
preparing them ; thirty wagons also, counting two two-horse or mule teams as one. 
You will be allowed to transport such articles as cannot be carried along. The same 
conditions will be allowed to all sick and wounded officers and privates, as fast as they 
become able to travel. The paroles for these latter must be signed, however, whilst 
officers are present, authorized to sign the roll of prison^s. 

"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, Major- General." 

REPLY OF GENERAL PEMBERTON, ACCEPTING ALL THE TERMS 
OFFERED BY GENERAL GRANT. 

"Head-Quarters, Vicksburg, July 3, 1863. 
" Major-General Grant, commanding United States Forces : 

"General. — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication 
of this date, proposing terms for the surrender of this garrison and post. In the 
main your terms are accepted; but in justice both to the honor and spirit of my troops, 
manifested in the defence of Vicksburg, I have the honor to submit the following 
amendments, which, if acceded to by you, will perfect the agreement between us ; At 
ten o'clock to-morrow I propose to evacuate the works in and around Vicksburg, and 
to surrender the city and garrison under my command by marching out with ray colors 
and arms, and stacking them in front of my present limits, after which you will take 
possession ; officers to retain their side-arms and personal property, and the rights and 
property of citizens to be respected. 

" I am, General, yours very respectfully, 

"J. C. Pemberton, Lieutenant- General.''* 

To this General Grant immediately replied as follows : — 

" Head-Quarters Department of Tennessee, ) 
"Before Vicksburg, July 4, 1863. J 

" Lieutenant-General Pemuerton, commanding Forces in Vicksburg : 

"General: — I have the honor to acknowledge your communication of the 3d of 
July. The amendments proposed by you cannot be acceded to in full. It will be 
necessary to furnish every officer and man with a parole signed by himself, which, with 
the completion of the rolls of prisoners, will necessarily take some time. Again, I can 
make no stipulation with regard to the treatment of citizens and their private property. 



432 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOIS". 

While I do not propose to cause any of them any undue annoyance or loss, I cannot 
consent to leave myself under restraint by stipulations. The property which officers 
can be allowed to take with them will be as stated in the proposition of last evening — 
that is, that ofBcers will bo allowed their private baggage and side-arms, and mounted 
officers one horse each. If you mean hy your proposition for each brigade to march to 
the front of the IRies now occupied by it, and stack their arms at ten o'clock a. m., 
and then return to the inside and remain as prisoners until properly paroled, I will 
make no objections to it. Should no modification bo made of your acceptance of my 
terms by nine o'clock A. M., I shall regard them as having been rejected, and act 
accordingly. Should these terms be accepted, white flags will be displayed along your 
lines, to prevent such of my troops as may not have been notified from firing on your 
men, 

" I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, Major- General U. S. .4." 

To this the subjoined answer was received : — 

"Head-Quarters, Vicksburg, July 4,, 1863. 
" Major-General U. S. Grant, commanding United States Forces, &c. : 

" General : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipc of your communication 
of this date, and, in reply, to say that the terms proposed by you are accepted. 
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"J. C. Pemberton, Lieutenant- General." 

In accordance with these stipulations the surrender took place at 
once, and three hours elapsed before the stacking of arms was com- 
pleted. At one o'clock the Seventeenth Corps was designated to 
take possession of the city. The number of prisoners exceeded thirty- 
four thousand, and the killed, wounded, and stragglers reached near- 
ly twelve thousand. The Union loss was officially reported by Gen- 
eral Grant as follows : — 

Killed. "Wounded. ilissing. 

Port Gibson 130 718 5 

Tourteen Mile Creek (skirmish) 4 24 — 

Raymond 69 341 32 

Jackson 40 240 6 

Champion's Hill 426 1,842 189 

Big Black Railroad Bridge 29 242 2 

Vicksburg 545 3,688 303 

Of the wounded, many were but slightly injured, and continued on 
duty ; many more required but a few days or weeks for their recov- 
ery. Not more than one-half of the wounded were permanently 
disabled. 

There were captured in Vicksburg, and during the previous battles, 
three hundred and one cannon and forty-five thousand small-arms. 

The causes which have led to this stupendous result may be briefly 
summed up as follows : The Vicksburg garrison was, in round num- 
bers, forty thousand at the commencement of the siege. It was 
driven within the walls of the city after a hopeless attempt to protect 
the line of railroad commuijication with Jackson. Defeated, dispirit- 
ed, and worn, the troops retired within their line of intrenchments, 
and at once set to work to repair their shattered organization and 
perfect their defences. In the two or three days which elapsed before 
Grant's arrival, they rallied. They had their provisions for thirty 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 433 

days left. TJnless tliey could drive off the besiegers within that time, 
they were inevitably doomed. 

Johnston, who had arrived in Central Mississippi in time to gather 
together the fragments of a demoralized army, found before him a 
hercvdean task in restoring it to sliape and spirit. He was short of 
artillery, transportation, and cavalry, and his supplies he had to draw 
from great distances. 

The insuperable difficulty was the strength of our army, and the 
great advantage of our position. Once on the top of the Chickasaw 
ridge, and we were almost impregnable, with our flanks defended by 
gunboats. The prime cause of the rebel defeat lay with the War 
Department at Kichmond, which had drained the South to sustain 
the Virginia army. The second cause was the mistake of venturing 
beyond the Big Black River to give battle. This was Pemberton's 
blunder. What Grant remarked after the battle of Champion Ilills 
was true. Vicksburg was virtually won then, and the great battle, 
decisive of the fate of the Mississippi Valley, gained by the valor of 
our Western troops. 

The stock of provisions soon grew short. Already the garrison 
were reduced to the offal and dregs of their commissaries. Mule 
meat, while not eaten as a necessity, had become preferable to their 
pickled beef. Pork was all gone, flour used up. Corn unground, for 
the most part, was left in limited supply. But the worst difficulty 
was that of ammunition. Only ten percussion-caps to the man were 
found in their pouches. Originally short of this species of ammuni- 
tion, they had received foi'ty-two thousand through the lines since the 
investment. Of cartridges they had very few. Their medicines were 
scanty. Nearly six thousand men were in hospital, and continually 
exposed to the dangers of plunging shells ; delicate women and chil- 
dren, crying for bread, and wailing for the loss of friends around 
them, were compelled to seek refuge from bursting shells and shot, 
in caves scooped out in the steep banks overhanging the MississippL 
It must have been a strong heart that could have held ovtt longer. 
One cause for determining the time of surrender Avas undoubtedly the 
apprehension that on the 4th General Grant would attack. The 
result would be the sack and pillage of the city and great slaughter. 
The capitulation avoided all, without loss of honor. 

The following is a chronological record of the siege of Vicksburg, 
from its first inception : — 

May 12, 1862. — Flag-ofl5cer Farragut demands the surrender. 
June 22. — Farragut passes Vicksburg with his fleet. 
June 23. — United naval attack upon. 
June 24. — Naval siege raised by Farragut. 
December 28. — General Sherman defeated. 
January 2, 1863. — General Sherman withdraws from. 
January 22, 1863. — General McCIernand prepares for siege operations. 
February 4. — General Grant arrives. * 

February 18. — General Grant commences bombardment. 
March 21. — Admiral Farragut arrives. 
March 25, — Two gunboats run past. 
April 16. — Six gunboats run past. ' 

28 



4:34: HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT EEEELLIOIS". 

April 27, — Fire opened from peninsula batteries. 
April 29. — xVdmiral Porter Hliells and passes Grand Gulf. 
April 30. — General Grant lands at Bowlinsburg, and moves on Port Gibson. 
May 3. — Grand Gulf and Port Gibson captured. 
li&y 12. — Engagement and victory at Raymond. 
May 13. — Battle of Mississippi Springs. 
May 14. — Occupation of Jackson. 
May 16.— Battle of Baker's Creek. 
May 17. — Battle of Big Black River bridge. 
May IG. — Evacuation of Jackson by General Grant. 
May 18. — General Grant invests Vicksburg. 
May IS. — Haines's and Chickasaw Bluffs captured. 

May 19. — General Steele carries the rifle-pits, and General Grant's right and left 
rests upon the river. 

May 22. — An unsuccessful assault made by General Grant. 
July 4. — Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant. 

This short campaign of General Grant, so eminently successful, re- 
lieved the gloom in which the Union cause was at that moment envel- 
opeJ. A succession of defeats had resulted in the invasion of Penn- 
sylvania, and in all sections the tendency of afi'air.s was adverse to the 
Federal arms. A certain degree of despondency was bi'ginning to bie 
apparent at the North, and dissatisfaction with the Administration was 
more decided. The defeat of Lee at Gettysburg was the first gleam 
of light, but the defeat would probably have been less decided had not 
the news of the fall of Vicksburg decided General Lee to retreat. 
Meantime strong eiforts had been made to have General Grant removed. 
These, fortunately, had no influence on the President, who, in July, 
addressed the following letter to the conqueror of Vicksburg: — 

"Executive Mansion, "Washington, July 13, 1863. 
" Major-General Grant: 

" My Dear General: — I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I 
write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you 
have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the 
vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops 
across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never 
had any faith except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo 
Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below, and took Port Gib- 
son, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General 
Banks, and when you turned northward east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mis- 
take I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you "were right and I 
was wrong. A. Lincoln." 

While these events were taking place in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of Vicksburg, a remarkable cavalry raid was executed by Colonel 
Grierson, of the Illinois Cavalry. On the llth of April, his troops, con- 
Bisting of the Sixth and Seventh Illinois, and First Iowa Cavalry, num- 
bering one thousand seven hundred men, left Lagrange, Tennessee, for 
the enemy's country. They took a southerly course running parallel 
with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, until they were in the latitude of 
Vicksburg, when they strjick a southwesterly course, and reached 
Baton Rouge on the 2d of May, having travelled eight hundred miles. 
In their journey through the enemy's country they had numerous en- 
counters, killing and wounding numbers of the enemy, and taking hun- 
dreds of prisoners, horses, and blacks — subsisted themselves — destroyed 



mSTOEY OF THE GEEA*! EEBELLIOJT. 435 

mucli property in bridges and trestles, some two hundred cars, am- 
munition, stores, clothing — played havoc with the telegraphs and three 
principal railroads, by which the beleaguered troops on the Mississippi 
depended for communication and aid from the interior, and which 
would take them many weeks to repair, even if they had the facilities 
— and all this with the loss of only one killed and six wounded. This 
daring feat produced great satisfaction at the North generally, and was 
received as an offset to some of the cavalry inroads of the enemy. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Expedition of General Banks. — Investment of Port Hudson. — Unsuccessful Assaults. 
— Brashear City. — Capitulation of Port Hudson. — Chronology of Events. 

Early in December, 1862, an expedition, which had long been- in 
preparation with the utmost secrecy, left New York under the com- 
mand of Major-General Banks.* The public were not aware of the 
destination and objects of the expedition until, on the 15th of Decem- 
ber, it arrived at New Orleans, and General Banks superseded General 
Butler, whose administration, able and severe, and admirably adapted 
to curb an insolent and turbulent populace,, had not failed to raise 
agamst him hosts of enemies. There can be little doubt, however, 
that the course pursued by General Butler was the only one which 
. circumstances permitted. He found the city full of the elements of 
disturbance, and* he transferred it to Banks pacified, and, if not loyal, 
at least resigned to its condition. 

Preparations were soon in progress for a movement up the river 
against Port Hudson, which barred the ascent of the river as Vicksburg 
did the descent. Port Hudson is the Gibraltar of the Lower Missis- 
sippi. It is in East Feliciana parish, Louisiana, on the left bank of the 
.Mississippi, about ahtmdred and fifty-six miles by river above New Or- 
leans, and twenty-five miles above Baton Rouge. Although a small vil- 
lage, it was noted- for its extensive shipment of cotton and sugar, drawn 
chiefly from Mississippi by the Clinton Railroad. The fortifications 
were immensely strong, and the Confederates were confident of suc- 

* Nathaniel Prentiss Banks was born in Walt- 1 Stonewall Jackson to retreat across the Potomac- 
ham. Mass., in 1816, and commenced life as an j He had an active part in the campaign under Pope 



operative in a cotton-mill m that town. Sub 
sequeutly he became a lecturer and political speak- 
er, was admitted to the bar, and in 1S49 eleoted to 
the lower House of the Massachusetts Lesislature. 
He officiated as speaker of that body in 1851 and 
1&5'3. In 1S53 he presided over the Massaohnsctls 
Constitutional Convention, and also entered Con- 
gress. He was re-elected to the latter bodv in 
1855, and became its speaker. From 1858 to "lS61 
he was Governor of Slassachnsetts. In May of 
the Litter year he was commissioned a ma.ior- 
general of volunteers, and in the succeeding sum- 
mer took command on the Upper Potomac. In 



in Virginia, and commanded at the battle of Cedar 
Mountain. In the. ensuing winter he took charge 
of the expedition destin.ed to co-operate in open- 
ing the Mis.sissippi, and succeeded General Butler 
in command at New Orleans. In the spring of 
186.3 he conducted a successful expedition througli 
Southern Louisiana, and after several months' siege. 
received the capitulation of Port Hudson in July. 
In the spring ot 1864 he commanded thedisastrons 
Red River expedition, destined to open the region 
of Western Louisiana to trade, and defeat or dis- 
perse the rebel forces there. He retained his de- 
partment after this, but was not again actively 



the spring of 1862 he drove the rebels up the I employed in the field. In May, 1865, he resigned 
■yalley of the Shenandoah, but was compelled by I his commission and returned to civil Ufe, 



"436 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOTT. 

cessfiilly resisting any force likely to be sent against them. Bet'vreen 
Port Hudson and Vicksburg they had perfect control of two hiindred 
and fifty miles of the Mississippi, and it Avas through this territory that 
they Avere constantly receiving supplies of beef-cattle and other neces- 
saries from Texas. The river, as at Vicksburg, makes a bend opposite 
the city, but not so sharp, and the batteries on the bluffs for four miles 
commanded the passage. The rear of the town is swampy, intersected 
with ravines, and very difficult of access. The place was defended by 
twenty thousand men, mostly from Western Texas, under the com- 
mand of Van Dorn and Lovell. 

On the 13tb of March, simultaneously with the departure of Far- 
ragut's fleet, the army of General Banks left Baton Rouge for Port 
Hudson. The object of the movement at that time was only to make 
a diversion in favor of the fleet, and not a serious attack upon Port 
Hudson. A detached force, under Colonel Molineaux, diverged from 
the main body to keep clear the Clinton road on the light. At Cypress 
Bayou bridge the advance encountered the enemy's force, which retired, 
after a short skirmish, with the loss of eleven killed and wounded. The 
main army was in three divisions, under Generals Augur, Grover, and. 
Emory. On receiving the route, Grover's Division moved at four 
o'clock p. M., Emory's at seven, and Augur's at three on the following 
morning ; at two p. m. of the 14th the advance reached Springfield Cross 
Roads, witliin five miles of Port Hudson, and bivouacked for the night, 
during which the guns from Port Hudson, where Farragut was forcing 
his passage, were distinctly heard. On the morning of the 14th, the 
Hartford and Albatross having passed up. General Banks declared the 
object of his movement accomplished, and ordered a return to Baton 
Rouge, greatly to the disgust of the troops. 

In the month of April an expedition was organized to operate in 
the region of the Bayou Teche. It is one of the most fertile regions 
of Louisiana, and numbers of salt works and founderies were there 
situated, which it was determined to take possession of. The supplies 
for Port Hudson were mostly drawn from that region, and to cut them 
off was a necessary preliminary to the reduction of that place. The ex- 
pedition was quite successful, resulting, among other things, in the de- 
struction of the Queen of the West, which, after being fitted up by her rebel 
captois, had run into the Atchafiilaya. Preparations were now made 
to renew the attack upon Port Hudson, and on the 20th of May, the 
day after the investment of Vicksburg began, the troops of General 
Banks began a march upon Port Hudson, of which a regular invest- 
ment was commenced on May 22d. As the forces of Banks succes- 
sively arrived and took position, the lines were drawn closely around 
the rebel works. The force of the enemy was represented at thirteen 
thousand, under General Gardner. There were two boats, the Star- 
light and Red Chief, moored just above Port Hudson, in the Big 
Sandy Creek, that ran into the Mississippi. To destroy those boats» 
General Banks dispatched the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, under Colonel 
Price, who executed the order on the 25th. This cut off water com- 
munication, and the place was now encircled by land. Commencing 
at tlie extreme northwestern end of Port Hudson, and stretching round 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 437 

in a southeasterly direction, the wliolc Union army -was placed. Gen- 
eral Grovcr, with the comriiands of l)\viirht, Paine, Dudley, and 
Weitzel, occupied the right, while General Auijur occupied the centre, 
and General T. W. Sherman the left wing — the entire line extending 
over a space of several miles. 

Preparations being thus made, at dawn on the 27th the guns along 
the whole line opened on the devoted place. The cannonade continued 
until one o'clock, when orders were given to slacken the fire, with a 
view to an assault on the enemy's left, in cooperation with which there 
was to be a simultaneous assault by General Sherman on the Union left. 
The line moved through the woods in their immediate front, and came 
upon a plain, on the farther side of which, half a mile distant, were the 
Confederate batteries. The field was covered with recently foiled 
trees, through the interlaced branches of which the troops were to 
advance in face of shot, shell, and grape. The field officers dismounted 
to lead, since horses could not penetrate such obstacles. The advance 
commenced at three o'clock, p. m., and for two hours the men braved 
the storm and shot while struggling through the obstacles, when, the task 
proving too difficult, they were then withdrawn. Among those who par- 
ticipated in this affair was Colonel Bartlett, of the Forty-ninth Massachu- 
setts, who, having lost a leg, was compelled to go on horseback or not at 
all. The enemy was so struck with his bravery that orders were issued 
not to shoot him. On the left, the attack of General Sherman, somewhat 
later in the day, met with the same results. The column retired, after 
sufTering heavy loss, General Sherman himself losing a leg. On the 
right the attacking column included the First and Third Kegiments of 
the colored troops raised by General Banks, who for the first time were 
brought into action, and acquitted themselves with such credit as to 
win high encomiums from their commander. "In many respects," 
he said, "their conduct was heroic; no troops could be more determ- 
ined or daring." The whole loss of .the army in this assault was 
about one thousand. The loss of the enemy was reported on their 
side at six hundred. On the 28th, General Banks sent a flag pro- 
posing a cessation of hostilities, for the purpose of burying the dead, 
which was acceded to. 

The state of affairs now began to change very perceptibly, and the 
position of Banks became somewhat critical. The troops with which 
he had left the North in December were mostly nine-months' men, one 
fourth of whose time had expired before they arrived in the depart- 
ment, and who then required instruction and drill before they could 
be of use in the field. The three-years' men that General Banks found 
in the department were inured veterans, but their ranks had been 
greatly thinned by battle and disease. When the attacks upon Port 
Hudson began, the time of the majority of the army was drawing to a 
close, and this force had now sustained a repulse before works which 
vied with those of Vicksburg in strength and capabilities of defence. 
The position of Grant's army was not much different. The two armies 
were exposed to the malaria of an unhealthy location, and compelled to 
drink peculiarly unwholesome waters, "and the heat of midsummer 
was rapidly approaching, lu the meantime, the Mississippi had fallen 



438 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOlSr. ■ 

twenty-eight feet, a very uriusual depression, interfering with the rsffi- 
ciency of the gipiboats and the means of obtaining snppli'es. The Cou- 
fedei'ate armies were also organizing and moving ' upon the Union 
dommnnications flank-, and- rear. General Johnston, it was supposed, ■ 
continued to gather force on the northeast of Vickshurg, pressing 
Grant's rear and forcing him to intrencli, while Price and Marma- 
dnke, -with twenty-six thousand men, were at Helena, and General. 
Walker, of General Dick Taylor's army, held Young's Point with' 
seven thousand, men, thus threatening Grant's supplies. At the same 
tinie, Buckner and Breckiniidge, with a considerable force, were 
closing upon Bank's rear.- The whole' Opelousas country, recently 
traveVsed by Banks, had again follen into the possession- of the rebels, 
and the remnant of Bank's force, which had been left at Brashear Cit\% 
was threatened by a cavalry force under Dick Taylor, who captured' 
several steamers, also a number of Northern ■ cotton mercliants at Pla- 
que'mine, besides taking possession of Butte Station on the Opelousas 
Railroad. . "By this movement Brashear City was cut off, while a Con- 
federate force of five thousand occupied Berwick City. 
. On the morning of June 23d, the garrison of Brashear City, was sur- 
prised by a large force, which had, during the night, crossed Lake 
Palourdcy and come up in - the rear. Our loss on this occasion was 
largo, including a camp of about six hundred- convalescent soldiers. The 
enemj^, also, by the capture of our force, gained possession of Fort 
Buchajian and Fort Schene, and another, smaller earthwork farther 
down the ■ bay. On these fortifications were mounted- eighteen or 
twenty guns of heavy calibre^ several of which were the finest rifled 
pieces we ■ liad in , the department. Large quantities of commissary 
and ordnance stores, besides small-arms and horses, also fell into the 
hands of the enemy. This disaster extinguished the Union possession 
of Louisiana west of .the Mississippi. 

Meantime, the enemy actively operated upon the communication be- 
tween New Orleans and Port Hudson. A quantity of supplies for the 
besieging army was captured fifty miles above. New Orleans; Banks 
was compelled to invigorate his operations, and efforts were made to 
concentrate all available troops at Port Hudson, and to recruit the 
black regiments. The deserters and prisoners from Port Hudson gen- 
erally stated that the place was on short allowance, but the appearance 
of the men belied these assertions. Occasional dispatches were cap- 
tured, asserting that the garrison could not hold out beyond a fixed 
time. These, rumors and dispatches had the air of rvse, to induce 
Banks to waste his men in attacks. The general situation was such, 
however, as to induce the Union general to hasten a crisis, since the 
starvation process promised but little success, and his own position 
was becoming critical. At length, on the 13th of June, a demand for 
the surrender of the place was made and refused, and a new attack 
was determined for the 14th. The plan contemplated a main attack 
by Grover, who was to force the works in front, while Dwight and 
Augur were to make feigned attacks on the extreme left. These two 
attacks were made with a loss* of three hundred men. The column of 
General Grover was formed as follows: The Seventy-fifth New York 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOS". 439 

and the Twelfth Connecticut were detailed as skirmishers, forming a 
Beparate command under Lieutenant-Cohmel Babcock, of the former. 
The Ninety-first New York, Colonel Van Zandt comrannduig, each 
soldier carrying a five-pound hand-grenade, with his musket thrown 
over his shoulder, followed next in order. The skirmishers were to 
creep up and lie on the exterior slope of the enemy's breastworks, 
while the regiment carrying the grenades was to come up to the same 
position and throw over the grenades into the enemy's lines, with a 
view to rout them and drive them fiom behind their works. The 
Twenty-fourth Connecticut, Colonel Mansfield, with arms slung in 
like manner to the grenade regiment, followed, carrying sand-bags 
filled with cotton, which were to be used to fill up the ditch in front 
of the enemy's breastworks, to enable the assaulting party the more 
easily to sc;de them and charge upon the rebels. Following these 
different regiments came Weitzel's whole brigade, under command of 
Colonel Smith, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth New York. 
Next, came Colonel Kimble's and Colonel Morgan's Brigades, under 
the general command of Colonel Birge. This force was held to sup- 
port the assaulting column, which was under the immediate command 
of General Weitzel, who made the attack on the right. General 
Emory's old Division moved in conjunction with General "Weitzel on 
the left, forming a separate column. The two divisions, Weitzel's and 
Paine's, were under command of Grover. 

The ground to be traversed by the column was, for the first hundred ^ 
yards, obstructed by an abatis of felled trees, to which succeeded a ditch 
forty feet wide, with six feet of water in it ; and beyond that a glacis 
about twenty feet high, sloping gradually to the parapet, on which was a 
protection for the sharpshooters ; behind, one hundred yards distant, 
was another line of works, on which field and heavy artillery was 
mounted. At daylight, General Grover's command were formed in 
the woods skirting the enemy's position, and three hundred yards dis- 
tant from the works. The skirmishers then advanced, and deployed 
right and left at the point to be attacked, suffering severely from the 
enemy's fire. The whole command followed. The fire of the corvette 
Richmond in the river opened at the same time upon the place. As 
the troops left the shelter of the woods they encountered a sharp fire 
from the enemy. The skirmishers pushed on, in the hope that on 
reaching the ditch they should be able to keep the enemy down so 
that the advancing grenadiers should be able to perform their part of 
the work. The Seventy-fifth New York reached the ditch, but found 
it so enfiladed that nearly all were either killed or wounded. . The 
grenadiers, on coming up, threw their grenades over the rebel breast- 
works, but the enemy actually caught them and hurled them back 
among us. In the mean time, Avhile tlie skirmishers were nobly en- 
deavoring to sustain themselves in their position. General Weitzel's 
column moved up as rapidlyas possible and made a series of desperate 
assaults on the enemy's works. At this time, the sun having fairly- 
risen, the fight became general. A fog, which had partially obscured 
the contending armies, lifted and revealed their respective positions. 
The enemy was fully prepared for us, and they lined every part of their 



440 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 

fortifications with heavy bodies of infantry. The battle had begun in 
earnest, and General Paine's column as well as General Weitzel's was 
actively engaged. Colonel Smith was killed leading the first assault 
of Weitzel's Brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel Von Petteu, of the One 
Hundred and Sixteenth New York, immediately took command of 
the brigade, and gallantly led the charge until all further hope of 
forcing the position was gone. Brigade after brigade followed ia 
rapid succession, storming the works, until compelled to fill back under 
the terrible fire of the enemy. They were all eventually repulsed with 
great slaughter. 

• The fighting ceased at eleven o'clock in the morning ; and the 
soldiers, under command of their officers, laid themselves down under 
Bhelter of the gullies, trees, covered way, in fact everything that could 
afford them protection, and waited for the day to pass and darkness 
to come on. At nightfall we commenced the burial of our dead, and 
succeeded before the morning in carrying most of our wounded from the 
battle-groun<l. Among tlie Union losses were General Paine and five 
colonels. The loss in killed and Avounded was over two thousand. 
On the following day, General Banks issued the following order : — 

" Head-Quarters Departmext of the Gulf, \ 

" NiNEl'EENTH AUMY CORPS, > 

"Before Port Hudson, June 15, 18G3. ) 
"The CommandiDg General congratulates the troops before Port Hudson upon the 
steady advance made upon the enemj^'s works, and is confident of an immediate and 
triumphant issue of the contest. We are at all points on the threshold of his fortitica- 
tioDS. One more advance and they are ours. For the last duty that victory imposes 
the Commanding General summons the field men of the corps to the organization of a 
storming column of a thousand men, to vindicate the flag of tlie Union, and the mem- 
ory of its defenders who have fallen. Let them come forward. Officers who lead the 
column of victory in this last assault may be assured of just reeogiution of their ser- 
vices b)' promotion; and every officer and soldier who shares its perils and its glory 
shall receive a medal fit to commemorate the first grand success of the campaign of 
ISe."} for the freedom of the Mississippi. His name shall be placed in general orders 
upon the roll of honor. Division commanders will at once report the names of the offi- 
cers and men who may volunteer for this service, in order that -the organization of the 
column may be completed without delay. 

"Ey command of Major-General Banks. 

"Richard E. Irwin, Assistant Adjutant- GeneraV^ 

The call was responded to by the Fourth Wisconsin and the Sixth 
Michigan, by which regiments the attack was made, resulting in the 
repulse and cnpture of nearly the whole assaulting force. 

The siege was now continued vigorously, batteries being erected 
across the river, which were well served by United States regulars. 
One Imndred and fitly paces from the enemy's extreme right seventeen 
eight and ten inch columbiads were establislied, another battery of 
seven pieces was placed in the centre, and one of six guns on the left. 
From these a heavy fire Avas maintained day and night with little loss 
of life to the enemy, but with the eflcct of disabling most of his artil- 
lery. About the 20th of June the meat rations gave out, and mules 
were butchered for the use of the garrison, who also devoured rats. 
Soon after the ammunition began to fail. Amid these accumulating 



niSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 441 

difficulties the time wore on to the Vth of July, when the following 
correspondence took place : — • 

" gknkbal gardner to general banks. 

"Head-Quarters, Port Hudson, ) 
"Louisiana, July 1, 1803. j 
•' General: — Having received information from your troops that Vicksburg has been 
surrendered, I make tliis communication to ask you to give mo the official assurance 
whetlier this is true or not ; and if true, I ask for a cessation of hostilities, with a view 
to tlie consideration of terms for surrendering this position. 
" I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" Frank Gardner, 
" Major- General Comimuid/w/ C. S. Forces. 
"ToMajor-General Banks, Commanding U. S. Forcts, near Fori JIudion." 

"general banks to general GARDNER. 

"Head-Quarters Department op the Gulf, ) 
" Below Port Hudson, July 8, 18(3.'J. J 
"General: — In reply to your communication, dated the 7th instant, by flag of 
truce received a few moments since, I have the honor to inform you that I received 
yesterday morning, July 7tli, at 10.45 o'clock, by the gunboat General Price, an official 
dispatch from Major-General Ulysses Grant, U. S. Army, whereof the following is a 
true extract : — 

" ' Head-Quarters Department of the Tennessee, ) 
" ' Near Vicksburg, July 4, 18G3. f 
" 'Major-General N. P. Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf: 
" ' General: — The garrison of Vicksburg surrendered this morning. The number of 
prisoners, as given by the officers, is twenty-seven tliousand, field artillery one hundred 
and twenty-eight pieces, and a large number of siege-guns, probably not less than 
eighty. 

" ' Your obedient servant, 

" 'IT. R. Grant, Mijoi-- General* 

" I regret to say that under present circumstances I cannot consistently with my duty 
consent to a cessation of hostilities for the purpose you indicate. 
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"N. P. Banks, Major-General Commanding. 
" To Major-General Frank Gardner, Gominanding C. S. Forces, Fori Hudson." 

The Confederate garrison having now become exhausted, even their 
mules, and tlieir ammunition being no more than twenty rounds per 
man, there was now no longer any hope of relief. Vicksburg having 
surrendered, which gave the Federals the advantage of the Mississippi to 
transport troops from that point to Port Hudson, the reduction of the 
latter place, in a very few days, followed as a matter of course. 

The followhig capitulation was signed July 8th: — 

" articles of capitulation. 

" Article 1. — Major-General Frank Gardner surrendered to tlio United States forcea 
nndor Major-General Banks, the place of Port Hudson and its dependencies, with ita 
garrison, armament, munitions, p\iblic funds, material of war, in the condition, as nearly 
as may be, in which they were at the hour of cessation of liostilities, namely, six o'clock 
A. M., .July 8, 1 8G3. 

" Article 2. — The surrender stipulated in Article 1 is qualified l)y uncondition, save 
tliat the officers and enlisted men composing the garrison shall receive the treatment 
due to prisoners of war, according to the uHage of civilized warfare. 

" Article ?, — All private property of officers and enlisted men shall bo inspected and 
left to their respective owners. 



442 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBI^LLIOlsr. 

'^ Article i. — Tho position- of Port Hudson shall be occupied to-morrow; at nine 
■ o'clock A. M., by the forces of the United States, and its garrison received as prisoners 
of war by such general officers of the United States service as may be designated by Major- 
General Banks, with the ordinary formalities of rendition. The Confederate troops will 
be drawn up in line, officers in their positions, the right of the line resting on the 
edge of the prairi* south of the railroad depot, the left extending in the direction of 
the village of Port Hudson. The arms and colors will be piled conveniently, and will 
be received by the officers of the United States. 

^^ Article 0. — The sick and wounded of the garrison will be cared for by the au- 
thorities of the United States, assisted, if desired, by either party of the medical 
ofBcers of the garrison. 

" Chari.es p. Stone, Brigadier-General. 

" "W. N. Miles, Colonel Commanding Right Wing of the Army. 

"Wm. DwkJht, Brigadier-General. 

" G. W. Stebman, Colonel Commanding the Left "Wing of the Army. 

"Marshal J. Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel, Chief Artillery. 

"Hekey W. Birge, Colonel Commanding Fifth Brigade, Grover's Division. 
"(Approved.) 'N. P. Baj^ks, 3fajnr- General. 

"(Approved.) Fra^k Gaudher, Major- General." 

The place was taken possession of accordingly, July 9th, at 7 a.m. 
As the victors entered, they found the Confederates all drawn up in 
line of battle, with arms stacked in front of them, and the hungry sol- 
diers of General Gardner were soon well fed from the commissariat of 
the Unioii army, from which six thousand rations were drawn. The 
number of rebel soldiers drawn up in line when the surrender took place 
was about four thousand. In addition to this number tliei-e were about 
one thousand five hundred sick and wounded ; the wounded numbered 
about five hundred. The enemy's report was two hundred killed, five 
' hundred and seventeen wounded, and six thousand prisoners. 

The number of guns taken was fifty, of which, however, all but 
fifteen had been dismounted by tlie Union fire. The capture of small- 
arms was nearly forty thousand, including some that had been gathered 
by the enemy when burying the Union dead. The following dispatch 
was received at Washington: — 

"ViCKSBUftG, Miss., Jm?(/ 11, 1863 — 3 p.m. 
"Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief: 

" The following dispatch has been received from General Banks : — 

" 'Before Port Hudson, July 8, 1S63. 
" 'General; — The Mississippi is now opened. I have the honor to inforiu you that 
the garrison at Port Hudson surrendered unconditionally this -afternoon. We shall 
take formal possession at seven o'clock in tlie morning. 

(Signed) " ^ 'N. F. Banks, Major- Ge7ieraV 
" 'U. S. Grant, Afajor- General' " 

The following is a chronological record of the operations against Port 
Hudson from the first movements of General Banks and the fleet : — 

April 12, 1863. — General Banks moves from Brashear City and attacks Patersonvilla 
April 13, 1863. — Patersonville captured by General Banks. 
April 20, 1863. — General Banks captures Bute La Rose and Opelousas. 
April 21, 18G3. — General Banks occupies Wasliington, La. 
May 7, 1863. — General Banks's advance occupies Alexandria. 
May 8, 9, and 10, 1863. — The mortar-boats bombard.Port Hudson. 
May 12, 1863. — Reconnoissance in the rear of Port Hudson by General Dudley. 
May 19, 1863. — General Dudley makes another reconnoissance within a mile and a 
half of the works. 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 



443 



May 21, lfi63. — General Augur's Brigade has an engagement at Port Hudson. 

May 23, 1863. — General Babks lands above Port Hudson, forms a junction with his 
main body, and closely invests the place. 

May 27, 1863, — G'eneral Banks opens a combined assault, the -gunboats partici- 
pating: 

June 14, 1863. — General Banks summons General Gardner to surrender; and upon 
being refused, commences a furious assault, which is repulsed. 

June 15, 1863. — General Banks announces that he will renew the assault, and calla 
for a forlorn hope. . ' ' ■ 

July 8,- 18G3.— Port Hudson surrenders unconditionally. . 

These' two great events, the fall of Vicksburg and the surr,ciKler of 
Port Hudson, put an end forever to the Confederate occupation of 
the Mississippi River, and left that mighty stream oj)en to the free 
passage vf "vessels from the Northwest to the ocean. Thus the prom- 
ise of the great Northwest to open the river was redeemed. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

New Movement against Eichmond. — Lee's Flank Turned. — Battle of Chancellorsville. — 
Retreat of Hooker. — Operations by Sedgwick. 

After several months of delay, caused by the state of the roads, 
and the necessity of thorougli ])reparation for so arduous a campaign 
as the nioveraeht upon Richmond was likely to pro\e, General Hooker* 
finally completed his arrangements, and Avith the improved state of the 
roads was prepai'ed to march.. This was the more necessary as a large 
portion of his army wias composed of two-years and nine-months men, 
whose terms of service were about to expire, and whose places no 
measm-es Ijad been taken to supply. He had, to use his q>vn words, 
*' the finest army on the pjanet," raised to that state of perfection by 
the profuse supply of all descriptions of munitions of Avar, and long 
months of camp instruction. He had the experience of McDowell's 
campaign, of McClellan's Peninsula campaign, of Pope's Manassas 
campaign, and of Burnside's Fredericksburg campaign, to guide him. 
He was condu(iting the fourth attempt upon Richmond. He knew 
fully the ground, over which he was to travel, the enemy with whom 
he had to deal, and Avas aAvare that in General Lee he had a skilful 



*. .Tosepli Ilooker was horn in Hadlej, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1S19, graduated at West Point in ISoT, 
and was commissioned in the same year a second 
lieutenant of artillery. He was successively bre- 
vetted captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel for 
e.allant conduct in the Mexican war, and in 1S4S 
becaine lull cajitain. lie resisnod his commission 
in 1S53, and settled on a farm in California. He 
was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers in 
May, lS»;i. and for a number of months command- 
ed a division in Southern Maryland. He bore a 
distinguished part in all the chief b.attles of the 
Peninsula campaign, and also In the second Bui! 
Kun campaign, and in September, 1862, was pro- 
moted to the command of the First Army Corps. 
In July, 1862, he was commissioned a major-gen- 
eral of volunteers. He fought with great bravery 
ftt Antietam, where he was wounded, and, after 



Burnside assumed command of the Army of the 
Potomac, was assiirned to the centre grand divi- 
sion. In January, 'lSC-3. hesucceeded Burnside in 
command of the Army of the Potomac, fought the 
battle of Chancellorsville in the ensuing May, and 
was relieved by Meade, June 2Tth. Subsequently,!!! 
command of the Eleventh andXwellth ArmyCorpa, 
he was sent to relieve Rosecransiit Chattanooga, 
and distiniruished himself in the operations ending 
with the defeat of Bragg in November. As com- 
mander of the Twentieth Corps, consolidated from 
the Eleventh and Twelfth, he participated in Shep- 
uian"s Atlanta campaign, but was relieved at his 
own request, in the latter part of July, 1S64. Soon 
after, he was appointed to the I)epartment of the 
North. He is at present a briaadier-general in 
the regular army, and commands the Department 
of the East. 



444 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

Strategist, and in his army a powerful host of veterans, to overcome. 
General Hooker thus possessed all the advantages of personal training, 
experience, observation, and knowledge which a good leader, with his 
superior army, could reasonably ask, in order to insure complete success 
to his great enterprise. The confidence of the Government and the 
hopes of the country were with him. 

The enemy, under Lee and Jackson, still held Fi-edericksburg, and 
the formidable works which had been so fatal to Burnside in Decem- 
ber. Their force was, however, a matter of conjecture. It was known 
that numbers of troops, including Longstreet's command, had been 
sent to Suffolk and North Carolina to assist the operations there, 
and it was supposed that detachments had been sent in other direc-- 
tions. It was also known that the army at Fredericksburg was con- 
nected by railroad direct with Richmond, and southwesterly by way 
of Gordonsville, and that without those connections the Confederates 
could neither retreat nor receive supplies to maintain their position. 
The campaign was based on these facts. It was determined to send a 
sufficient cavalry force, under Stoneman, by a circuitous route, to the 
rear of the Confederates, and cut the bridges which cross the North 
Anna and South Anna Rivers on the Fredericksburg rSad. The for- 
mer, one hundred and fifty feet long and eighty feet high, if effectually 
destroyed, would require a fortnight to replace, a time which, -^ell 
employed, would be fatal to Lee. At the same time a portion of the 
army was to attack Fredericksburg in front, to turn the right of the 
enemy, while the main force, crossing the Rapidan some distance 
above its junction with the Rappahannock, should come in on his left, 
thus reducing the enemy to surrender in case of defeat, while Hooker 
■would still have his retreat open in case of disaster. The army of 
Hooker was composed of seven corps, viz. : the First, Reynolds ; 
Second, Couch; Third, Sickles; Fifth, Meade; Sixth, Sedgwick; 
Eleventh, Howard (late Sigel) ; and Twelfth, Slocum. 

On the morning of April 27tb, the Eleventh Corps, Howard, com- 
posed of the German Divisions of Schurz and Steinwehr, and of that 
of Devens, marched for Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock, near the 
line of the Manassas and Gordonsville Railroad, and twenty-five miles 
west of Fredericksburg. The troops crossed on the night of the 28th, 
followed on the next day by the Twelfth and Fifth Corps, which cross- 
ed at the L^nited States Ford, nearer Fredericksburg. The three corps 
turned then eastward, and marched down the narrow strip of land be- 
tween the Rapidan and the Rappahannock for Chancellorsville, nine 
miles from Fredericksburg. The Germania Ford, on the Rapidan, was 
reached at noon by the Fifth Corps, on the left. The cavalry pushed 
on towards Fredericksburg, but were met by the enemy six miles from 
the junction of the turnpike with the plankroad, and driven back. 
Meantime, on May 1st and 2d, the First, Third, and two divisions of the 
Second Corps, had crossed by Banks, and the United States Ford, and 
joined the other corps. Thus the entire Army of the Potomae, with the 
exception of the Thirteenth Corps and one division of the Second under 
Gibbon, which were left behind at the former position near P'^ahnouth, 
opposite Fredericksburg, had crossed the Rappahannock, and, having 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 445 

turned the left of the enemy, had gained his rear, and were concen- 
trated near Chancellorsville. So promising did matters look, that 
Hooker, in the excess of this confidence, issued the following order : — 

" Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac, ) 
"Near Falmouth, Va., Ajml 30, 1863. j" 

"It is With heartfelt satisfaction that the General Commanding announces to the 
army tliat the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must 
ingloriously fly, or come out from beliind his defences, and give us battle on our own 
ground, where certain destruction awaits him. 

" The operations of the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps have been a series of 
splendid successes. 

"By command of Major-General Hooker. 

"S. "Williams, Adjutant- General." 

The effect of this movement of the army was to turn the formidable 
works behind Fredericksburg, the assault of which had cost Burnside 
so dearly, in December, and threaten the communication of the enemy 
with Gordonsville, which was his only line of retreat, in case the mis- 
sion of Stoneraan to cut the bridges over the North and South Anna 
Rivers should prove successful, and compel him to fight on ground 
chosen by Hooker. It resulted that the enemy was compelled to leave 
his works to clear the route to Gordonsville. Although the movement 
of Hooker had been a complete surprise, the rebel commander took 
prompt measures to counteract it. Meanwhile, the Union troops were 
got as rapidly into position, around Chancellorsville, as circumstances 
would permit*, and on the 2d of May were disposed in an irregular V, 
of which the longer leg, comprising four corps, had a southwesterly 
direction, and the shorter one turned rather to the north. Chancellors- 
ville was the apex. In the longer line, Meade's Fifth Corps held the 
extreme left, near Scott's dam on the Rappahannock, with its left ex- 
tending beyond Chancellorsville, which is a single house at the junction 
of a plankroad and a turnpike leading from Fredericksburg to Gor- 
donsville, ten miles southwest from P>edericksburg. The Gordons- 
ville turnpike has a general southwesterly course, and along this road, 
to the right of the Fifth Corps, was the Twelfth Corps, the Third being 
on its right, and the Eleventh on the extreme right. On the shorter 
line, the Second Corps held the position next to Chancellorsville, and 
adjoming it, on the road to the United States Ford, was the First 
Corps. Chancellorsville was the key of the place, and Hooker's head- 
quarters were established there. The Eleventh Corps had its extreme 
right in a densely wooded land covered with the closest undergrowth, 
and considered unassailable. The Union troops immediately began. 
May 1st, to fortify the whole position, and await the development of 
the secondary movements — those of Stoneman and Se4gwick. 

On the morning of the 2d, a force of the enemy approached by the 
plankroad from Fredericksburg, and attacked the Fifth Corps. The 
battery of Kjiapp opened uj^on them and caused them to return. In 
the afternoon they again approached in force, when Geary's Division of 
Slocum's Twelfth Corps was sent into the woods to flank the advance. 
They encountered a sharp fire, and Kane's Brigade broke in disorder, 



446 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 

throwing the .whole cohimn intp confusion. The retiring troops were 
drawn to the right of the road, in order that the artillery might play 
upon the advancing enemy. This it did with such effeet that he soon re- 
tired. This seems to have been- a feint, however, since, during the night, 
the enemy had cut a road through the woods which covered the right 
front of Howard, at Wilderness Church, fifteen miles southwest of Fred- 
ericksburg, and while the attack was going on in front, wagons were 
moving to the left of the enemy, and it was assumed that he was in 
retreat.. To ascertain the state of afiairs, a reconnoissance by Sickles'a 
Corps was made, resulting in the capture of some troops, who stated 
that the wagons were ordnance following General Jackson and staff. 
General Sickles then advanced, in the hope of cutting the enemy in 
two, but at five o'clock in the afternoon, while the movement was in 
progress, a terrific crash of musketry announced Jackson's appearance 
in force on the extreme right, where was Schurz's Division of the 
Eleventh Corj^s. With wild yells the Confederates rushed on in over- 
whelming numbers, and the Germans, overborne, broke and fled in 
helpless confusion. In vain officers stormed and entreated ; the men 
sullenly made their way to the river, followed by portions of Devens's 
and Steinwehr's Divisions. The brigades of Bushbeck and McLean 
held their ground for a time, but were compelled to fall back before 
the irruption of the enemy, who like a whirlwind rushed in at the 
opening left by the retreating Germans, At this crisis, Cnptain Best 
rapidly got his batteries into position on a ridge in a cornfield, and 
Berry's Division of the Third Corps, throwing itself into the gap, stayed 
the torrent whi'ch had threatened to roll up the line in /disastrous con- 
fusion. Manfully the small band bore u]) against the fierce assault of 
the desperate foe, and by dint of endurance succeeded in keeping the 
foe at bay until supports arrived The enemy's force comprised the 
three strong divisions, A. P. Hill's, Trimble's, and Rhodes's, of Jack- 
son's Corps, and greatly outnumbered the troops to whom they were 
opposed. 

In this affair the enemy sustained the irreparable loss of General 
"Stonewall" Jackson, whose left arm was broken by a shot, while 
another passed through his right hand. These wounds caused his 
death a few days later. General A. P. Hill succeeded him in command 
of his corps. It became necessary to order a night attack, in order to 
restore the connection of the Union lines. This was performed by 
Ward's Brigade of Birney's Division, at eleven o'clock, with some 
degree of success, and the line fell back upon Ghancellorsvillc, where 
the exhausted men slept on their arms, awaiting the events of a new 
day. ' 

In these operations, the enemy had completely turned the Union 
right, compelling a complete change of position, which would throw him 
out of the rear into the front. Early on the 3d, the line of battle was 
soon formed. The left of the new position lay a little to the west and 
south of Chancellorsville, and was occupied by tlie Third and Twelfth 
Corps. Next, on the right, came the Fifth, and Peynolds's First Corps 
kekl the extreme right. The Second Corps lay in the rear of the Fifth, 
and behind the former was the Eleventh, which had finally been rallied, 



mSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 447 

though still too. mitcTi shattered for use. At half-past five a. ^r. of the' 
3d, the advance became engaged in the ravine, just beyond the rido-e 
where Captain Best's guns had made their terrific onslaught the night 
before. General Berry's Division, which had then checked the enemy's 
advance, engaged him again. In vain he advanced his infantry in' over- 
whelming numbers, as if determined to crush our foix-e.s ; the brave 
men of Sickles and Slocum, who fought their colunms with desperate 
gallantry, held him in check. The engagement lasted, without the 
slightest intermission, from half-past five A. m. to forty-five minutes 
past eight a. i-i., when there was a temporary cessation on our part, 
occasioned by getting out of ammunition. Somewhat later, the enemy, 
with the divisions of A. P. Hill, McLaws, and Anderson, added to those 
of Jackson's Corps, pressed in front with wonderful persistence, al- 
though the batteries of the Third Corps did terrible execution. The 
rebel batteries replied with great efiect, shelling and setting on fire the 
Chancellor mansion, a large brick structure occupied by General 
Hooker as head-quarters. The Union, troops held the position for 
nearly an hour with the bayonet, and then, as Hooker did not wish to 
bring his fresh troops into action at that time, an order Avas given to 
fall back towards the river, where a good position was taken behind 
intrenchments. This left the line of battle lying on the edge of the 
woods, three-quarters of a mile north of Chancellorsville, parallel with 
the JEly Ford road, and crossing the main road leading to the United 
States Ford. This line was maintained through the 4th. In these 
movements General Berry was killed, Generals Devin and Mott 
wounded. 

It now became evident that the enemy were augmenting in force ; 
and as nothing had been heard from Stoneman, it was inferred that his 
expedition had failed. The rations taken by the army for eight days 
were nearly exhausted, and the ammunition was getting short, since, 
for celerity of movement, only the caissons had been brought over to 
supply the guns. The men had taken forty rounds of cartridges in 
their cartouches, and forty rounds extra in their knapsacks, most of 
which was expended. One of those heavy easterly storms, common 
to the month of May on the Atlantic coast, now set in with copious 
rains, and the river rose rapidly behind the army, covering the fords, 
and threatening the pontoon bridges, of which there were three. The 
rapid rise in the water made it necessary to take up one to prolong 
the other two. General Hooker, under these circumstances, called a 
council, at which a retreat was decided upon. The heavy guns and 
wagons were sent over on Monday night, the 4th, and the troops be- 
gan to follow, the Fifth Corps covering the retreat. The terrible 
storm and the darkness of the night favored the retreat. One by 
one the various corps left the intVenchments, filed to the rear, and 
passed the river, standing once more on the north bank amid the mud 
that had so long held Burnside fast. The number of wounded left 
behind was large, and General Hooker sent over a flag offering to 
send surgeons, rations, and medicines. General Lee accepted the sur- 
geons, but declined the rations and medicines. 

Meanwhile, Sedgwick's Sixth Corps remained a short distance be- 



448 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

low Fredericksburg, and on the same side of the river, awaiting 
the withdrawal of rebel troops to oppose Hooker, when it was pro- 
posed to carry the heights so fruitlessly attacked in the previous De- 
cember. A reconnoissance at dawn of the 3d showed that Marye's 
Hill, the position selected for assavilt, was held by a considerable body 
of troops, which proved to be a part of Early's Division. With a view 
of diverting the attention of the enemy from his movement, Sedg- 
wick directed one of his divisions, under Howe, and Gibbon's Divi- 
sion of the Second Corps, which had been left to garrison Falmouth, 
to attempt the works lying to the east of Marye's Hill. Newton's 
Division was selected to storm the last-named position, and at about 
noon accomplished the task in the most gallant manner, though with 
heavy loss. Howe's attack was equally successful, and the two divi- 
sions captured seventeen guns, including the famous Washington Ar- 
tillery's battery, and nearly a thousand prisoners, Sedgwick then 
pushed forward his whole corps in pursuit of the flying enemy, and 
in the afternoon came up with him at Salem Heights, about four miles 
west of Fredericksburg, occupying a position of considerable strength. 
Lee by this time had been enabled to send re-enfoi-cements towards 
Fredericksburg, so that the enemy now probably equalled his pur- 
suers in numbers, and had also the advantage of position. Neverthe- 
less, by resolute fighting, the gallant troops of Sedgwick carried the 
hill at dusk, and, not wishing to press their advantage in the dark- 
ness through the wooded country extending westward, bivouacked 
for the night on the battle-field. 

At dawn of the 4th, Sedgwick re-formed his lines, extending his 
right to the Ra])pahannock, in the neighborhood of Banks's Ford. 
Soon afterwards he learned that Lee had sent a force to reoccupy the 
heights back of Fredericksburg. This placed him in a critical posi- 
tion. His retreat to Fredericksburg was cut off, and the experience 
of the previous day had shown him the difficulty, not to say the im- 
possibility, of cutting his way through to Chancellorsville, to form a 
junction with Hooker. He therefore fell back towards Banks's Ford, 
where his command was soon confronted by an overwhelming force 
under Lee. From four o'clock in the afternoon until dusk, the Sixth 
Corps, single-handed, stood at bay on the river-bank against double 
their numbers, losing in the unequal combat one-third of their whole 
force, but at the same time inflicting fearful loss upon the enemy. At 
length Lee retired from what he termed the " bloodiest battle of the 
war," and, at two o'clock in the morning of the 5th, Sedgwick led his 
exhausted and shattered columns safely across the river. 

The column of Stoneman, on passing the river at Kelly's Ford, was 
divided into two columns, under Stcftieman and Averill. The main 
column under Stoneman moved upon Richmond by Louisa Court- 
House and Montpelier, crossing the South Anna at Squirrel Bridge. 
Averill's pushed on to Brandy Station, where it met the enemy's 
pickets, and drove them back in a short skirmish. It then advanced 
to Culpepper Court-House, where Generals Fitzhugh and William 
Henry Lee were found with a rebel force of perhaps five hundred cav- 
alry, which fled precipitately back across Cedar Mountain. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLIOIST. 449 

At Culpepper Court-House, General Averill pushed on after the re- 
treating Lees, following them to Rapidan Station, where they burned 
the railroad bridge, over which they retreated after a smart fight, in 
which they lost Colonel Rosser (late of the United States Army), who 
commanded one of the brigades. Our loss there was inconsiderable, 
and they lost several killed besides Colonel Rosser, and also thirty- 
one prisoners, whom General Averill brought back with him. The 
object of Averill's expedition seems to have been to destroy this 
(Rapidan) bridge, which the enemy in their panic did for him. After 
proceeding as far as Orange Court-House, he returned with his force 
to the main army, joining it at Chancellorsville on Sunday. One col- 
umn of Stoneman'if force, under General Buford, pushed on directly 
towards Gordonsville, cutting the Central Railroad between Gordons- 
ville and Charlotteville. 

The column under Stoneman, divided into several expeditions, pro- 
ceeded through Hanover Court-House to within five miles of Rich- 
mond, causing great alarm in and about the Confederate capital, and 
returned either to the Rapidan or made good its escape into the Fed- 
eral lines on the Peninsula. Numerous bridges and large portions of 
the track of the railroad between Richmond and Fredericksburg were 
destroyed. Thus the general plan of the cavalry expedition was 
carried out, but was barren of results. It did not materially inter- 
rupt the enemy's communications. The small force was not only di- 
vided, but remained so ; and Averill on his return was ordered under 
arrest by General Hooker for not carrying out his instructions and 
opening communication with Stoneman. 

Thus the experiment of an advance upon Richmond by way of 
Fredericksburg ended in failure. 

The whole plan of campaign seemed to have been, on the part of 
the general, a grasping after great effects, without comprehending the 
situation or the means of execution. The dividing of the army was 
an error, unless it was to be combined in attack. It: was done to de- 
ceive the enemy, and did not deceive him at all. The enemy, having an 
inside line of communication, held Sedgwick in check, while by a rapid 
flank march he assaulted Hooker on his extreme right, while that' gen- 
eral was expecting him on his extreme left. This attack was made 
at 5 p. M. on Saturday, the 2d, and the army i-etired from its line mak- 
ing every preparation to attempt the hazardous experiment of a forced 
change of front in face of the enemy. Sedgwick did not carry the 
works behind Fredericksburg until 10 A. M. Sunday, and, in attempting 
to communicate with Hooker, was checked at Salem Heights. At the 
same time the main Union Army retired to a new line of defence, 
where it did nothing all day Monday, while the enemy turned upon 
Sedgwick in full force, Hooker making no attempt to succor him, 
although the two armies were but four miles distant. Had Stoneman's 
cavalry been with the main army at its accustomed duty, the surprise 
and defeat of the Eleventh Corps on the right could not have occurred, 
and the defeat of the enemy would have possibly resulted. Hooker 
commenced the campaign to open the road to Richmond. He intended 
to surprise the enemy, to force him to fight on his (Hooker's) ground, to 
29 



450 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



defeat liim in battle, to cut his communication, and capture his army. The 
only thing attained was to cause the enemy to tight on the ground 
chosen by Hooker. The enemy was not surprised, nor defeated, nor 
captured, nor were his communications permanently injured, since he 
received all his re-enforcements and supplies. The grand result was 
a severe check to the Union arms. 

The losses in this brief campaign probably exceeded fifteen thousand, 
including nearly live thousand prisoners. The rebels estimated their losses 
at sixteen to eighteen thousand. Among the Federal killed were Major- 
General Berry,* who died gallantly leading his men in a repulse of the 
enemy on Sunday night ; also General Whipple, w^ho was shot by one 
of the enemy's sharpshooters. The enemy had -to deplore General 
Jackson (Stonewall), who lost his left arm on Saturday, and to that acci- 
dent was ascribed the diminished vigor of the enemy's attacks during 
the remainder of the battles. The death of Jackson, who had earned 
the foremost military reputation of the war, was a severe blow to the 
Confederate cause, and one for which the victory illy compensated. 



CHAPTER XLIL 



Second Invasion of Maryland. — Defeat of Milroy at Winchester. — Meado appointed to 
Command the Army of the Potomac. — Battle of Gettysburg. — Retreat of Lee. 

After the return of the Army of the Potomac to the north side of 
the Rappahannock, early in May, a period of appaient quiet ensued. The 
army of Hooker was largely composed of nine-months and two-years 
men, whose time would expire in June, and as yet no means had 
been taken by the Federal Government to supply their places under 
the Conscription Law which had passed Congress in P^'ebruary. The 
act itself was far from popular, but its enemies made the most strenu- 
ous objections to the clause which permitted a conscript to commute 
for a sum of three hundred dollars. This, and other reasons connected 
with the enrolment, prevented any speedy arrangements for the pro- 
curement of men ; and as the month of June approached, the army of 



* Major-Gcnoral Iliram Gregory Berry, of the 
Uniteii Stales Volunteers, was born in Thomaston 
(now 'Eockland), Maine, Au^'ust 'It, 1S24. He was 
a carpenter some years; afltrwanls en!^ai,'e<l in navi- 
gation; w-is mayor of liocklanil, and held various 
offices in the Maine militia. Under the call for 
troops in the spring of ISGI, he was made colonel 
of the Fourth Maine Volunteers, and participated 
in the battle of Bull Run, where It fought in 
Howard's Briirade. Subsequently the conimaml 
■was in one of the brigades commanded by General 
Sedgwick. The regiment was afterwards trans- 
ferred to General Birney's Brigade, Hamilton's 
Division, and participated in the siege of York- 
town. Upon General Kearny's taking conmiand 
ef the division, C(doneI Berry, who had been m.ade 
brigadier-general of volunteers on the 4th of April, 
1862, was iilaced in charge of a brigade of Ileint- 
zelman's Army Corps, which change separated him 
from his regiment. He participated in the battle 
of Fair Oaks, Juno 1, 18G2, and the Sereu Days' 



battles, June 25th to July 1st. On the 15th of 
August, General JJerry moved with his brigade to 
Yorktown, and thence to Alexandria; thence hy 
rail to Warrenton Junction, from which point they 
marched to the Rappahannock, .and on the 29th 
and 30th of August i)articiputed with Kearny'a 
Division in the battles of Manassas or Second Bull 
Run. September 1st he took part in the battle 
of (Ihantillv, where Kearnyfost liis life. At the 
battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1SG3, Ber- 
ry's Brigade drove back a rebel force, thereby saving 
a good portion of Birne3''s Division from harm. 
Berry was nominated by the President major- 
general of volunteers in January, 1S63, with rank 
from November 29, 1SG2; was renominated on tho 
'th of March, and confirmed March 9. ]8G;3. Ha 
was placed in command of the Second Division 
of the Third Army Corps, under General Sickles, 
and in that position fell at the head of his com- 
mand, near ChancellorsYille. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 451 

Hooker saw itself about to be depleted by the return home of men 
who had served sufficient time to have learned their duties. 

The anxiety of Hooker to gain information of the movements of the 
enemy, finally induced him to order a cavalry reconnoissance in force on 
the 9th of June, on wliich day Pleasonton's command crossed the Rap- 
pahannock at Beverly's and Kelly's Fords and at intermediate places, 
the two main cohimns pushing forward towards Brandy Station, five 
miles below Culpepper Court-House, with the design of getting in the 
rear of the enemy, who was between the Court-House and the Station. 
They captured his pickets, and thus prevented early intelligence of 
their movement being reported to the enemy. At seven o'clock in 
the morning the enemy were encountered, under General Stuart. Af- 
ter a severe fight, the rebels were driven with loss from their camp; 
but, having been largely re-enforced, they returned, when, his objects 
being attained, General Pleasonton recalled his troops across the Rap- 
pahannock, at Beverly's Ford. In this battle the reputation of the 
cavalry arm, as compared with that of the enemy, Avas well sustained. 

The chief duty of the Army of the Potomac, as in former years, 
Beemed to be to remain as a curtain between the enemy and the national 
capital. Fortress Monroe was held by General Dix, General Wool 
having been transferred to the military district of New York and the 
East ; and General Schenck was in command at Baltimore, where he 
had been since the breaking up of Fremont's Corps. General Milroy, 
who was under his orders, held Winchester with about seven thousand 
men. As far back as the previous November, General Cullum, chief 
of General Halleck's stafi', was sent to examine and report upon the 
condition of the works at Winchester, and his report was, not merely 
that the works were indefensible from bad location 2^€r se; but the 
place itself required no works, and ought to have no heavy garrison, 
it being merely, in General Cullum's own phrase, " an eye of the Na- 
tional army looking down the Shenandoah Valley;" an advanced out- 
post, from which information could be communicated at an early mo- 
ment to Harper's Ferry of any advance of the enemy in this direction. 
It was upon this report General Halleck advised General Schenck to 
withdraw all forces from Winchester, leaving there merely strong 
cavalry pickets to act as scouts and vedettes. 

This being the position of the Federal forces. General Lee, who had 
recruited and supplied his army, was ready to execute his long-cher- 
ished project of a second invasion of the North. This movement was 
commenced about the 9th June, by the corps of Ewell, which moved 
off towards the valley of the Shenandoah Right across the State of 
Virginia, starting from the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, and running in 
a southwesterly direction to the southern limit of the State, stretches 
the Blue Ridge of mountains, intersected by infrequent roads or 
"gaps," through which alone it is possible for armies to penetrate. 
Upon the possession of these gaps depended the mastery of the situa- 
tion. If Lee had moved off prematui-ely from Culpepper Court-House 
and seized them, Ewell's mission against the force of Milroy at Win- 
chester would have been frustrated, "since the latter would have heard 
that the whole army was moving, and would have slipped off to Har- 



452 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT BEBELLION. 

per's Ferry. If, after Ewell had struck his blow at Winchester, Lee 
had becMi slow about seizing the gaps, he might have exposed himself 
and Ewell to great danger, if Hooker, acting promptly, had seized the 
gaps, and interposed between Lee and Ewell. As it was, the march of 
Ewell against Winchester was swift, silent, and successful ; the occupa- 
tion of the three great gaps in the mountain range was timed to a 
minute. 

When Hooker at last became aware of a movement of the enemy, 
he started oiF a body of his cavalry to race for the possession of the 
northernmost road through Snicker's Gap. They found Fitzhugh Lee 
abeady in possession, and behind him one of the finest infantry divi- 
sions in the Confederate army. In vain did the Federal cavalry, under 
Pleasonton, race for possession of the next, or Ashby's Gap, supported 
by a large body of artillery and infantry. There they found Stuart 
and his cavalry thrown out in advance of the gap at Aldie, and 
here, on the 17th and 19th instant, there w^ere fierce skirmishes, in 
which the Union cavalry acquitted themselves with great credit, and 
if they did not drive the enemy away, at least prevented him from 
penetrating east of the Blue Ridge and flanking Hooker. 

But the blow had been struck at Milroy, and Lee was anxious to 
draw a Union force into the gap, in which, however, he did not suc- 
ceed. At Chester's Gap, the road which ti-averses the mountain near 
Front Royal was seized by General A. P. Hill, and with these three 

faps in his possession. General Lee could hold them with insignificant 
odies of men, and behind the screen of the mountains manoemTe, 
unseen by and beyond the reach of General Hooker. 

Meantime, Ewell had come upon Milroy, and surrounded Winchester 
before the Union general had been warned of the approach of an enemy. 
On the 13th the Union pickets were driven into the town, and con- 
siderable skirmishing ensued. But in the night, ascertaining that an 
overwhelming force was confronting him, Milroy, with his troops, re- 
tired into two large forts in the rear of the town. Skirmishing 
continued all through the morning of the 14th, and at four o'clock in 
the afternoon the enemy assaulted and carried the outworks of the forts, 
but all his efibrts against the forts themselves proved futile. So hot wa3 
the Union fire that the rebels were compelled to retire with loss at dusk. 
At a council of Union officers held in the evening, it was determined 
that under the circumstances nothing was left to the gan-ison but to 
retreat upon the Potomac. Early on the morning of the 15th, the guns 
having been spiked, and all the sxirplus ammunition rendered useless, 
the troops marched quietly out, but had proceeded only four or five 
miles when they were attacked by the enemy. The rear-guard, facing 
about, kept the rebels at bay until the advance could get well on its 
way, when it also retreated. This manoeuvre was repeated several 
times, and eventually about fiA^e thousand of Milroy's command suc- 
ceeded in crossing the Potomac. His loss in men exceeded twenty- 
five hundred, besides twenty-nine pieces of artillery, numerous Avagons, 
and several hundred horses. 

Hooker, on becoming convinced that the enemy in his front were 
moving towards the valley, sent forward the Sixth Corps, which had 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 453 

occupied the river below Fredericksburg. Belle Plain and Aquia 
Creek, by which supplies were brought to the army from Washington, 
were evacuated and the property destroyed. The wounded and sick 
were sent to Washington. The Sixth Corps arrived at Dumfries on the 
night of the 14th, and the main body of the army held the Rappa- 
hannock from Banks's to Kelly's Ford. The Union commander was 
still somewhat in doubt in respect to the movements of Lee's army. 
The day Ewell occupied Boonesborough, Hooker's head-quarters left 
Falmouth, When the news reached him that the advance of the 
enemy had actually crossed the Potomac, he put his columns in rapid 
motion for the north, and with as much secrecy as possible. 

On the 27th of June, the Union head-quarters, by a long and forced 
march in the most intense heat, reached Frederick, Maryland, which 
had just been abandoned by the enemy. During the march, the 
thermometer ranged from 92° to 98° in the shade, and the soldiers suf- 
fered severely, there being reported more than one thousand cases of 
sun-stroke. Marching along the Blue Ridge, the rebels, on the other 
hand, found abundant springs of cool and excellent water, whereas the 
march of the Union troops was over one of the thirstiest plains in Vir- 
ginia — a district which, in the j^revious year, retarded the troops of 
Stonewall Jackson for several days, and delayed the discomfiture of 
General Pope, and which took ample toll from the host of General 
Hooker. Accordingly, the two armies moving north attained their 
destinations in different condition. That of Lee crossed the Potomac 
on the 24th, in better condition than it had been for months, and two 
days afterwards the attenuated army of Hooker reached Frederick, 
almost exhausted with fatigue. 

On the advance of the enemy up the valley, great consternation pre- 
vailed at Washington as well as at Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsyl- 
vania, and at Philadelphia. There had been some steps taken towards 
obtaining men under the Conscription Law passed at the previous ses- 
sion of Congress, but the exigency of an invasion of Pennsylvania was 
too pressing to allow of the slow progress of conscription. The Pres- 
ident, therefore, on the 15th, issued the following proclamation : — 

by the president op the united states of america. 

"a proclamation. 

"WAsmNGTON, June 15, 1863. 

""Whereas the armed insurrectionary combinations now existing in several of the 
States are threatening to make inroads into the States of Maryland, Western Virginia, 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, requiring immediately an additional military force for the ser- 
vice of the United States : 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, and of the militia of the several States 
when called into actual service, do hereby call into the service of the United States 
one hundred thousand militia, from the States following, namely: 

" From the State of Maryland, ten thousand. 

" From the State of Pennsylvania, fifty thousand. 

"From the State of Ohio, thirty thousand. 

" From the State of "Western Virginia, ten thousand. 

" To be mustered into the service of the United States forthwith, and to serve for 
the period of siz months from the date of such muster into said service, unless sooner 



454 HISTOET OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 

discharged; to be mustered in as infantry, artillery, and cavalry, in proportions ■which 
will be made known through the War Department, which department will also designate 
the several places of rendezvous. 

" These militia are to be organized according to the rules and regulations of the vol- 
unteer service, and such orders as may hereafter be issued. 

" The States aforesaid will be respectively credited under the Enrolment Act for 
the militia service rendered under this proclamation. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of tho 
United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, this 15th day J.une, in the year of our Lord 1863, 
and of the United States the eighty-seventh. 

(Signed) "Abraham Lincoln. 

" By the President : 

"William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

On the same day, the Governor of Pennsylvania issued a proclama- 
tion, calling upon all citizens " capable of bearing arms to enroll them- 
selves in military organizations, and to encourage all others to give aid 
and assistance to the efforts which will be put forth for the protection 
of the State and the salvation of our common country ; who love lib- 
erty and are mindful of the history and traditions of their Revolutionary 
fathers, and who feel that it is a sacred duty to guard and maintain the 
free institutions of our country." The State of New York was called 
upon for twenty thousand troops, and immediately the Seventh, Eighth, 
and Seventy-first Regiments of militia left for Pennsylvania, followed 
promptly by troops from other States. At the call of the President in 
the regular way for men, the troops crowded to the front with an en- 
thusiasm nowise diminished from the first burst of popular fervor on 
the outbreak of the war. The greatest exertions were made to remove 
the public property from Harrisburg, which seemed to be the point of 
attack. The State property was packed up and means taken to remove 
the archives. The same fears were entertained for Baltimore and 
Washington, and measures were at once taken to strengthen the former 
city by earthworks at Federal Hill and elsewhere in the vicinity. 

The plans of the enemy in the mean time were matters of great doubt 
and mystery, and the alarm was in proportion to the mystery. His 
army was composed of three corps of some thirty thousand men each, 
under Hill, Longstreet, and Ewell respectively, with a cavalry force 
under Stuart. In throwing this force across the Potomac, it became 
necessary to depend upon the country for supplies, and upon victory 
for ammunition, since with each mile of advance the difiiculty of com- 
munication became greater. Accordingly, General Lee left Winchester 
■with one hundred and twenty rounds for each man. The actual cross- 
ing of the Potomac, Avhich was effected by Lee with the corps of Hill 
and Longstreet at Williamsport and Shepherdstown on the 24th, had 
in it much of the enthusiasm which accompanied the entrance of the 
Confederates into Maryland before the battle of Sharpsburg. It was 
then the impression of the Southern army that they were entering into 
the friendly State of Maryland, ground down under the iron heel of a 
despotic government, and anxious and Avilling, upon the first oppor- 
tunity, to arise and burst its bonds. But the unmistakable sympathy 
of Hagerstown, Boonesborough, Sharpsburg, and other small towns in 
Western Maryland with the Union, the jeers and taunts of the womea 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 455 

at the expense of the rebels, taught the latter to expect in the western 
counties of Maryland no more aid and comfort. 

The march continued with celerity, and the advance reached Cham- 
bersburg June 27, when the following proclamation was issued: — 

" general ordek, no. 73. 

"Head-Quarters Army of Northern Virginia, ) 
" Chambersburg, Va., June 21. ) 

" The Commanding General has observed with marked satisfaction tlie conduct of 
the troops on the march, and confidently anticipates results commensurate with tha 
high spirit they have manifested. No troops could have displayed greater fortitude or 
better performed the arduous marches of the past ten days. Their conduct in other 
respects has, with few exceptions, been in keeping with their character as soldiers, 
and entitles them to approbation and praise. 

" There have, however, been instances of forgetfulness on the part of some, that they 
have in keeping the yet unsullied reputation of the arm}', and that the duties exacted 
of us by civilization and Christianity are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy 
than our own. 

" The Commanding General considers that no greater disgrace could befall the army, 
and through it our wliole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upoa 
the innocent and defenceless, and the wanton destruction of private property, that have 
marked the course of the enemy in our own country. Such proceedings not only dis- 
grace the perpetrators, and all connected with them, but are subversive of the dis- 
cipline and efficiency of the army, and destructive of the ends of our present movement. 
It must bo remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot 
take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in 
the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy, and 
offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor and support 
our efforts must all prove in vain. 

"The Commanding General, therefore, earnestly exhorts the troops to abstain, with 
the most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or wanton injury to private property; and 
he enjoins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who shall 
in any way offend against the orders on this subject. R. E. Lee, General." 

On the same day on which General Lee thus inaugurated his entry 
into Pennsylvania, Hooker's army entered Frederick, which had been 
held by the enemy's pickets ; and on the following day Colonel Hardie 
arrived at the head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac by special train 
from Washington, as a bearer of dispatches, relieving General Hooker 
from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and appointing Major- 
General Meade, commanding the Fifth Corps, his successor. Soon after 
the reception of the orders at head-quarters, General Hooker issued 
the following address : — 

" Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac, ) 
"Frederick:, Md., June 28, 1863. f 

"In conformity with the orders of the War Department, dated June 27, 1863, I 
relinquish the command of the Army of the Potomac. It is transferred to Major-Gen- 
eral George G. Meade, a brave and accomplished officer, who has nobly earned tlie con- 
fidence and esteem of the army on many a well-fought field. Impressed with the 
belief that my usefulness as tlie commander of the Army of the Potomac is impaired, I 
part from it, yet not without the deepest emotion. The sorrow of parting with the 
comrades of so many battles is relieved by the conviction that the courage and devotion 
of this army will never cease ; that it will yield to my successor, as it has to me, a 
willing and hearty support. With the earnest prayer that the triumph of its arms may 
bring successes worthy of it and the nation, I bid it farewell. 

"Joseph HooivEr, Major- General. 

"S. F. BJiUSTOW, Acting Adjutant- General." 



456 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOW. 



General Hooker immediately left, and General Meade * assumed com- 
mand in the following address : — 

"Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac, ) 
" June 28, 1 863. \ 

" By direction of the President of the United States, I hereby assume command of 
the Army of the Potomac. As a soldier, in obeying this order, an order totally unex- 
pected and unsolicited, I have no promises or pledges to make. The country looks to 
this army to relieve it from the devastation and di.sgrace of a hostile invasion. What- 
ever fatigues and sacrifices we may bo called upon to undergo, let us have in view con- 
stantly the magnitude of the interests involved, and let each man determine to do his 
duty, leaving to an all-controlling Providence the decision of the contest. It is with 
just diffidence that I relieve in the command of this army an eminent and accomplished 
eoldier, whose name must ever appear conspicuous in the history of its achievements ; 
but I rely upon the hearty support of my companions in arms to assist me in the dis- 
charge of the duties of the important trust which has been confided to me. 

" George G. Meade, Major- General Commanding. 

"S. P. Barstow, Assistant Adjutant- Generaiy 

The enemy continued his forward movement, and his cavalry, which 
was very numerous, made demonstrations in various directions, collect- 
ing cattle and such drugs and merchandise as were most useful to him. 
A march in the direction of Pittsburg caused great excitement in that 
city. Business was suspended, and the citizens turned out to work on 
the defences. Ewell, in command of the Second Corps, which consti- 
tuted the advance of the Confederate army, had previously pushed on 
to Carlisle, and thence proceeded eastward towards York, where he 
cut the raih'oad which connects Harrisburg and Washington. Chara- 
bersburg was occupied, and many supplies drawn thence. The cavalry 
under Early entered York and levied a contribution of one hundred 
thousand dollars upon the j)lace. He then issued the following proc- 
lamation : — 

GENEBAL EAKLY TO THE PEOPLE OP YORK. 

" To the Citizens of York : 

" I have abstained from burning the railroad bridges and car-shops in your town be- 
cause, after examination, I am satisfied the safety of the town would be endangered; 
and acting in the spirit of humanity, which has ever characterized my government and 
its military authorities, I do not desire to involve the innocent in the same punishment 
with the guilty. Had I applied the torch without regard to consequences, I would then 
have pursued a course that would have been fully vindicated as an act of just retaliation 
for the authorized acts of barbarity perpetrated by your own >irmy on our soil ; but 
we do not war upon women and children; and I trust the treatment you have met 
with at the hands of my soldiers will open your eyes to the odious tyranny under 
■which it is apparent to all you are yourselves groaning. 

"J. A. Early, 

^^Major- General, 0. S. .4." 



* George G. Meade was born in Spain in 1S16, 
during the temporary residence of liis parents in 
that country, and was graduated at West Point in 
1839. He was brevetted iirst lieutenant for gal- 
lantry at Monterey in 1846, and at tlie outbreak of 
the rebellion was captain in the Topo2raphi.?al 
Engineers. He was soon after comniis.sioned a 
lwigadier-gener.ll of volunteers; served through- 
out the Peninsula campaign as commander of a 
brigade in McCalPs Division of Pennsylvania Ko- 
Bervcg, and was severely wounded at the battle of 



White Oak Swamp. In September, 1862, he took 
command of a division in Reynolds's First Army 
Corps, and subsequently succeeded to the com- 
mandof the Kifth «,:orps. On June 2Sth. he as- 
sumed command of the Army of the Potomac, 
which he retained with great credit to himself and 
benefit to tlie country until the capitulation of 
Leo and the termination of the war. He now 
commands the several departments bordering on 
the Atlantic, and is a brigadier-general and brevet 
major-general of the regulararmy. 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIS'. 457 

The designs of the enemy still remained a mystery, and this fact 
gave rise to many fears. It was surmised that he intended to hold the 
line of the Susquehanna, pccupying Baltimore and reducing Washing- 
ton. But there were many who supposed the sacking of Philadelphia 
was, if not the main object, a collateral design of the invasion. On the 
29th the mayor issued the following proclamation : — 

PKOCLAMATION FROM: TUB MAYOR. 
" TO ARMS ! ! ! 

"Office of the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, ) 
June 29, 1863. ) 

"Citizens of Pliiladelphia: 

"One more appeal is made to you in the name of duty and of manhood. 
• " You can close your eyes no longer to the startling danger and disgrace which hang 
over your State and city. The foot of the rebel is already at the gates of your capital, 
and, unless you arouse to instant, action, it may in a few days hence cross your own 
threshold. 

" There is yet time to prepare for defence. You number more than fifty thousand 
able-bodied men ; the means to arm and equip yourselves are at hand. 

"Close your manufactories, workshops, and stores, before the stern necessity for 
commoh safety makes it obligatory. " Assemble yourselves forthwith for organization 
and drill. Come ready to devote yourselves to the protection of your homes until your 
services shall be no longer needed. Spurn from you those who would delude you to 
inactivity or disaffection. Their tongues and hearts are more false and hateful than 
even the invaders of your soil. Let no man refuse to arm who will not be able to 
justify himself before man and God in sight of a desolated hearth or of a dishonored 
family. 

"Alexander Henry, Mayor of Philadelphia.'''' 

Meantime the attitude of the Union army decided Lee to turn his 
face eastward, and confront the only formidable enemy which he had 
to fear. Ewell, recalled from York, shaped his course southward 
and westward towards Gettysburg to join the army of Lee in its ad- 
vance over the South Mountain, and to constitute the left wing of that 
army, Stuart also approached the main body, having, in his passage 
through Maryland, cut the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and joined 
General Ewell on the extreme Confederate left. 

General Meade, on taking command of the army, which was situated 
at Frederick, immediately ordered an advance towards Gettysburg, at 
which point he could intercept the communication of Ewell, who com- 
manded Jackson's old corps, and was at York, with A. P. Hill and 
Longstreet, who were at South Mountain. The First Corps, Reynolds, 
and the Eleventh Corps, Howard, proceeded due north and encamped 
at Eramitsburg, on the night of June 30th, followed by the Second and 
Twelfth Corps. At half-past ten o'clock on the morning of the 1st 
July, Wadsworth's Division, constituting the advance of Reynolds, met 
the advance of Ewell, moving south from Carlisle, in a wood about 
four miles west of Gettysburg. This meeting, which led to a terrible 
engagement, seems to have been a surprise to both parties. The e.xact 
whereabouts of the enemy was not known to Meade, and Lee was un- 
aware of the rapid northerly march of the Union troops, which brought 
them in his front when he supposed them much nearer to Washington. 
Early on the same morning, A. P. Hill, followed by Longstreet, had 
left the top of the South Mountain, and both generals were emerging from 



458 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

the mountain gorge at the moment that the guns of Khodes and Early, 
the advance division of Ewell, opened upon the Federal troops. Heth's 
" Division of Hill's Corps immediately advanced on Ewell's right, while 
on the Union side, Robinson's Division took ground on Wadsworth's 
right, and Doubleday on the left. These troops received the onslaught 
of Ileth, standing their ground firmly, until General Reynolds, finding 
that his artillery was not properly posted, rode to the front in search 
of a more effective position. Here he fell, pierced by a number of balls, 
into the arms of his acting-adjutant, Captain Bond. Doubleday suc- 
ceeded to the command. Tiie corps was now heavily pressed by Heth 
in front, and the two divisions of Ewell on the right, and was obliged 
to give way. The Confederate General Heth was wounded by a shot 
in the forehead, which glanced. The Eleventh Corps now came up, 
and Howard, assuming command, sent Steinwehr to occupy Cemetery 
Hill, on the south side of Gettysburg, while Barlow and Schurz were 
ordered to support the First Corps. The two divisions moved through 
the town, and formed on the right of the First Corps. Ewell's (late 
Jackson's) Corps was now concentrated for the attack, which was 
promptly made with infinite fury. It was, however, repulsed. The 
remainder of the corps of A. P. Hill then joined Ewell, and outflanked 
the Union line. The fighting was now very severe, and Howard sent 
to the i*ear for aid from Slocum and Sickles. They Avere too distant to 
be of use, however. Under the increasing weight of numbers, the 
Union lines soon crumbled. Schurz's Corps giving way, the whole 
retreated through the town to Cemetery Hill. These were heights 
on both sides of the Baltimore pike, southeast of Gettysburg. General 
Howard succeeded in rallying his troops upon this position, when the 
Twelfth Corps, Slocum, and Third, Sickles, came up and formed on 
the right and left of Howard. The pursuit by the enemy, itnder Ewell, 
was stoppe<l at the town by superior orders, for the night, during 
which General Meade and staff arrived in front. He now disposed this 
force on the several liills, circling Gettysburg on the south and east, 
so as to form a continuous line of battle, the mountain in the centre, 
held by the First and Eleventh, the wings, right and left, receding. 
The position was a most formidable one. 

Just beyond the town of Gettysburg runs a horse-shoe ridge of low, 
uniform hills, seemingly from two to three miles in length, terminating 
at both ends in a steep sugar-loaf j^eak, which thoroughly protected 
either flank. On the Federal right and centre the hill was almost en- 
tirely bare of trees ; on the Federal left the batteries were planted, 
under the shelter of forest — the sugar-loaf peaks at both ends of the 
line were densely clothed with timber. To attempt to march round 
these sugar-loaf pinnacles would have exposed the Confederates to the 
danger of weakening their front so greatly as to make it easy for 
Meade to cut off the flanking force. There was nothing for them to 
do but to attack the Union position right in front, or shrink back into 
the gorge of the South Mountain, from which they had just emerged, 
and there to await the attack, or to move off by the right flank in the 
direction of the Potomac, with their rear clinging to the South Moun- 
tain range. Each of these three courses was hazardous. To the second, 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 459 

•which might otherwise have been the safest, the great objection was 
that E well's Corps could not be got within the mountain gorge, the 
single road of which was ah-eady occupied by the two corps of Long- 
street and A. P. Hill. Lee, therefore, determined on the attack. 

His plan of battle appears to have been to attack the Union left with 
General Longstreet's Corps, while A. P. Hill and Ewell pressed heavily 
on the centre and right, with instructions to advance their whole line 
should Longstreet's attack meet with any success. Two-thirds of the 
2d of July wore away in making preparations for this general attack, in 
getting the battalions of artillery into position, and disposing the troops, 
which had been on the tramp for the two previous days, for the on- 
slaught. The Union position, from the nature of the formation, might 
be considered impregnable. The whole army, with the exception of 
the Sixth Corps, had here concentrated on Wednesday night, July 1st, 
and on the next morning the line was formed as follows : Slocum'a 
Corps on the right, Howard joining on the left ; Hancock's (Couch's), 
Newlon (Reynolds's), and Sickles's Corps in the centre; and Sykes's 
(Meade's) on the left. Numerically, commencing with the right, the 
line was formed of the Twelfth, Eleventh, Second, First, Third, and 
Fifth Corps. 

Thus far the whole movement had been accidental. Reynolds had 
engaged a force of which he had no knowledge, and whicti was suffi- 
cient to crush his own and his support. Howard had been driven back 
upon a strong position which lay in his way, and General Meade„ on 
his arrival, found him in it, and held it. The rapid concentration of 
the army upon this position had the eftect of causing the army of Lee 
for the first time to fight at disadvantage. The Army of the Potomac 
now held the strong position, and Lee was become the assailant. 

The enemy's skirmishers, thrown out early in the morning of 
Thursday, the 2d, continued for many hours to press up close upon 
the Union lines with more or less vigor, feeling the strength of the 
various fronts, and seeking to ascertain the position of corps. Where 
the rebel attack was to be made, was a matter of uncertainty to the 
Union commander. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the enemy seemed 
satisfied, with his reconnoissance, and from his left there burst forth a 
terrific cannonade, on the right centre of the Union line held by the 
Second and Eleventh Corps. During more than two hours this was 
replied to with great vigor. This artillery duel was felt by all to be 
but the prelude of the real attack, and the utmost vigilance was 
exerted to detect the earliest signs of the coming storm. Finally; 
dark masses of troops were seen assembling on the left. Soon they 
began to advance, the skirmishers became more numerous and bolder, 
their support more solid. Sickles was ordered forward to a ridge to 
the southwest, to connect with Hancock, or check the advance ; but, 
exceeding his instructions, he went a half-mile in advance of the line. 
Scarcely was he in position, when suddenly the roar of artillery ceased, 
and there poured forth from the woods a rushing column of the com- 
bined troops of Longstreet and Hill. On they came, forty-five thou- 
sand men, three columns deep, at the quick step, gleams of light 
glancing from bayonet and sabre as the solid earth shook under the 



460 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT KEBELLION. 

rushing mass. The tall form of General Hood, leading the Tcxans, 
went down in the melee. Eohertson took eommand, and speedily- 
met the same fate ; and then General Law led the charge. The Third 
Corps met the storm with its wonted coolness, but separated from its 
supports, and, left to confront thrice its numbers, it was as nothing 
before the swelluig tide of furious foes. Its commander. Sickles, was 
struck by a cannon-shot in the knee, and was carried from the field, 
while his devoted corps, overborne by the terrible irruption of the 
enemy, was pushed back with severe loss. On the enemy's side, the 
division of McLaws, on Hood's left, did not keep iip with the rapid 
advance of the Texans, until Longstreet thrcAV himself at the head 
of Woftbrd's Brigade, and led them i;p the slope under such a fire as 
has been rarely witnessed. The enemy, gaining new influence from 
their success, ])oured througli the opening between the Third aiid 
First Corps with swelling fury. The Second Corps was ordered to 
the breach. It came forward with great alacrity, and threw itself 
into the melee without counting the odds, and sufiered terribly from 
the fire, its connnander, Hancock, receiving a severe wound. The 
staggering column received support from the Fifth, now conung up 
from the left ; and a portion of the Twelfth, from the extreme right, 
also re-enforced the heroic troops of the centre. The terrible battle 
was thus fed by successive corps, which fought with superhuman 
courage and constancy. The enemy, however, pressed on with un- 
wavering determination, and his swarming numbers seemed to swal- 
low every fresh advance of the Federals, although he fought at great 
disadvantage against the well-placed Union troops. Back, inch by 
inch, fighting, falling, dying, cheering, the men retired. It was now 
that the Sixth Cor}>s, Sedgwick's, arrived on the field, hungry, footsore, 
and weary, from a forced march of thirty-six miles. They were ap- 
parently too fatigued to stand. The dangers of the moment, how- 
ever, and the excitement of battle, wrought a wonderful change in those 
brave men. They were promjitly formed, and precipitated upon the 
enemy with irresistible force. This was too much for the enemy. His 
impetus had been lost before, and under this new attack, he staggered, 
reeled, gave slowly back, and finally broke and retired from the field, 
as the sun sank behind the western hills. 

"VYhile the attack on the Union left thus failed, another attack was 
formed by Ewell against the extreme right, which had been weakened 
to support the left. A portion of the Twelfth Corps had been sent 
to support Sickles, and the enemy, taking advantage of this, about 
dark formed a heavy column of attack and fell upon Slocum with 
such suddenness and fury that he was driven back some distance. The 
divisions of Rhodes and Early actually carried a part of the Ceme- 
tery Hill, and had sent down a ])eremptory entreaty for support to 
Generals Finder and Anderson of A. F. Hill's Corps. But General 
Finder lay at the moment desperately wounded. The request was, 
for some unknown reason, iinheedod by General Anderson. Mean- 
time, the pressure being now removed from the left, the First, Second, 
and Sixth Corps came to the support of Slocum. The battle was 
thus renewed with great fury, and, despite the utmost cfibrts of the 



HISTORY OF TILE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 461 

Union rigM, the enemy remained masters of part of Slocum's posi- 
tion, when the contest, which had raged there from dark, ceased at 
ten o'clock. The night remained quiet. 

Early on the morning of the 3(1, Slocum, with the design of recov- 
ering his position of the night before, organized an attack upon 
Ewcll. A division of the Sixth Corps was added to the Twelfth. 
"Wadsworth's Division of the First Corps supported Howard's left, 
and the Fifth Corps was in reserve at four o'clock. Slocum opened 
a terrific fire upon Ewell, which elicited a most furious charge from 
the enemy. The Union troops opposed a solid and impenetrahle front 
to perhaps the most furious charge of the war. The deadly fire, 
coolly delivered, strewed the ground in front with dead in fearful 
numbers. Officers and men were heaped in unnatural confusion upon 
the blood-soaked field, but their constancy seemed equal to the emer- 
gency, and again and again they were hurled against the Union 
defences, only to encounter defeat. The steady course and persevei;- 
ance of Slocum's Corps succeeded at Inst. A division of the Fifth 
Corps, Berry's old Division of the Third, now under Humphreys, 
supported Geary, when he was close ])resscd. The enemy seemed 
now to concentrate his artillery fire, but was replied to with full 
efiect, until a re-enforcement of Union troops succeeded in bringing 
to bear upon him an enfilading fire, which settled the question, and 
he retired in confusion. At eleven o'clock the battle was over. 

The enemy's whole line at this time surrounded three sides of the 
mountain, the Union troops within ; but such was the strength of the 
position that to take it by assault was a most hopeless undertaking. 
Nevertheless, Lee, undeterred by the failure of the 2d, made prepara- 
tions to renew the attempt on the next day. Early in the morning 
of the 3d, Longstreet's line stood thus: On the extreme right was 
the division of Hood, commanded by Law, and next to him the divi- 
sion of McLaws, both of which were reserved by Longstreet, to launch 
against the Union troops should success attend the onward move- 
ment to their left. Next to McLaws came the division of General 
Pickett, of four thousand, men, which Avas to form the point of the 
contemplated attack, supported and assisted on its left by the far 
larger division of Pettigrew, belonging to A. P. Hill's Corps, and 
ordinarily commanded by Heth, Avho received a wound on the first 
day. This division, with the brigade of Wilcox, numbered ten thou- 
sand; as a prelude to the attack, a heavy cannonade was opened from, 
all the Confederate batteries, numbering about a hundred and fifty 
guns ; from all points, in a cii'cle radiating around our own, began a 
terrific and concentrated fire on Cemetery Hill, which was held, as 
previously stated, by the Eleventh and Second Corps. To this a 
more than equal number of Union guns responded with infuriate 
vigor and efiect. The storm of shot Avas beyond the experience of 
the most veteran troops ; an eye-witness thus described its effects: — 

"The storm broke so suddenly that soldiers and officers — who 
leaped, as it began, from their tents, or from lazy siestas on the grass — 
were stricken In their rising with mortal wounds, and died, some with 
cigars between their teeth, some with pieces of food in their fingers, 



462 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

and one, at least, a pale young German, from Pennsylvania, with a 
miniature of his sister in his hands, that seemed more meet to grasp 
an artist's pencil than a musket. Horses fell, shrieking sucli awful 
cries as Cooper told of, and writhing themselves about in hopeless 
agony. The boards of fences, scattered by explosion, flew in splin- 
ters through the air. The earth, torn up in clouds, blinded the eyes 
of hurrying men ; and through the branches of the trees and among 
the grave-stones of the cemetery a shower of destruction crashed 
ceaselessly." 

The hill, wihch seemed alone devoted to this rain of death, was clear in 
nearly all its unsheltered places within five minutes after the fire began. 

This continued until nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, when 
Pickett, with his long, flowing hair, afiecting the recklessness of a 
Murat, sprang to the head of his column, which rent the air with a 
hideous yell, as the troops advanced from out the short, scrubby tim- 
ber that had sheltered them. The Federal position was approached 
By a large, bare, sloping meadow, nearly a mile in width. Across this 
" valley of the shadow of death " the divisions of Pickett and Petti- 
grew had no option but to proceed, swept by the concentrated fire of 
•the Federal guns, and exposed when nearing those guns to a storm of 
musketry bullets. The distance was too great to advance at the 
double-quick ; it was necessary to move slowly and deliberately, that, 
as the men approached the batteries, there might be some dash left for 
the final onslaught. 

As the column advanced, its impetus increased. The men climbed 
fences and rushed along, each bent upon getting first into the ceme- 
tery. The cannon roared, and grape and canister and spherical case 
fell thick among them. Still they rushed onward, hundreds falling 
out of the line, until they came within musket-shot of the Federal 
troops, when the small-arms began to rattle. As the rebels mounted 
the low bank in front of the rifle-pits, a furious hand-to-hand conflict 
ensued, and for a time every man fought by himself and for himself. 
Hundreds of the enemy pushed forward into the works and up to the 
cemetery. All were shouting, and screaming, and swearing, clashing 
their arms and firing their pieces. The enemy's shells flew over their 
field upon the Federal artillerists on the hills above. These, almost 
disregarding the storm which raged around them, directed all the fire 
upon the surging columns below. Every available cannon on the 
Cemetery Hill, and to the right and left, threw its shells and shot in 
the valley. The fight was terrible ; but despite every eflfort the enemy 
pushed up the hiU and across the second line of works. The fire be- 
came hotter. The fight swayed back and forth. One moment the 
enemy would be at the railings of the cemetery ; then a rush from the 
Federal side would drive them down into the valley. Then, with loud 
yells, they would fiercely run up the hill again into the cemetery, and 
have a fierce battle among the tombstones. It was the hardest fight 
of tlie day, and hundreds were slain there. 

Pickett had thus gained a partial lodgment. But the division of 
Pettigrew, which was to support him, was not in time. On the suc- 
cess of Pettigrew depends the ability of Pickett to hold his ground. 



HISTOKT OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 463 

As Pettigrew advances, and is near the guns, there appears a Union 
force on his left, descending tlie hill to outflank him. The line halts 
and falls into confusion. In vain Longstreet, anxiously watching, 
sends Major Latrobe to Pettigrew with orders "to refuse his left," in 
other words, to throw out a line obliquely to meet the Union columns. 
Latrobe's horse is shot under him — he urges his way on foot with des- 
perate speed — he is too late. The avenging column of Union troops 
is doing its work. The confused Confederates fell back. The victori- 
ous Union troops sweep round in triumph, overlapping Pickett, who is 
thus forced to let go his hold and retii-e with what luck he may. Then 
his corps sufiered terrible slaughter. What they lost during the fierce 
onset up to the Federal guns, was as nothing to the devastation of 
their ranks as they retired broken and shattered across the slope. Of 
four thousand five hundred w^ho advanced against those fatal works, 
two thousand five hundred only were mustered on the following day. 
Three brigadiers lay upon the field, and one major only, of all the field 
officers, remained sound. Of thirteen colors carried into action, four 
only remained with ihe troops. With this repulse the battle was over. 
As it was, both armies, exhausted by their losses, were glad to rest on 
their arms and wait the conflict of the morrow. 

The following dispatch was at once sent to Washington by General 
Meade : — 

"Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac, ) 
"Near Gettysburg, July 3 — 8.30 p. m. ) 
"Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief: 

" Tlie enemy opened at one o'clock p. sr., from about one hundred and fifty guns, 
concentrated upon my left centre, continuing without intermission for about three 
hours, at the expiration of which time he assaulted my left centre twice, being upon both 
occasions handsomely repulsed with severe loss to him, leaving in our hands nearly 
three thousand prisoners. 

'* Among the prisoners are Brigadier-General Armisted, and many colonels and 
ofiBcers of lesser rank. 

" The enemy left many dead upon the field, and a large number of wounded in our 
hands. 

"The loss upon our side has been considerable. Major-General Hancock and Briga- 
dier-General Gibbon were wounded. 

"After the repelUng of the assault, indications leading to the belief that the enemy 
might be withdrawing, an armed recormoissance was pushed forward from the left, and 
the enemy found to be in force. 

"At the present hour all is quiet. 

" My cavalry have been engaged all day on both flanks of the enemy, harassing and 
vigorously attacking him with great success, notwithstanding they encountered supe- 
rior numbers, both of cavalry and infantry. 

" The army is iu fine spirits, 

"George G. Meade, Major-General Commanding.^ 

This was followed by the following : — 

"Washington, D. C, July 4—10.30. a. m. 
" The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac 
up to ten p. M. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with the highest honor ; to prom- 
ise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for 
the many gallant fallen ; and that for this, he especially desires that on this day, He, 
whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced 
with the profoundest gratitude. 

"Abraham Lincoln." 



464 HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIT. 

Lee, having by this time satisfied himself that his second invasion of 
the North was a more mortifying failure even than his first attempt, 
made preparations to retreat ; and all day long on the 4th, while the 
gnus on either side frowned at each other in angry silence, Ewell's 
train, swollen by the plunder in horses and wagons, which he had col- 
lected, was filing ofl:' behind the Confederate centre and left, and push- 
ing into a jDass of the South Mountain, which leads obliquely to Har 
gerstown. Towards evening the wagon train of A. P. Hill's Corps, 
which occupied the centre, followed Ewell ; and it was not till long 
after midnight that the train of Longstreet's' Corps got underway, and 
the army concentrated on the evening of the 6th, at Ilagerstown. 
Meantime, General Meade, having discovered the retrograde move- 
ment of Lee, occupied Gettysburg, and, as soon as his troops were some- 
what rested, moved towards the Potomac. 

The last invasion of the North by the Confederate Army was now 
.virtually brought to a close, at the moment when the news of the fall of 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson arrived to hajiten the retreat of General 
Lee, and to inspirit the movements of General Meade. The Union 
losses in this campaign were two thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
four killed, thirteen thousand seven hundred and nine wounded, and 
six thousand six hundred and forty-three missing; in all, twenty-three 
thousand one hundred and eighty-six. Upward of four thousand five 
hundred rebel dead were buried by Union bands at Gettysburg, and 
their losses in prisoners were over thirteen thousand. In the absence 
of any ofificial report, their losses in the battle of Gettysburg are esti- 
mated at at least thirty thousand, including sixteen generals killed and 
wounded, and two captured. 



CHAPTER XLHI. 

Lee's Retreat from Gettysburg. — Peace Mission. — Conscription. — Meade Re-enforced. — 
Draft. — Riots. — Leo Crosses the Rapidan. — His Advance and Subsequent Retreat 

General Meade was unable to press the pursuit of Lee with so much 
vigor as he could have wished, and the enemy retired unmolested, 
with the exception of a cavalry attack in the mountains, by Avhich he 
lost a number of Avagons and ambulances. The mountain passes being 
held by Lee's rear-guard, it was necessary for Meade to pursue by a 
flanking movement. The rebel train, guarded by General Imboden, 
reached Williamsport on the 6th of July, where, on the succeeding 
day, he was worsted in a sharp combat with a body of Union cavalry 
and artillery, losing a number of wagons and prisoners. 

On the 8th, Lee's rear-guard of cavalry, under Stuart, was driven out 
of Hagerstown with loss, and on the 9th the whole rebel army was 
concentrated in a strong position between Williamsport and Falling 
Waters, covering the crossings of the river at both places. The Poto- 
mac was now found to be so swollen by recent rains as to be unfordable. 
This interrupted communications with the South, and threatened the 
safety of the rebel army. The difficulty of procuring ammunition and 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]!^". 465 

subsistence became very great, the more so that tlie swollen river 
stopped the working of neighboring mills. The pontoon bridge at 
Falling Waters having been partially destroyed by the Unionists, the 
Confederates wei-e compelled to remain at Williamsport until a new 
one could be built and thrown across. This was successfully performed 
by the 13th. Meanwhile, Lee, having fortified his position by earth- 
works, awaited an attack from Meade, who, following from Gettysburg 
with caution, did not arrive in the enemy's front until the 12th, and 
decided not to attack until the rebel position could be reconnoitred. 
Pending the reconnoissance, on the night of the 13th the army of Lee 
began to cross, Ewell's Corps fording the river at Williamsport, 
while Longstreet and Hill's crossed upon the reconstructed bridge, 
near Falling Waters, where most of the train had previously passed. 
The movement was very tedious, owing to the condition of the roads, 
and was not completed until one p. m. of the 14th, when the bridge 
was removed. At Falling Waters, Hill's rear-guard was vigorously 
assailed by Kilpatrick's cavalry, losing two guns and upwards of fifteen 
hundred prisoners. In this encounter the enemy lost Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Pettigrew, who was mortally wounded, and died a few days after 
at Bunker's Hill, which point the rebel army reached on the 15th. The 
army imder General Meade crossed in pursuit, and took such a route 
as, aided by the swollen condition of the Shenandoah, com])elled Lee 
to abandon his original plan of retreat and to cross the Blue Kidge, and 
keep along the south side of the Rappahannock. He left Martinsburg 
on the 18th, and, on the 20th, Meade's whole army was over the Poto- 
mac in full pursuit. 

The retreat and pursuit continued without much of interest, until 
Lee's army occupied the south bank of the Rapidan, near Orange 
Court-House. The Union army occupied the north bank of the river, 
in the neighborhood of Culpepper Court-House. At the date of the 
battle of Gettysburg, a flag-of-truce boat arrived at Fortress Monroe, 
having on board Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the " South- 
ern Confederacy," between whom and the Federal authorities the fol- 
lowing correspondence took place : — 

" Fortress Monroe, Jji/y 4, 1863, ) 

" United States Steamer Minnesota — 2 p. m. [ 
" Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy : 

" The following communication is just received from Mr. Stephens, who is in the 
flag-of-truce boat anchored above. I shall inform Mr. Stephens that I await your in- 
structions before giving him an answer. 

" S. H. Lee, Admiral, &c" 

" ' Confederate States Steamer Torpedo, ) 
" ' In James River, July 4, 1863. j 

" ' Sir: — As military commissioner, I am the bearer of a communication in writing 
from Jefferson Davis, Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the Confed- 
erate States, to Abraham Lincoln, Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces 
of the United States. Honorable Robert Quid, Confederate States Agent of Exchange, 
accompanies me as secretary, for the purpose of delivering the communication in per- 
son, and conferring upon the subject to which it relates. I desire to proceed directly to 
Washington in the steamer Torpedo, commanded by Lieutenant Hunter Davidson, of the 
Confederate States Navy, no person being on board but the Honorable Mr. Quid, my- 
self, and the boat's officers and crew. 

" 'Yours most respectfully, 
" ' To S. H. Lee, Admiral, (fee. Alexander H. Stephens,' " 

30 



466 HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIT. 

"Navt Department, Ju?2/ 4, 1863. 
" Acting Rear- Admiral S. H. Lee, Hampton Roads : 

" The request of Alexander H. Stephens is inadmissible. The customary agents and 
channels are adequate for all needful military communication and conference between 
the United States forces and the insurgents. 

"Gideon- "Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 

The nature of the mission was not at that time made known, but the 
circumstance led to numberless conjectures. This attempted commu- 
nication was followed by a vigorous conscription of every male person 
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and on the ist of August 
Jefferson Davis issued an address to the soldiers of the confederation, 
appealing to tl^eir honor and manhood, and assuring them that there 
was now no alternative but victory or subjugation. The army of Gen- 
eral Lee was gradually strengthened by these means, and it continued 
in its cantonments on the southern bank of the Rapidan. The corps 
were reorganized and consolidated after the losses incurred in the 
Northern invasion, and many changes in command took place. Gen- 
eral Fitzhugh Lee, who commanded a brigade comjiosed of the First, 
Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Virginia, and First Maryland Cavalry, 
was made mnjor-general, and took leave of his brigade in a general 
order September 12th. Brigadier-General Wade Hampton was made a 
major-general, and Colonels M. C. Butler, of South Carolina, and 
William C. Wickham, late commander of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry, 
were appointed brigadier-generals, and the last named succeeded to 
the command of Fitzhugh Lee's Brigade. 

The Union Army was at the same time re-enforced by the new levies 
obtained under the draft, which had been enforced in July, and wdiich had 
caused a most serious riot in the city of New York. This, instigated 
by Southern conspirators, was quelled after considerable loss of life on 
the part of the rioters, and destruction of property ; and, to hasten re- 
cruiting, volunteering by bounties Avas in many places adopted instead 
of the draft. The new levies obtained in the Eastern and Middle States 
were, by general order from the War Department, sent to the Army of 
the Potomac, to which they gradually added great efficiency. On the 
12th September, Warren's Corps moved into position at Hart wood, 
about nine miles north of Falmouth. This manoeuvre was deemed to 
indicate an a])proaching forward movement by General Meade. The 
quiet was maintained, however, up to the middle of October. In the 
mean time, in consequence of important events taking place in Tennes- 
see, considerable detachments had been made from the army of Meade, 
to support Rosecrans ; and pending the elections in Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania, a considerable number of troops had been furloughed that they 
might enjoy the right of suffrage. Taking advantage of this state of 
affairs in 'Meade's army, which was encamped around Culpepper Coiirt- 
House, and thence to the Rapidan, General Lee, notwithstanding he 
had detached Longstreet to re-enforce Bragg in the West, on the 9th 
October put his army in motion and crossed the Rapidan, with the 
desif'n of bringing on an engagement. Imboden was ordered to ad- 
vance by the valley of the Shenandoah, to guard the gaps of the moun- 
tains, and Fitzhugh Lee, with his cavalry, to remain and hold the lines 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI^". 467 

south of the Rapidan. Stuart, with Hampton's Division, moved on the 
right of the column, and encountered the Union troops under Kilpat- 
rick, near James City, on the 10th. These retired on Culpepper, slowly 
followed General Lee, who arrived there on the 11th, and remained 
there to provision his troops until the 12th. Meantime, Meade, aware 
of the rapid approach of the enemy, as if to turn his flank, sent on the 
12th a strong cavalry force to theRapidan for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing the nature of the enemy's movement. It encountered Fitzhugh 
Lee, who repulsed and pursued it to Brandy Station. Here Stuart 
and Lee formed a junction and pressed the Union troops vigorously 
across the Rappahannock, inflicting some loss. The main body of 
Lee's army advanced and reached Warrenton Springs on the 13th. 
Meade, wlio had fallen back fifteen miles, continued his retreat rapidly, 
in order to anticipate his antagonist in the possession of the bloody 
field of Bull Run. The retreat was conducted on several parallel roads, 
while the march of the Confederates was circuitous. Meade, therefore, 
could not be outmarched. On October 14th, the Second Corps, com- 
manded by General Warren, took up a position at Bristow Station, be- 
hind the railroad embankment, and repulsed the advance of the enemy 
under Hill, with the loss of four hundred and fifty prisoners and five 
pieces of artillery. The enemy's re-enforcements arriving rapidly, the 
Union troops retreated across Broad Run, and on the following day 
proceeded to fortify Bull Run, extending the line towards Little River 
turnpike. Foiled m all his eftbrts to outflank or deceive his Avary op- 
ponent, who was gradually drawing him into unpleasant proximity to 
the fortifications surrounding Washington, and away from his base, the 
rebel general gave up the pursuit on the 15th, and retired upon the 
line of the Rappahannock, which he reached on the 18th, after destroy- 
ing the Orange and Alexandria Railro:id from Cub Run to that point. 
The rear of the retreating Confederates was covered by the cavalry 
under Stuart, who, with Hampton's Division, fell slowly back towards 
Warrenton, drawing the Union force in that direction, and giving Lee 
at Auburn an opportunity for a flank attack at Buckland. As soon as 
Stuart heard Lee's guns, he turned upon the Union troops, which, being 
in inferior force, were compelled to retreat to Haymarket. The enemy 
then resumed their march to the Rappahannock. 

Meantime, Imboden, who had proceeded down the valley, by a 
rapid march surrounded Charlestown, and captured the garrison of 
four hundred and thirty-four men stationed there, with their stores, and, 
what was of great advantage to the enemy, the transportation. He 
then rapidly retired before the advance of the Union troops from 
Harper's Ferry. The results of the enemy's movement were the cap- 
ture of two thousand prisoners, for which his own losses in killed, 
wounded, prisoners, and artillery scarcely compensated. The events 
in East Tennessee being at this time very critical, ^a mutual distrust 
existed between the opposing armies in Virginia, each dreading lest 
the other might send succor to the armies struggling there. General 
Meade, accordingly, made such demonstrations as Avould, it was sup- 
posed, deter Lee from sending troops to the rebel army in Tennessee, 
and, perhaps, compel him to recall Longstreet. The new Union 



468 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOIS". 

levies under the conscription began now to be more and more avail- 
able, and so freely were they organized that from the middle of 
October to June, 1864, according to the declaration of the chair- 
man of the Senate Military Committee, six hundred thousand 
men were sent to the armies. In the first week of November, 
there were indications that an aggressive movement by the army 
in Virginia would speedily be entered on. It was publicly announced 
that all able-bodied troops in garrison at Washington, under command 
of General Martindale, would be relieved from duty and sent to the 
field, and their place tilled by the Invalid Corps. Advices from the 
Ai-my of the Potomac showed that the rebels intended to resist our 
occupying the Rappahannock and rebuilding the railroad across it. 
They nad also been recently engaged in fortifying the approaches to 
the river on the north side. Under these circumstances, General Meade 
commenced a forward movement from the line of Cedar Run to the 
line of the Rappahannock. The advance began early on the morning 
of Saturday, November 7th. The Sixth Corps, General Sedgwick, 
moved from Warrenton to Rappahannock Station. The Second, Third, 
and Fifth Corps, under Warren, French, and Sykes, respectively 
marched by Warrenton Junction along the line of railway by way of 
Bealton, where the First Corps, Newton, brought up with the extreme 
left. Previous cavalry reconnoissances had shown that the enemy occu- 
pied the forts at Rappahannock Station, and were also in force to the 
south at Kelly's Ford. From Bealton the Fifth Corps continued in 
direct line of march to form a junction with the Sixth at Rappahan- 
nock Station. The Second and Third deployed at Kelly's Ford. At 
this point the Third was in advance, and as they neared the ford they 
threw out strong lines of skirmishers and sharpshooters. Batteries 
were planted on the range of hills rising abruptly along the north side 
of the river, and sweeping the extensive plateau on the south side. 
Under cover of their fire the pontoons were successfully laid, and the 
attacking party, consisting of Berdan's sharpshooters, the Fortieth 
New York, the First and Twentieth Indiana, the Third and Fifth 
Michigan, and the One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania, rapidly 
crossed the bridge. Having gained the opposite bank, the rifle-pits 
were charged, and the rebels, finding themselves surrounded on all 
sides, surrendered. The captures at this point were found to in- 
clude over four hundred prisoners ; General French's loss was about 
seventy. 

While the Third Corps was thus passing the Rappahannock at Kel- 
ly's Ford, the Sixth was effecting a crossing under more formidable 
difliculties at Rappahannock Station. On the north side the de- 
fences consisted of a strong fort, two redoubts, and several rifle-pits. 
These works wei'e held by nearly two thousand men belonging to 
Early's Division of Ewell's Corps. Commanding positions to the rear 
of the fort having been obtained, heavy batteries were planted thereon, 
and a fierce cannonade opened between the two sides. Just before 
dark, the storming party, consisting of Russell's and Upton's Brigades, 
was formed, and the works carried by a very brilliant coup de inain. 
Over fifteen hundred prisoners, four guns, and eight battle-flags weje 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 469 

taken. General Sedgwdck's loss was about three hundred killed and 
wounded. 

The Third Corps, after the successful crossing at Kelly's Ford, 
caraped for the night on the south side of the Rappahannock, and on 
the following morning (Sunday, 8th) resumed the advance, followed by 
the Second and First Corps in order. About noon they came upon a 
strong force of cavalry and light artillery, two miles east of Brandy 
Station, engaging and pursuing them to a point two miles beyond that 
place, the fighting continuing till after dark. Meanwhile, the other 
corps (the Fifth and Sixth) were scouring the country up the river 
and toward Stevensburg. The rebels had all retreated but a few 
hours before. Camps were found prepared for winter-quarters. 

The following dispatches were sent by General Meade : — 

"Head-Quarters Army of the roTOJiAC, } 
" November 7 — 9. 30 p. it. f 
" Major-General Sedgwick advanced to the railroad crossing, where he drove the ene- 
my to the river, assaulted and captured two redoubts with artillery, on this side, taking 
a number of prisoners. 

" Major-General French advanced to Kelly's Ford, driving the enemy in small force 
across the river, and captured several hundred prisoners at the Ford. 

"George G. Meade, Major- GentraZ Commanding.''^ 

" Head-Quaetebs Army op the Potomac, ) 
^'November 7 — 10 P. M. ) 
" General Sedgwick reports capturing, this p. m., in his operations, four colonels, tliree 
lieutenant-colonels, many other officers, and over eight hundred men, together with 
four battle-flags. 

" General French captured over four hundred prisoners, officers and men. 

"George G. Meade, Major- General Commanding.'''' 

The following telegram was sent by President Lincoln to General 
Meade, and published to the Army on the 10th : — 

"Washington, Monday, Kbvemlerd, 18G3. 
" Major-General Meade: — I have seen your dispatches about operations on the Eap- 
pahannock on Saturday, and I wish to say ' well done.' 

(Signed) "A. Lincoln." 

The sum-total of the movement was to transfer the line of the rebels 
from the south side of the Rappahannock to the south side of the 
Rapidan ; and of the Army of the Potomac from the line of Cedar 
Run to the line of the Upper Rappahannock. Here General Meade 
took up his position, which was further strengthened by breastworks, 
and the restoration of the railroad in his rear was at once commenced. 

The main force of the enemy remained between the Rapidan and 
Orange Court-House, the river being thoroughly guarded. Its natu- 
ral strength is considerable, since it commands the northern bank. 
The rebel defences on the south side of the Rapidan were of a very 
formidable character, being situated on ridges from thirty to a hundred 
and fifty feet above the river level, and elevated considerably above 
the northern bank, where the ground falls into an extended plain, pre- 
senting on our side every possible disadvantage for strategic move- 
ments. 



470 HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOK". 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Meade's Advance across the Rapidan. — Reerosses. — "Winter Quarters. — Draft for Three 
Hundred Thousand Men. — Reconnoissance. — Kilpatrick's Raid upon Richmond. — 
Death of Dahlgren. 

The armies maintained their position without material change until 
Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, when General Meade, impressed 
with the idea that Lee was in retreat, issued orders for an advance. 
The cavalry crossed the Rapidan, and, discovering that the enemy had 
withdrawn, advanced in pursuit. The movement of the main army 
was as follows : The Second Corps, General Warren, crossed at Ger- 
mania Ford, taking the road to Orange Court-IIouse, vld Robertson's 
Tavern; the Third Corps, General French, at Jacob's Mills Ford, and 
took position at night on the right of the Second Corps ; tlie Fifth 
Corps, General Sykes, at Culpepper Ford, towards the Fredericksburg 
plankroad, and formed a junction with the Second Corps on its right, 
at the forks of the road at Robertson's Tavern ; the Sixth Corps, 
General Sedgwick, followed the Third Corps at Jacob's Mills Ford ; 
and the First Corps, General Newton, with the reserve artillery and 
wagon trains, followed the Fifth Corps across Culpepper Ford. The 
Avagons were parked at Richardsville, about fifteen miles south from 
Rappahannock Station. 

The crossings were made without opposition. The water was about 
waist high, and the men forded the river. While on the march the 
columns were halted, and the telegrams annoimcing the victory at 
Chattanooga were read to the men. The news was received with the 
wildest enthusiasm. The air was darkened with caps thrown up by 
officers and men, and resonant with cheers. 

Before this advance, the enemy fell back and took up a position at 
Mine Rmi, southwest of Chancellorsville, where severe combats took 
place on the 27th and 30th. The strength of this position was such 
that it was not deemed prudent to attack. The soundness of this judg- 
ment was tested some months later, when Grant vainly attempted, 
with a much larger force, to carry the position. General Meade, in 
consequence, withdrew his troops on December 1st, and reoccupied the 
position whence he had advanced, near Brandy Station, on the Orange 
and Alexandria Railroad. The army of Lee resumed its former posi- 
tion at Orange Court-House, his advance guarding the fords of the 
Rapidan. 

The work of recrniting the army was now in progress. The Presi- 
dent, under date of October 17th, issued a call for three hundred thou- 
sand men, to serve for three years or the Avar, and the Governors of 
the States Avere called upon to raise and have enlisted the quotas due 
from their States. In case the required number should not volunteer 
under this call, a draft was to be made on January 5th, 1864. By 
means of liberal bounties offered to veteran recruits, a large number 
of the men of Meade's army, whose time would expire in the spring of 
1864, Avere induced to re-enlist under this call, thirty days' furlough 



HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOS". 471 

being allowed them. Towards the close of December the men began 
to leave for their homes, and as the' work of reorganizing the array 
consumed many weeks, there was but little active work, and no impor- 
tant military movement was undertaken. 

Towards the close of January, 1864, it was determined to consoli- 
date the five corps, which then composed the Army of the Potomac, 
into three, under Generals Sedgwick, Hancock, and Warren, who there- 
after commanded respectively the Sixth, Second, and Plfth. The First 
and Third censed to exist. The re-enlistments went on rather slowly 
under the call of October, and on the 1st of February the following 
order appeared : — 

*' Executive Mansion, ) 
""Washingto.v, Ftbruary 1. \ 
" Ordered, That a draft for five hundred thousand men to serve for tlirce years or 
during the war be made on tlie 10th day of March next, for the military service of the 
United States, crediting and deducting therefrom so many as may liave been enHsted 
or drafted into the service prior to the first day of March, and not heretofore credited. 
V (Signed) '' Abraham Lincoln." 

By a circular issued by the Provost-^Marshal-General, it appeared 
that this call amounted practically to a call for two hundred thousand 
men in addition to those required by the October call. The Confeder- 
ates, on their side, were stimulated by the vigor of the Northern efforts 
to raise troops by fresh conscriptions, and the utmost rigor was exer- 
cised in filling iheir depleted ranks. General Meade was at this time 
ill in Philadelphia, and rumors began to spread of the selection of a 
new commander for the Army of the Potomac, which, however, proved 
to be utterly groundless. The two armies continued comparatively 
inactive until the 6th of February, when a reconnoissance in force was 
undertaken by General Sedgwick. Kilpatrick's Division of Cavalry, 
supported by battery C, Third United States Artillery (Braxton Bragg'a 
old battery), advanced on the extreme left and crossed the Rapidan at 
Ely's Ford ; after which the cavalry was divided into squads to scour 
the country in the direction of Richardson's tavern and Fredericks- 
burg, on the left. The duty was thoroughly performed, but no enemy 
was discovered in force. The cavalry then recrossed the Rapidan. 
The Second and Third Divisions of the Second Corps were ordered to 
cross at Stevensburg early on the 6th, but as the pontoons, which 
were ordered, had failed to arrive, the Second Division boldly forded 
the deep stream in the face of the enemy, who held his ground, and the 
fight continued all day. The two divisions were withdrawn on the 
Vth, after having lost two hundred men in killed and wounded, most 
of whom were in the Second Corps. General Merritt's Division of 
Cavalry advanced on the right, and crossed at Barnett's Ford. They 
had a brisk skirmish with some of Stuart's cavalry, and recrossed on 
Sunday, the Vth inst. The results of the movement did not confirm 
the impression that had been current as to the demoralization of the 
enemy. In connection with this movement a cavalry raid, started from 
the lower peninsula, demonstrated against Richmond, but finding the 
rebels on the alert, proceeded no farther than Bottom's Bridge over 
the Chickahominy. 



472 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

There was little further of interest until the 28th of February, when 
the cavalry command of Kilpatrick moved from Stevensburg, Virginia, 
on a bold raid, having for its object the liberation of Union prisoners 
confined in Richmond. That this dashing attempt did not meet with 
full success, does not detract from the originality of the enterprise. 
The troops crossed the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, where Captain Dahlgren 
was detached with a picked command on a special mission, Avhile the 
main body pushed on through Spottsylvania Court-House to Beaver 
Dam, which they reached on the afternoon of the 29th. Much destruc- 
tion of bridges and railroads here took place, and the column advanced 
across the South Anna at Taylorsville, and at half-past ten a. m. of the 
30th were within the outer defences of Richmond, on the Brook turn- 
pike, three and a half miles from the city. On passing the second line 
of defences, the force met the fire of the enemy from the third line. 
The bridge over Brook Creek having now been destroyed by the 
enemy, and the fire in front increasing, Kilpatrick moved off rapidly 
on the Meadow Bridge road, destroying property as he went. The 
command encamped at evening near the Chickahominy, repulsed an 
attack during the night, and, finding that the enemy had destroyed the 
boats on the Pamunkey, in the morning moved down the Peninsula, 
harassed by the enemy on flank and rear. Meantime, Captain Dahl- 
gren proceeded to Fredericshall to destroy munitions there, but, finding 
the place too strong, declined to attack, and moved oflE" to the James 
River Canal, which he reached eight miles east of Goochland Court- 
House. Here he destroyed a good deal of property, and hanged a 
guide who had purposely misled him. The command then proceeded 
towards Richmond, which it reached after the retreat of Kilpatrick. 
Encountering a body of the enemy's cavalry, Dahlgren fell back, and 
with one hundred men got separated from his main body, which, under 
Captain Mitchell, joined Kilpatrick, who with his command reached 
Williamsburg. Colonel Dahlgren was killed while pushing towards 
the York River, and most of his men taken prisoners. The enemy 
claimed to have found upon Dahlgren's body papers detailing a plan 
for destroying Richmond by incendiarism, and murdering the members 
of the Government. The report of the rebel Secretary of War gave 
particulars of the alleged intentions of Dahlgren ; but the friends of 
Dahlgren and the United States Government have denied that any 
Buch plan was devised, and the alleged instructions bear internal evi- 
dence of being a clumsy forgery of the enemy. A co-operating force, 
Bent by Butler from Fortress Monroe to aid this raid, failed to come up 
in time, and the enterprise failed of any practical results, except the 
destruction of public property. This may be considered the more un- 
fortunate, as it is now known that at the time Richmond was defended 
by a totally inadequate force, and might, perhaps, by a vigorous exer- 
tion, have been entered by the Union cavalry. 




LIEUT. &EE-U. S. GRANT. 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 473 



CHAPTER XLV. 

Creation of the Office of Lieutenant-General. — General Grant Appointed. — Army Re- 
organization. — Draft for Two Hundred Tliousand Men. — General Grant assumes Com- 
mand in Chief — Powers of the Lieutenant-General. — Country between "Washington 
and Richmond. — Rule of Advance. — Rebel Position. 

The main army was now rested, and measm-es were in progress to 
give it a thorougla reorganization. Congress having passed a bill 
reviving the office of Lieutenant-General, and recommending General 
Grant for the office, on the 10th March a general order issued reliev- 
ing General Halleck from duty as general-in-chief of the army, and 
assigning General Grant to the command of the armies of the United 
States, with head-quarters in the field. General Halleck was appointed 
chief of the staff. The command was assumed on the following general 
order : — 

"Head-Quarters of the Armies op the United States, ) 
"Nashville, Tennessee, March 11, 1864. ) 

general order, no. 12. 
" In pursuance of the following order of the President : — 

" 'Executive Mansion, Washington, March 10, 1864, 
" ' Under the authority of the act of Congress to appoint to the grade of lieutenant- 
general in the army, of February 29, 1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, United 
States Army, is appoiiited to the command of the armies of the United States. 

'"ABEiVHAM Lincoln.' 
— I assume command of the armies of the United States. Head-quarters will be in the 
field, and, until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There will be an 
office head-quarters in Washington, to which all official communications will be sent, 
except those from the army where the head-quarters are at the date of their address. 

"U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- GeneraV 

Following this order was a new call for a draft of two hundred thou- 
sand men, as follows : — 

"Executive iLiNsiON, Washington, March 14, 1864. 
general orders, no. 100. 

" In order to supply the force required to be drafted for the Navy, and to provide an 
ample reserve force for all contingencies, in addition to the five hundred thousand men 
called for February 1, 1864, the call is hereby made, and a draft ordered, for two hun- 
dred thousand men for the military service. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps of the 
United States. 

" The proportional quotas for the diflFerent wards, towns, townships, precincts, or 
election districts or counties, will be made known through the Provost-Marshal-Gen- 
eral's Bureau, and accounts will be taken of the credits and deficiencies of former 
quotas. 

"The 15th day of April, 1864, is designated as the time up to which the numbers 
required from each ward of a city, town, &c., may be raised by voluntary enlistment, 
and drafts will be made in such wards of a city, town, &c., which shall not have filled 
the quota assigned to it within the time designated for the number required to fill said 
quota. 

" The drafts will be commenced as soon after the 15th of April as practicable. 

"The Government bounties, as now paid, continue until April 1, 1864, at which time 
the additional bounties cease. On and after that date, one hundred dollars only will 
be paid, as provided by the act approved July 22, 1861. 

(Signed) "Abraham Lincoln. 

"Official: E. D. TOWNSEND, A A (?." 



474 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

This call, with the two previous ones of October and February, 
made seven hundred thousand men called for in six months. While 
the material was thus provided, the Army of the Potomac underwent 
an entire reorganization, as may be seen by the following order : — 

KEORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 

"Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac, ) 
" Thursday, March 24, 1864 \ 

"general orders, no. 10. 
" The following ordor has been received from the War Department : — 

'""War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, ) 
" ' Wasuington, March 23, 1864. J 

'"general orders, no. 415. 

" ' First. — By direction of the President of the United States, the number of army corps 
composing the Army of the Potomac will be reduced to three, viz. : the Second, Fifth, 
and Sixth Corps. The troops of the other two corps, viz., the First and Third Corps, 
■will be temporarily reorganized and distributed among the Second, Fifth, and Sixth, by 
the commanding general, who will determine what existing organization will retain 
their corps badges and other distinctive marks. The staff officers of the two corps 
Avhich are temporarily broken up, will be assigned to vacancies in the other corps, so 
far as svtch vacancies may exist. Those for whom there are no vacancies will cease to 
be considered as officers of the general staff of army corps. 

" ' Second. — Major-General G. W. "Warren is assigned by the President to the command 
of the Fifth Corps. 

" ' Third.— ThQ following general officers are detached from the Army of the Potomac, 
and will report for orders to the adjutant of the army, viz.:, Major-General George 
Sykes, U. S. Vols., Major-General W. II. French, U. S. Vols., Major-General John New- 
ton, U. S. Vols., Brigadier-General J. R. Kenly, U. S. Vols., Brigadier-General F. 
Spinola, U. S. Vols., Brigadier-General Solomon Meredith, U. S. Vols. 
" ' By order of the Secretary of War. 

" *E. D. TowNSEND, A. A. G: 

" Fourth. — The following arrangements are made to carry out the provisions of the 
foregoing order:— The Second, Fifth, and Sixth Army Corps will be consolidated into 
two divisions. The first and second divisions of the Third Corps are transferred to the 
Second Corps, preserving their badges and distinctive marks. The tliird division of the 
Third Corps is transferred permanently to the Sixth Corps. The three divisions now 
forming the First Corps are transferred to the Fifth Corps, preserving their badges and 
distinctive marks, and on joining the Fifth Corps, they will be consohdated into two 
divisions. The commander of the division transferred to the Second, Fifth, and Sixth 
Corps will at once report to tlie commanders of those corps for instructions. Brigadier- 
General J. B. Carr will report to Major-General Hancock, commanding the Second 
Corps, and Brigadier-General K. Prince to Major-General Sedgwick, commanding the 
Sixth Corps. Tiie chief of artillery wdl assign eight batteries each to the Second, 
Fifth, and Sixtli Corps, these batteries to bo taken from those now with the corps, and 
with the First and Third Corps. The batteries with the several corps in excess of the 
above allowance will join the artillery reserve. The consoUdation of divisions called 
for in this order will be made by the corps commanders concerned, who are author- 
ized to rearrange the brigades of their respective commands in such manner as they 
may think best for the service. The reassignment of officers of the staff departments, 
consequent upon the reorganization of the army, will be made upon the nominations of 
the chiefs of staff departments at these head-quarters. Special instructions will bo 
given hereafter with respect to staff officers of the two corps temporarily broken up. 

" Fifth. — Tlio major-general commanding avails himself of the occasion to say, that in 
view of the reduced strength of nearly all the regiments serving in this army, the tem- 
porary reduction of the army corps to three is a measure imperatively demanded by 
the best interests of tlie service, and that the reasons for attaching the First and Third 
Corps, for the time being, to other corps, were in no respect founded upon any sup- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 475 

posed inferiority of those corps to the other corps of this army. All the corps have 
equally proved their valor on many fields, and all have equal claims to the confidence 
of the Government and of the country. The First and Third Corps will retain their 
badges and distinctive marks, and the major-general commanding indulges the hope 
that the ranks of the army will be filled at an early day, so that those corps can again 
bo reorganized. 

"By command of Major-General Meade. 

(Signed) "S. Williams, A. A. C." 

The following is a siunmary of the reorganization of the corps : — 

FIFTH ARMY CORPS. 

Major-General Warren, Commanding. 

The consolidation of divisions and arrangement of brigades is made as follows : — The 
commanding officer of the First Division of tlie old Fifth Corps is ordered to consolidate 
the three brigades into two brigades, to be designated as the First and Second Bri- 
gades, First Division, Fifth Army Corps. The old Second Division, Fifth Corps, has been 
consolidated into one brigade, to be designated as the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth 
Corps, commanded by Brigadier-General R. B. Ayres. The old Third Division, Fifth Corps, 
will remain as the new Third Division, Fifth Army Corps. The Second Brigade of the 
Third Division, First Army Corps, has been transferred to the Second Division, First 
Army Corps, and this division will hereafter be designated as the Second Division, 
Fifth Army Corps. The First Brigade of the Third Division, First Army Corps, has 
been transferred to the First Division, First Army Corps, and this division will here- 
after be designated as the Fourth Division, Fifth Army Corps. The designating flags 
of the old Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps; of the old Second Division, 
Fifth Army Corps ; of the old Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifth Army Corps, and 
of Third Division, First Army Corps, are ordered to be turned in to the corps quarter- 
master. 

The following is the assignment of general ofBcers to commands in the consolidated 
corps : — 

1. Brigadier-General J. S. "Wadsworth, commanding Fourth Division. 

2. Brigadier-General S. W. Crawford, commanding Third Division. 

3. Brigadier-General J. 0. Robinson, commanding Second Division. 

4. Brigadier-General Charles Griffin, commanding First Division. 

5. Brigadier-General R. B. Ayres, commanding Tliird Brigade, First Division. 

6. Brigadier-General L. Cutter, commanding First Brigade, Fourth Division. 

1. Brigadier-General Henry Baxter, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division. 

8. Brigadier-General J. J. Bartlett, commanding Second Brigade, First Division. 

9. Brigadier-General James Barnes, commanding First Brigade, First Division. 
10. Brigadier-General J. C. Rice, commanding Second Brigade, Fourth Division. 
The following is a portion of the corps staff: — 

Lieutenant-Colonel II. C. Bankhead, Inspector-General. 
Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Locke, Assistant Adjutant-General. 
Captain D. L. Smith, Acting Chief Commissary of Subsistence. 
Captain W. T. Gentry, Commissary of Musters. 
The other officers of the stalT have not yet been assigned. 

SECOND CORPS. 

Major-General Hancock, Commanding. 

The original regiments of the Second Corps have been consolidated into two divi- 
sions, with a new assignment of division and brigade commanders. 

The division formerly known as the First Division of tiie Third Corps, commanded 
by Major-General Birney, has been designated as the Third Division of the Second 
Corps. The division formerly known as the Second Division of the Third Corps, to 
which Brigadier-General Carr has been assigned as commander, will hereafter be known 
as the Fourth Division of the Second Corps. Each of these divisions has been reduced 
to two brigades. The organization of the staff of the Second Corps has not yet been 
completed. 

The following is the arrangement of divisions and assignment of commanders : — 



476 mSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

FIRST DIVISION. 
Brigadier-General T. C. Barlow. 
Pirst Brigade — Colonel N. A. Niles, Sixty-first New York. 
Second Brigade — Colonel T. A. Smythe, First Delaware Volunteers. 
Third Brigade — Colonel P. Frank, Fifty-second New York. 
Fourth Brigade — Colonel J. R. Brooke, Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania. 

SECOND DIVISION. 

Brigadier-General John Gibbon. 
First Brigade — Brigadier-General A. S. Webb. 
Second Brigade — Brigadier-General J. P. Owens. 
Third Brigade— Colonel S. S. Carroll, Eighth Ohio. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

Major-General D. B. Bimey. ( 

Fu"st Brigade — Brigadier-General J. H. Ward. 
Second Brigade — Brigadier-General A. Haye. 

FOURTH DIVISION. 

Brigadier-General J. B. Carr. 
First Brigade — Brigadier-General G. Mott. 

Second Brigade — Colonel W. R. Brewster, Seventy-third New York. 
Chief of Artillery— Colonel Tibball. 

SIXTH CORPS. 

General Sedgwick, Commanding. 
The old Third Division, Sixth Corps, is broken up, one brigade (Shaler's) going to the 
First Division ; the Second (Wheaton's and Eustis's) going to the Second Division. The 
Third Division, Third Corps, is transferred to the Sixth Corps, and General Prince 
is assigned to the command of it. The three brigades of this division are consohdated 
into two, under General Russell and General Morris. 

FIRST DIVISION. 

Brigadier-General H. G. Wright. 
First Brigade — Brigadier-General A. T. A. Torbert. 

Second Brigade — Colonel E. Upton, One Hundred and Twenty-first New York. 
Third Brigade — Colonel H. Burnham, Fifth Maine Volunteers. 
Fourth Brigade — Brigadier-General A. Shaler. 

SECOND DIVISION. 

Brigadier-General G. W. Getty. 
First Brigade — Brigadier-General F. Wheaton. 
Second Brigade — Colonel L. A. Grant, "Fremont" Brigade. 
Third Brigade — Brigadier-General T. H. NeiU. 
Fourth Brigade — Brigadier-General A. L. Eustis. 

THIRD DIVISION. 
Brigadier-General H. Prince. 
First Brigade — Brigadier-General W. H. Morris. 
Second Brigade — Brigadier-General D. A. Russell. 
Colonel C. H. Tompkins, First Rhode Island Artillery, commanding Artillery. 

Each of the generals detached took leave of his troops in a general 
order. Major-General P. H. Sheridan was summoned from the West 
to take command of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. 

Lieutenant-General Grant arrived in Washington on Tuesday, 
April 8th, accompanied by General Rawlings and Colonel Comstock. 
On the afternoon of Wednesday, the 9th, the President formally pre- 
sented to him at the Cabinet Chamber, in the presence of the entire 
Cabinet, his commissiou as lieutenant-general, and thus addressed 
him: — 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 477 

" General Grant .- — The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance 
upon jou for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now pre- 
sented with this commission constituting you Lieutenant-General in the Army of the 
United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also acorresponding responsibility. 
As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to 
add, that with what I here speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concur- 
rence." 

To which General Grant replied as follows : — 

" Mr. President : — I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. 
With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common 
country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel 
the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they 
are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all to the favor of that Provideuco 
which leads both nations and men." 

General Grant was then introduced to the Cabinet, and some time 
was spent in conversation. 

The new general lost little time in commencing his new duties. He 
issued an order directing all civilians, sutlers, and their employes, to 
proceed to the rear with all their property, and stopped all furloughs. 
He personally inspected the several Eastern dej)artments, visiting For- 
tress Monroe, Annapolis, and other points, during the month of April. 
The weather during the month was adverse to army movements, as 
incessant rains sufficed to make the roads impassable. The enemy 
on his side had recruited with great vigor, and was indefatigable in 
the construction of earthworks. 

In illustration of the ample powers conferred upon General Grant, 
and of the policy pursued towards him by the President, the following 
correspondence is of interest : — 

" Executive Mansion, Washington, April 30, 1864. 
" Lieutenant-General Grant : 

" Not expecting to see you before the spring caippaign opens, I wish to express in 
this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I 
understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know, nor seek to know. You 
are vigilant and self-reliant ; and pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any re- 
straints or constraints upon you. While I am very anxious that any great disaster, or 
capture of our men in great nunrbers, shall be avoided, I know that lliese i)oints are less 
likely to escape your attention tlian tliey would be mine. If there be any thing want- 
ing which is within my power to give, do not foil to let me know it. 

" And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain yoa. 

" Yours, very truly, A. Lincoln." 

grant's reply. 
" Head-Quarters Armies op the United States, } 
Culpepper Coukt-House, May 1, 18G4. j 
" The President : — Your very kind letter of yesterday is just received. The confi- 
dence you express for the future and sati.'^faction for the past in my military adminis- 
tration, is acknowledged with pride. It shall be my earnest endeavor that you and 
the country shall not bo disappointed. From my first entrance into the vokinteer ser- 
vice of the country until the present day, I have never had cause of complaint, have 
never expressed or implied a complaint against the Administration or the Secretary of 
War, for throwing any embarrassment in the way of my vigorously prosecuting what 
appeared to be ray duty. 

" Indeed, since the promotion which placed me in command of all the armies, and in 
view of the great responsibOity and importance of success, I have been astonished at 
the readiness with which every thing asked for has been yielded, without even an ex 



478 HISTOEY or the great EEBELLIOIS'. 

planation being asked. Should my success be less than I desire and expect, the least 
I can say is, the fault is not with you. 

" Very truly, your obedient servant, 

"U. S. Gra'st, Lieutenant- GcneraV 

With the approach of spring it became necessary to complete the 
arrangements for another advance on Richmond ; and this time it was 
apparently determined that tliere should be no lack of force and no 
diversity of command that should interfere with the directness and 
efficiency of the blows to be struck. A large amount of experience 
had now been gained in relation to the mode of conducting the cam- 
paign. In previous years direct advances upon Richmond had failed 
in various stages of progress, the army of the invasion generally stop- 
ping short at the Rappahannock and the Rapidan. The difficulty of 
passing these lines was beginning to be considered as insuperable. 
But the Government was determined, by augmented force, more 
thoroughly to test that problem. The physical character of the coun- 
try betAveen Washington and Richmond is such as to exert an unex- 
ampled influence iipon military operations. 

On the right of an advancing army are chains of mountains, which 
enable an opposing force to conceal any flanking movement they may 
undertake, while the valleys afford to it the means lor an easy and un- 
interrupted passage to the Potomac above Washington, and one almost 
entirely secure from attacks in its rear. On the front is a succession 
of rivers, presenting great natural obstacles to an advance, and at the 
same time easily defensible ; to make flanking movements by ascend- 
ing them is to open the rear to attacks from Fredericksburg, and to 
cross below the enemy's army would leave the railroad a prey to guer- 
rillas. The country is, moreover, masked in every direction by dense 
forests, rendering any thing like a surprise in force impracticable. A 
few scouts may at all times easily detect and thwart such a movement. 
Such are the natural features of the country. 

It is a well-known rule of military operations, that a "base" should 
neither be too extended nor too limited, and it should be accessible by 
several routes. The base of the Army of the Potomac was just the 
width of a railroad track, and that railroad furnished really the only 
practicable route of communication. With a limited base an army is 
always exposed to be cut in the rear. This is what had happened to 
the Army of the Potomac at every advance. Guerrilla bands infested 
the whole coimtry between the Rap])ahannock and Alexandria (some 
sixty miles), and it is impossible to protect entirely in a hostile country 
such an extent of territory. For every mile of advance beyond Fair- 
fax Court-House, five hundred men are required to protect the rear. 
An entire corps was in March employed by General Meade in doing 
this from the Rappahannock to Manassas, and the troops of the De- 
partment of Washington protected the track from that locality to 
Alexandria. Hence the drain of an army for that service can V)e easily 
estimated. After passing the Rapidan, if railroad communication is to 
be rehed on for supplies, a strong force must be constantly kept in the 
rear ; every train will even then be exposod to capture by bands sweep- 
ing down from the mountains. 



niSTOEY OF TILE GFwEAT IlEBELLIO:^-. 479 

The rebel leaders fully understood all these circumstances, and were 
always ready to take advantage of them. They were aware that they 
could hold in check, with three-fifths of its force, the Army of the Po- 
tomac. Meantime, they pursued the Fabian policy, and were not 
foolish enough to stake every thing on the risk of a battle, except where 
invulnerably fortified. Their own rear needed no protection ; they 
had two railroad routes, besides all the ordinary roads. Thus they had 
all the advantage of position on their side. 

There were several methods by which an army could overcome these 
obstacles: First, with a sufficient force to cover its flanks, it might com- 
pel the enemy to retreat and Richmond to be abandoned. Second, it 
might be able to bring on an enofagement which would prove decisive. 
Third, by cutting loose from Washington and becoming a movable 
column, it could go at any time to the rear of the rebel army and 
open a new base for itself on the Pamunkey or York Rivers, or by the 
railroad from Fredericksburg. It is risking nothing to say that the 
army could at any time go to Richmond, if r.dieved from the necessity 
of protecting its rear. This could have been done when General 
Mende crossed the Rapidan and was stopped by the rebel works on 
Mine Run. The army could transport fifteen days' subsistence and forage, 
and with this be moved to Hanover Court-House, to operate on a new 
base. Fifteen days is the period usually assigned in Europe as the 
length of a march from one base of operations to another, except the 
country traversed be able to support the army. In Virginia, our army 
could derive no advantage from the country. It could not subsist itself 
for the most limited period. The portion of the State which had been the 
scene of war was exhausted. Even among the fertile farms of the Pen- 
insula it was difficult to obtain small supplies of forage ; of subsist- 
ence for the men there was actually nothing. The necessity of " bases " 
was therefore evident. 

The works occupied by Lee's army on the Rapidan extended on the 
right three miles below Raccoon Ford. Ewell's Corps and Hill's lay 
behind those defences, and stretched out on each side of Orange Court- 
House, along a line of twenty miles. Longstreet, having returned some 
time before from Eastern Tennessee, occupied the country around 
Gordonsville, thirteen miles southwest of the position on the Rapidan. 
Such had been the disposition of the Army of Northern Virginia during 
the latter part of April. 

The force with which Grant was about to take the field was raag- 
nifi'Cent in numbers and equipment. Under his j^ersonal observation 
moved the Army of the Potomac with its three cori)S, Hancock's 
(Second), Warren's (Fifth), and Sedgwick's (Sixth), recruited to over 
forfcy thousand men each ; in additionto which, the Ninth Corps, under 
Burnside, of equal strength to any of the others, and comprising a 
large body of colored troops, was to constitute his reserve on the field. 
In connection with the direct advance of this army by land towards 
Richmond, there were to be co-operating movements up the James 
River from Fortress Monroe, and up the Valley of the Shenandoah, 
towards LynchVjurg, the former to be conducted by the Army of the 
James, comprising W. T. ("Baldy ") Smith's (Eighteenth) Corps, and 



480 HISTORY OF TUE GREAT REBELLIOlf. 

Gilmore's (Tenth), the wliole under the command of General Butler ; 
and the latter by the Array of the Shenandoah, comprising the troops 
under General Crook, serving in Western Virginia, and somewhat 
later Emery's (Nineteenth) Corps. This movement was to be directed 
by Sigel. These three distinct organizations, converging ultimately 
toward a single point, had, indeed, a common object, but upon the 
Army of the Potomac, which far exceeded tlie others in strength and 
effectiveness, was to devolve the hardest of the figbtinij. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Tlie Army in Tennessee.— Results of Murfreesboro'.— Operations in Tennessee. — Minor 
Expeditions.— Advance of Rosecraus.— Retreat of Bragg.- Bnrnside's Campaign in 
East Tennessee. — Occupation of Knoxville. — Evacuation of Chattanooga. — Concen- 
tration of the Enemy.— Battle of Chickamauga.— The Two Generals,— Results of 
the Battle. 

The battle of Stone River, near Murfreesboro, which closed the 
operations of the year 1802 in Tennessee, left General Rosecraus es- 
tablished at the latter place with the Army of the Cumberland. The 
army occupied a position in front of the town, and a series of exten- 
sive earthworks, completely encircling it, were constructed for the 
purpose of making it a depot of supplies and the base of future opera- 
tions. The railroad track and the bridges in the rear towards Nash- 
ville were also repaired. On the 9th of January, the army was di- 
vided into three corps, designated the Fourteenth, Twentieth, and 
Twenty-first, and commanded respectively by Generals Thomas, 
McCook, and Crittenden. Active operations were, however, sus- 
pended, owing to the rains of the season. Large supplies w^ere col- 
lected in consequence of the rise of the Cumberland River at Nashville 
and Murfreesboro'. But the enemy was not idle. His cavalry overran 
the country, and men and wagons belonging to General Rosecrans 
were often captured by him. The object'was to cut off the commu- 
nications between the Army of the Cumberland and its supj)lies. 
Thus also several of the steamers on the Cumberland River w^ere cap- 
tured and burned. 

^ On the 31st of January, 1863, General Jeff. C. Davis, wdth a divi- 
sion of infantry and two brigades of cavalry, under Colonel Minty, 
moved from camp on an expedition in the direction of Rover and 
Franklin. The force was absent thirteen days, during which it 
scoured the country, making many captures from the enemy. On the 
Confederate side there was much activity under Colonel Forrest, who 
operated to cut off sujiplies on the Cumberland. On the 5th of March 
a Federal brigade at Sj^ring Hill Avas surprised by a large force under 
Van Dorn. The former consisted of the Thirty-third and Eighty- 
fifth Indiana, Twenty-second Wisconsin, and Nineteenth Michigan, 
numbering fifteen hundred and eighty-nine men, together with" the 
One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio and six hundred cavalry, and 
one battery of six small guns, all under Colonel John Colburn. Of 
these, thirteen hundred and six men were captured. The cavalry 



iiiii;i""'"iinT"T" 




HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI!^. 481 

and artillery escaped. The enemy were followed to Duck Uiver by 
General Sheridan, who succeeded in capturing some prisoners. On 
the 20th of March, a force of fourteen hundred men, under Colonel 
A. S. Hall, was attacked by the Confederates, under John Morgan, at 
Milton, twelve miles northeast of Murfreesboro', and after a sharp 
conflict the assailants were driven off. Many expeditions were sent 
out by both sides with moi-e or less success. About the 10th of April, 
Van Dorn, with a force of about ten thousand men, renewed the at- 
tack at Franklin upon General Granger, whose force consisted of the 
divisions of Brigadier-Generals Baird and Gilbert, and sixteen guns, 
and Brigadier-General Smith's cavalry brigade of eleven hundred and 
twenty-eight men ; also a cavalry force of sixteen hundred men and 
two guns, under Cohmel Stanley. The command of Stanley was se- 
verely handled by the enemy, who finally withdrew with the loss of 
many killed and wounded and two cannon. On the 28th of April, 
General Reynolds's Division, with a mounted force, moved to attack 
the enemy' at McMinnville, whence supplies were sent to Chattanooga. 
The operation was a success. In tlie first week of xVpril a cavalry ex- 
pedition, consisting of the First Indiana, Eightieth Illinois, and por- 
tions of two Ohio regiments, under the command of Colonel A. D. 
Streight, numbering altogether eighteen hundred men, was sent into • 
Xorthern Georgia, mainly to cut the railroads whioli supplied the 
Confederate army by way of Chattanooga. At Eastj>ort he formed a 
junction with General Dodge's force, then marching upon Tuscumbia, 
and defeated the Confederate troops stationed there, witli considera- 
ble loss to them. Thence he moved through Northern Georgia, aim- 
ing to reach the important points of Rome and Atlanta. j\Iean\\hile 
General Dodge, with his force, turned southward, to make a sweeping 
raid in Northern Alabama, and return to his head-quarters at Corintli. 
No sooner had Colonel Streight commenced his march than infor- 
mation of his movements was received by General Forrest and Colonel 
Roddy, vvho, with a cavalxy force, hajDpened to be within striking dis- 
tance. By a rapid movement they came upon the rear of Colonel 
Streight, ami commenced a running fight, Avhich continued for four 
days, during which there were two severe battles and several spirited 
skirmishes. After the Federal troops had marched over a hundred 
miles towards the heart of Georgia, the rebel force increased to over- 
whelming numbers, and Colonel Streight, having expended his am- 
munition, and his men becoming exhausted, was com])elled to surren- 
der at a point fifteen miles from Rome. His men, numbering thirteen 
hundred, were paroled and sent to Virginia, and exchanged about 
two months afterwards. But his officers were retained and imprisoned, 
on the demand of the Governor of Georgia, by whom tliey were 
claimed as having incurred the penalty fixed by a statute cf the Stato 
for inciting slaves to rebellion. It was charged, at the 'time of the 
surrender, that negroes were found in Colonel Streight's command, 
uniformed and bearing arms. This was denied by the privates, who 
asserted that only five or six negroes were with the command, and 
they had started with it from Nashville. This imprisonment of Colo- 
nel Streight caused the Federal Government to suspend the exchange 
31 



482 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 

of Confederate officers, and subsequently to imprison General John 
Morgan and his officers in the penitentiary of Ohio. Colonel Streight 
was then released from imprisonment as a felon, and subsequently 
General Morgan escaped. Colonel Streight also effected his escape 
from the rebel prison in Richmond. 

As the spring wore on without any movement being commenced in 
Tennessee, the inactivity of Rosecrans produced much dissatisfaction. 
General Grnnt was at that time pressing the siege of Vicksburg, 
watched by Johnston in Mississippi, while Bragg was facing Rosecrans. 
It was sup'posed that in consequence of the pressing needs of Pember- 
ton at Viclcsburg, Bragg was sending troops to Johnston to enable him 
to operate upon Grant's rear. Hence, Rosecrans, re-enforced by Burn- 
side, was ordered to attack Bragg while he was thus weakened. 
Rosecrans replied, that his cavalry was not yet mounted, that the 
enemy was not weakened materially, that the army could not advance 
with reasonable prospects of success, and that a decisive movement at 
that time was not advisable. This opinion was shared by nearly all the 
commanders in the army. If Bragg was about to aid Johnston, they 
argued, he could do so only by leaving Rosecrans's front, which would 
give the opportunity to advance. On the other hand, if Grant should 
be defeated, Johnston would join Bragg, and then Rosecrans should be 
near his base, to receive their attack. Notwithstanding these rea- 
sons, Rosecrans commenced on June 25th a series of operations which, 
without bringing on a general engagement, resulted in the retreat of 
the enemy, on July 4th, upon Chattanooga. At the same time. General 
Stanley occupied Shelbyville, and pushed on to Huntsville, while 
Granger held the former place. 

This retreat of Bragg, by abandoning Middle Tennessee to the Fed- 
eral troo]>s, had a demoralizing effect upon his forces, and discouraged 
the friends of the Confederacy in Tennessee. The Federal losses in 
these operations were eighty-five killed, four hundred and sixty-two 
wounded, and thirteen missing. There were captured from the enemy 
one thousand six hundred and thirty-four prisoners, and six pieces of 
artillery, many small-ai*ms, much camp equipage, and large quantities 
of commissary and quartei-master's stores. Bragg, having returned to 
Chattanooga on the south side of the Tennessee River, now fortified his 
position, and threw up defensive works at the crossing of the river and 
as far up as Blythe's Ferry. 

The plan of campaign adopted for the capture of the entire upper 
mountain region of East Tennessee was an advance in doul)le exterior 
lines, concentric on the enemy. The main column, under Rosecrans, 
was to move from the front of operations at Tullahoma and Winches- 
ter, on Chattanooga; and a co-operative column, under Burnside, to 
move from Lexington, Kentucky, on Knoxville, and thence on Chatta- 
nooga. It will be observed that Rosecrans's line of advance was 
almost due east — about eighty miles — while Burnside's was almost due 
south, about two hundred miles. As both aimed at one common ob- 
jective point, and moved on it from opposite points, with the enemy 
lying between them, the lines of advance were, as we have named 
them, exterior and concentric towards the enemy. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^". 483 

The first object of General Rosecrans was to repair the railroad from 
Nashville to Stevenson in Alabama. At Stevenson the Nashville Rail- 
road unites with the Memphis and Charleston road. Stevenson is 
thirty-seven miles west of Chattanooga, on the line of the latter road. 
Having completed his preparations, he commenced August 16th his 
movement on Chattanooga and its covering moimtain ridges on the 
southeast. On that day, General Thomas move<l from Decherd, with 
the division of Payne in advance, and occupied Stevenson. On the 
same day McCook's Corps occupied Salem, ten miles from Winchester, 
on the Huntsville road, and moved on to Bellepont, twelve miles east of 
Stevenson, while Crittenden moved north of Chattanooga. The front 
of the entire movement extended from the head of Sequatchie Valley 
in East Tennessee to Athena in Alabama, thus threatening the line of 
the Tennessee River from Whitesburg to Blythe's Ferry, a distance of 
one hundred and fifty miles. 

A glance at the map will show that the Tennessee River, after running 
due westward from Chattanooga for twenty miles, turns abruptly, and 
takes an almost due southerly direction, and the line of advance of 
Rosecrans's army eastward would meet it almost at right angles. The 
river was crossed on the last day of August at three points — Bridge- 
port, Stevenson, and Shell Mound — the passage being effected by the 
fords and one pontoon bridge. While, however, the main body of the 
army — comprising the right (McCook's Corps, the Twentieth) and the 
centre (Thomas's, the Fourth) — were thrown over the river at the points 
indicated, for a flank march on Chattanooga, by the south side of the 
river, the left wing of the army (Crittenden's Corp^*, the Twenty-first) 
was swung round the bend of the river, on the north side, for a direct 
attack from tliat side. The task before the two columns of the army, 
therefore, was, for the first, an advance over an interval of thirty 
miles, between the points of crossing the Tennessee and Chattanooga 
(a country exceedingly rugged and mountainous) ; and, for the second, 
a swinging movement by way of the Sequatchie Valley, on the front 
of Chattanooga. After effecting the passage of the river, on the 31st, 
Rosecrans halted his columns, for some days, for the purpose of allow- 
ing ]>art of the programme of combined operations assigned to Gen- 
eral Burnside to be farther developed. 

Burnside had assumed the command of the Department of the Ohio 
in March. On the 30th of that month, General Gillmore engaged and 
defeated a large force of the enemy under Pegram, near Somerset, 
Kentucky. Other operations consisted of an attempted raid in Har- 
rison County, Indiana, from which the enemy were driven back with a 
loss of fifty-three made prisoners, and a movement under Colonel 
Saunders, with two pieces of artillery, the First Tennessee cavalry, and 
some detachments from General Carter's command, by which the rail- 
road near Knoxville and the bridges at State Creek, Strawberry Plains, 
and Mossy Creek were destroyed, and ten pieces of artillery, one thou- 
sand stand of arms, and five hundred prisoners were captured, with 
a loss of one killed, two wounded, and a few missing. The departure 
of the Ninth Army Corps to re-enforce Grant delayed somewhat Burn- 
side's preparations for an active campaign in East Tennessee. The ne- 



484 HISTOBY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

oessity, however, of his co-operating with the movements of Rosecrans, 
compelled him to take the field without awaiting the return of this 
corps. 

At this time Buckner was in command of the Confederate forces in 
East Tennessee, with his head-quartei-s at Knoxville. His force num- 
bered about twenty thousand men, which was sufficient to have re- 
tarded the progress of Burnside through either the Cumberland, Big 
Creek, or Wheeler's Gap in the mountains ; but he avoided that route. 
Concentrating his forces at Crab Orchard, on the southerly edge of 
Lincoln County, Kentucky, Burnside prepared for the movement over 
the mountains. 

His main column moved on three routes, the objective point being 
Kingston, which place was reached on September 1st. On the same 
day Knoxville was occupied by a force under Colonel Foster, Buck- 
ner having previously retreated with his troops to foira a junction with 
Bragg, and General Shackelford immediately pushed forward to secure 
the costly bridge of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad which 
crossed the Tennessee at Loudon. But it had already been destroyed 
by the retiring rebels. Meanwhile, a small column had marched from 
Kentucky on Cumberland Gap, held by General Frazier, and Bui-nside, 
by a rapid flank march from Knoxville, cut off the retreat of the gar- 
rison, which surrendered unconditionally on September 9th. The 
fi'uits of this well-executed manoeuvre were two thousand prisoners, 
fourteen pieces of artillery, and a quantity of stores. 

Burnside then telegraphed that he held Cumberland Gap and all 
Enst. Tennessee above Loudon, and .also the gaps of the North Carolina 
mountains. A cavalry force was next sent towards Athens to open a 
communication with Rosecrans. The main body of Burnside's army 
was now ordered by the general-in-chief to concentrate on the Tennes- 
see River, from Loudon west, so as to connect with Rosecrans's array, 
which reached Chattanooga on the 9th of September. 

Rosecrans now began pushing forward his columns. Tlae roads 
across the mountain ridges between the Tennessee and Chattanooga 
had to be made practicable, and it was only after prodigious labor that 
he succeeded in reaching the valley bordering the southern slope of the 
first ridge on the Yth inst., on which day he established his head-quar- 
ters at Trenton, eight miles south of the river. Meanwhile the left wing 
was swung round towards Chattanooga, on the north bank of the river. 
The perilous position of the enemy at Chattanooga was now evi^lent. 
Their only line of communication with the East was severed, and 
Rosecrans's main body at Trenton was on tlie flank of Chattanooga. 
Their only line of retreat and of communication, the Western and At- 
lantic Railroad, was seriously threatened. At the same time, a body 
powerful enough to take care of itself threatened Chattanooga in front. 
Bragg, seeing himself thus in danger of being completely cut off, con- 
cluded to abandon Chattanooga; and the left wing, which had in the 
mean time moved up close to the city, pnssed the river into Chattanoo- 
ga. Bragg retreated towards Cleveland and Dalton, points of the 
triangle of railroads formed by the two branches of the Western and 
Atlantic, which diverge at Dalton and strike the Virginia and East 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK. 485 

Tennessee Railroad, the one at Cleveland, the other at Chattanooga 
Junction. At this time the authorities at Washington were led to 
believe that Lee was receiving re-enforceraents from Bragg. The 
slight resistance made by the enemy in East Tennessee, and his aban- 
donment without defence of such an important position as Chattanooga, 
rendered plausible the reports of spies and deserters from Lee's army, 
that re-enforcements were arriving there. Fearing, therefore, that 
Rosecrans's army might be drawn too far into the mountains of 
Georgia, where it could not be supplied, and might l)e attacked before 
re-enforcements could reach it from Burnside, Halleck sent orders to 
Rosecrans to hold the mountain passes west of Dalton, and to ascer- 
tain whether Bragg was re-enforcing Lee. The troops of Hurlbut on 
Rosecrans's right now crossed the Tennessee River towards Whites- 
burg to protect Nashville, and, if necessary, troops could be drawn 
from Sherman, at Vicksburg. 

The occupation of Vicksburg by the Union forces had placed the 
troops of Johnston at the disposal of the Confederates, and part of 
theiu, about this time, united with Bragg. Suspecting this, Halleck, 
on September 13th, telegraphed to Sherman as follows : — 

" It is quite possible that Bragg and Johnston will move through Northern Alabama, 
to the Tennessee River, to turn General Rosecrans's right and cutoff his communica- 
tions. All of General Grant's available forces should be sent to Memphis, thence to 
Corinth and Tuscumbia, to co-operate with Rosecrans, should the rebels attempt that 
movement." 

By the occupation of Cumberland Gap and Chattanooga, the Fed- 
eral troops now not only covered the entire States of Tennessee and 
Kentucky, but secured a base of inland operations against Alabama, 
Georgia, and South Carolina. Two thirds of the nitre-beds, arid a 
large ])roportion of the coal which supplied the rebel fouiideries, lay in 
East Tennessee, which, moreover, abounded in the necessaries of life. 
It is one of the strongest countries in the world, so full of lofty moun- 
tains, that it has been called, not unaptly, the Switzerland of America. 
Its loss was felt to be a severe blow. 

On the 14th of September, the enemy had concentrated his forces 
near Lafayette, Georgia, to dispute the further advance of Rosecrans. 
His threatened movement to the right and left proved to be merely 
cavalry raids to cut Rosecrans's lines of supplies, and menace his com- 
munication with Burnside. His main army had been re-enforced by 
troops from Johnston in Mississippi, and by the prisoners caj^tured at 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and released on parole, but who had 
been declared by the Confederate authorities to be exchanged. 

The line of Rosecrans's army extended at this time from Gordon's 
Mills to Alpine, a distance of some forty miles, occupying the passes 
of Lookout Mountain. By Wednesday, the 16th of September, the" 
army had been concentrated on West Chickamauga Cieek, about ten 
or twelve miles northwest of Lafayette, Georgia, head-quarters being 
established at a place named Crawfish Spring. An attempt of our ad- 
vance to debouch through the passes of Pigeon Mountain, to continue 
the march southward, showed that the enemy held a strong position in 
our immediate front, beyond the Creek. Rosecrans held the rising 



486 HISTOKT OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

■"1 
ground west of the stream (his left resting on Gordon's Mills), while 
the enemy held a similar position east of it. The intervening stream 
would of course serve the enemy to mask their movements, and it be- 
came necessary for Rosecrans to watch with extreme wanness what 
their designs might be. Keconnoissances on the 1 7th and 18th sliowed 
that Bragg was moving up parallel with the creek, massing his troopa 
in front of Ilosecrans's left centre and left, with the manifest purpose 
of executing a turning movement that would |)lace him between the 
Union army and Chattanooga. To meet this, the Union general 
effected a corresponding movement of his force by the left flank, 
wheeling the whole army back down the creek. During the night of 
the 18th, Thomas's Corps (F'ourteenth), forming the centre of tlie army, 
together with Johnson's Division of McCook's Corps, had moved 
to the left, past Crittenden's, thus becoming the left wing of the 
arjny, and making Crittenden's Corps (the Twcnty-hrst) the centre. 
The two other divisions of McCook's Corps (Davis's and Sheridan's) 
were to move into the position abandoned by Thomas's Corps, but 
had not time to assume it fully before tte commencement of the action 
of Saturday morning, the 19th. 

On the morning of Saturday, the Union line of battle, as formed, 
ran along the Rossville and Lafayette roads dne north and south, the 
right resting at Gordon's Mills, the left at Kelly's House. On the ex- 
treme left was Brannan, next Baird and Reynolds, with Johnson in 
reserve in the centre. Palmer on the right of Reynolds, Van Cleve on 
his, and Wood at Gordon's Mills. The line, completed by Davis's and 
Sheri(han's Divisions, faced a little south of east. Negley formed a 
defensive crochet at Owen's Ford, higher up the valley. Detached 
from this line, covering the Ringgold approach to Rossville, the reserve 
corps, under General Gordon Granger, was stationed, but, not operat- 
ing with the main column, can hardly be said to have formed part of 
the line of battle. 

On the 18th, the Confederate army, which had been marching through 
stifling beds of dust and crumbling rock since the 14th, crossed West 
Chickamauga Creek, and upon the morning of the inth the only acces- 
sion of strength which Bragg had received from Virginia consisted 
of three brigades under General Hood. The troops of Longstreftt 
had not then arrived. 

At 10 A. M., Brannan, on the extreme left, attacked the enemy with 
the view of driving him over the creek. The battle, although it lasted 
tmtil nightfall, was little more than a struggle for position, maintained 
by the Confederates with a view to holding the ground where they stood, 
and by the Federals with a view of driving the enemy across the stream. 
It resulted in a drawn battle, both armies at the close of the day occu- 
pying the same ground they held in the morning. The strength of tho 
encoimter fell upon the divisions of Van Cleve and Davis, of Critten- 
den's Corps, on the Federal side ; and upon the Confederate side, on 
the troops of Cleburne, an Irishman by birth, and once a private in the 
English army, who had risen to the rank of major-general in tho 
rebel army. 

During the night of Saturday, General Rosecrans made some changes 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 



48^ 



in the disposition of his forces, by wliich the line "was so far withdrawn 
that it rested along a cross-road running northeast and southwest, and 
connecting the Rossville with the Lafayette road. By this change 
the line was contracted by a mile, and the right wing caused to rest on a 
strong ]3osition at Mission Ridge. As before, Thomas held the left, 
Crittenden the centre, McCook the right. Upon the right of General 
Thomas's line, as held by Reynolds and Brannan, was a slight rise in the 
plain, and from the top of this the whole field could bu commanded. It 
was the key to the position. During the night Thomas's troops had 
built a rude breastwork of logs and rails for their protection. General 
Lytle held Gordon's Mills. 

At 11 o'clock on the night of the 19th, Longstreet* reached the 
head-quarters of Bragg, and was immediately put in command of the 
left wing of the Confederate army. Of his own corps, as it stood in 
Virginia, he had Benning's, Lane's, and Robertson's Brigades of Hood's 
Division, and Kershaw's and Ilumphrey's of McLaws's Division. 
There were addtd, however, to his command the corps of General 
Buckner, including the divisions of Generals Preston and Stewart, 
and also, outside of Buckner's command, the divisions of Generals 
Hindman, Walker, and Bushrod Johnston. The right was composed 
of Hill's Corps, of two divisions, under Cleburne and Breckinridge; 
With the division of Cheatham, of Polk's Corps, and the division of 
W. H. T. Walker. The disposition of the whole rebel army fi'om 
right to left was Breckinridge, Cleburne, Cheatham, Stewart, Hood, 
Hindman, Preston. 

Bragg's plan of battle (the same which he invariably pursued) was 
to attack along his whole line, commencing on his right and allowing 
the attack to be taken up successively by division after division, until 
it reached the extreme left. Accordingly, Polk M'as ordered to com- 
mence the attack at daybreak of the 20th, but, owing to some unforeseen 
difficuhies, this did not take place until nine o'clock, when Breckinridge 
and Cleburne opened upon Thomas's f command. The battle soon raged 



♦James Lons;streot w.is born in South Carolina 
about 1820, and {rraduated at West Point in 1!>1'2. 
He was brevettcd captain and major for jrallant 
oonduct in the Mexican war, and at tlie outbreak 
of the rebellion held the position of paymaster, 
with the rank of major. Uavins: joined the Seces- 
Bion movement, he commanded a brigade at the 
first battle of Bull Run, after which he was com- 
missioned a major-general in the rebel army. 
Early in the spring of 1S62 he was ordered to the 
Peninsula, and from the coraniencement of the 
Biege of Yorktown to the battle of Malvern Hills 
he was in almost every action. He commanded 
the rebel troops at the battle of Williamsburg, 
May 5th, 1SG2. In the second Bull Uun ciinpaign, 
and in the invasion of Marylanfl, terminating with 
the battle of Antietara, he commanded a corjis, and 
rendered valuable service. lie commanded the 
rebel left, with the rank of lieutenant-jreneral, at 
Fredericksburg; and in February, 1S63, was sent 
to besiege Suft'olk, Va., from which place he was re- 
called, after a fruitless campaign, to re-enforce Leo, 
In May. He commanded one of the three corps 
of Lee's army which invaded Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania in that summer, and had an important 
part in the battle of Gettysburg. In September, 



he was sent to re-enforce Bragg, and greatly contrib" 
uted to the reliel victory at ('liiekamauga, after 
which lie was detached to capture Jviioxville and 
diive Burnside out of East Tennessci-, in which ho 
utterly failed. In April, I^M. he united his troops 
once more with the army of Lee, and was so se- 
verely wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, 
May Gth, as to be incapacitated for service until 
the" following October. He held command of his 
corps during the winter of 1S04-"G5, and was In- 
cluded in the capitulation of Lee to Grant. 

t George Henry Thomas was born in Southamp- 
tonCounty, Va., in ISIC. and graduated at West Point 
in 1S40. He entered the service as brevet second 
lieutenant of the Third ArtilU^ry; served in tho 
Florida war, and was brevetted first lieutenant, 
and for gallant conduct in the Mexican war was 
brevetted captain and major. In lSol-"54, he was 
instructor of artillery anil cavalry at West Point, 
and he subsequently saw much active service in 
the West. In May, 1801, he was appointed colonot 
of the Fifth Cavalry, and in August a brigadier- 
general of volunteers. He defeated Zollicoflfcr at 
the battle of Mill Spring, or Somerset, Jannary 
19th, 1802, was appointed major-general of volun- 
teers la the succeeding April, and during the sum- 



488 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 



furiously along tliis part of the field, but the veteran troops of Thomas 
held their ground against the utmost efforts of the enemy. Again 
and again the rebels, advancing en echelon by brigade from the cover 
of the woods into the open field, charged with impetuous fury and 
terrific yells towards the breastwork of logs and rails; but each time 
the fiery blasts from our batteries and battalions swept over and around 
them, and their ranks were crumbled and swept away. In the mean 
time, Longstreet had at eleven o'clock commenced his attack on the 
Union left wing. Steadily advancing, he swept away the bead of every 
formation : though often checked, and for the rKjment repulsed, again 
and again he rode to the head of his troops, an 1, hat in hand, rising in 
his stirrups, with voice and gesture animated liis men. The Western 
troops Avere brave and hardy men, the material of as fine an army as 
ever shouldered musket, but could not check the attack of Longstreet, 
who was pressing right on for the possession of Chattanooga. To meet 
this danger, Rosecrans, having disposed of Polk on his left, commenced 
to move troops rapidly from left to right. Wood was ordered to go in- 
stantly to the relief of Reynolds, who was hard pressed by Longstreet, 
while Davis and Sheridan were to shift over to the left and thus close 
up the line. Wood, though fiercely assaulted, succeeded in reaching 
his destination. The Confederate General Walker, observing thig 
march from left to right, sent intelligence of it to Longstreet, wlio im- 
mediately ordered forward Buckner, with twelve pieces. This force 
fell heavily upon Davis, who was coming up to fill Wood's place, and, 
who, being thus attacked with great suddenness and fury, was pushed to 
the right in utter disorder, losing many men. 

Meanwhile, Van Cleve's and Palmer's Divisions, exposed by the with- 
drawal of Davis, were attacked with equal vehemence on the right, 
and forced back in great confusion. The rout of the right and centre 
was now complete, and, after that fatal break, the line of battle was not 
again re-formed during the day. The army was in fact cut in two — 
McCook, with Davis, Sheridan, and Wilder, being thrown off to the 
right, and Crittenden, except one brigade of Wood's, being broken in 
pieces. But before the interference of Buckner, Thomas had crossed 
from left to right, and in the afternoon determinedly faced Longstreet, 
taking his stand upon the bare and bluff termination of Missionary 
Ridge, ujDon which he had thrown up breastworks, and which, as being 
the last stronghold south of the Chattanooga works, he held with 
indomitable courage against the assaults of the enemy. 

His line was so formed that the left, resting upon the Lafayette road, 
and the right at the Gap, represented an arc of a circle, and a southeast 
hill about its centre formed the key to the position. Here were col- 
lected the troops who had so successfully repulsed the rebel right in 



mer commanJed a wing of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee. He comiiianrti-d the centre of the Army 
of the Cumberlund at the battle of Stone Kivcr, 
participated in t!ie advance upon and,o(!cupatiou 
of ChattanooKa, and at the battle of Uhickamaufra 
saved the Union army from destruction. In 
October, ho w.as appointed to the Departmfnt of 
the Cumberland, and assumed command of the 
•Kmy at Chattanooga, and ho had an important 



share in the victory of November 25th at that place, 
llo participated in Sherman's campaign, ending in 
tlio capture of Atlanta in September, 1364. and waa 
then ordered to Nashville, where, on December 
15th and IGth, he practically annihilated the army 
of Ilood, in a series ofbitties, which may be said 
to have ended the war in the West. lie is now a 
brijadier-Ejeneral in tlio regular army, and com- 
mands the military division of the Tennusseo. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 489 

the forenoon, together with fragments of Sheridan's and other divisions, 
which had been partially rallied. Against this position Longstreet 
now directed his battalions. That general's onward career had not 
been checked during the day. Commencing with his line running 
northeast and southwest, he had gradually swung round until it ran 
due east and west, and comprised within its control the main road to 
Chattanooga ; and at nightfall, having described all but a circle, he 
found his lines again stretching almost in the same direction as in the 
morning, but with their backs turned at night towards the point 
whither their faces looked at daybreak. It was shortly after the troops 
had gained the Chattanooga road that General Hood, riding in front 
with his men, was struck by a Minie bullet, which shattered his thigh- 
bone four inches below the hip. Longstreet ordered Kershaw, of Mc- 
Laws's Division, to attack Missionary Ridge in front. He came forward 
with great vehemence, but sustained a terrible repulse. About half- 
past three p. m., the enemy discovered a gap on the Union right flank, 
and began pouring his columns through the opening. At this crisis 
Granger reached the field with his reserves, and by great exertions 
pushed the rebels back from the gap. The fight now raged around 
the hill with redoubled fury. General Thomas formed his troops in 
two lines, and as each marched up to the crest and fired a deadly volley 
at the advancing foe, it fell back a little way, the men lay down upon 
the groimd to load, and the second line advanced to take their place, 
and so on in succession. An attack by Hindman met the same fate as 
that of Kershaw. This was followed by the division of Preston, a por- 
tion of which deployed in line and ascended the hill in face of a fipe 
which caused them to reel and stagger. After a moment's hesitation 
they again came forward with fixed bayonets, but were again driven 
back with loss. Finding every effort to carry the Union position of 
no avail, the rebels fell back at dusk beyond the range of our artillery, 
and Thomas Avas left master of the well-fought field. As most of the 
troops of McCook and Crittenden had by this time retired within the 
defences of Chattanooga, Thomas fell back during the night to Ross- 
ville, where, during the 21st, he ofiered battle to the enemy, who, how- 
ever, declined to renew the contest. Accordingly, on the night of the 
21st he withdrew his troops into Chattanooga. 
The Union loss in this battle was : — 

THOMAS. — FOURTEENTH CORPS. 

Officers. Men. Total. 

Killed 36 635 671 

Wounded 206 3,277 3,503 

Missing 127 2,000 2,127 

369 • 5,932 ^301 

M'COOK. — SECOND CORPS. 

Officers. Jfen. Total. 

Killed 40 363 403 

Wounded 168 2,367 2,535 

Missing.... 77 1,503 1,580 

285 4^233 4,518 



490 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 



CRITTENDEN. — TTTENTT-FIEST COBPS. 
Officers. Men. 

Kjlled 39 296 

Wounded 131 2,157 

Missing 22 655 



192 



3,108 



3,290 



OEANQEB. — RESERVE CORPS. 
Officert. Men. 

Killed 16 219 

"Wounded 59 877 

Missing 54 ^ 507 



129 



1,603 



Total 
235 
936 
561 

1,732 



Offlceri. 

Killed 131 

"Wounded 564 

Missing 280 

■ 975 



14,866 



Total 
1,644 
9,262 
4,945 

15,851 



They also lost thirty-six guns, twenty caissons, and several thousand 
small-arms and infantry accoutrements, and captured over two thousand 
prisoners. The rebels suffered even more severely than their oppo> 
nents, and their total loss, as stated by themselves, exceeded eighteen 
thousand. 

It is now very well known that the rebels largely outnumbered the 
Union army in this battle. The following extract from a letter by 
General Rosecrans shows how great was their advantage in numbers: — 

" We have five independent ways of arriving at tlie fact that we fought against ter- 
rible odds there : — 

" 1st. This Was the opinion of the corps and division commanders, none of whom 
were bad judges. 

"2d. The enemy reports a loss of eighteen thousand seven hundred (18,700) killed 
and wounded ; and admits his loss to have been twenty per cent, of his entire command 
—a very large loss — which gave him ninety-three thousand five hundred at Cliickamauga. 

" 3d. Bragg had thirty -two thousand troops when driven from his intrenched camp 
at Shelbyville and Tallahooma, across the mountains and the Tennessee. Buckner 
joined him with about ten thousand troops frcm East Tennessee, Johnston with about 
twenty-five thousand, and Longstreet with about twenty-five thousand more, giving 
again nmety-two thousand as his whole force. 

"4th. General Grant and several of his subordinates estimate the force fought at 
Mission Ridge at from forty-five thousand to fifty thousand. Add twenty-five thousand 
for Longstreet's army, which had previously left, and was then in front of Knoxville, 
and eighteen thousand for those put hors de combat at Cliickamauga, and it gives eighty- 
eight thousand. 

"5th. A Union merchant, of Chattanooga, who was at Marietta when the foe were 
advancing on us, tried to send me word, and subsequently saw and told me that the 
enemy had re-enforced Bragg with thirty thousand under Longstreet, and twenty-five 
thousand under -Joe Johnston, in addition to which Governor Brown bad fifteen thou- 
sand Georgia militia; and so confident were they of overwhelming us, that the Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee rebel refugees at Marietta had hired conveyances and loaded their 
household goods, expecting to follow their victorious hosts back into Tennessee aod 
Kentucky. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 491 

" I could add much more corroborative evidence to show that the brave and devoted 
Army of the Cumberland sustained and successfully resisted the utmost power of a 
veteran rebel army, filled with the spirit of emulation and hope, and more than one- 
half larger than itself; inflicted on it much more damage than we received, and held 
the coveted objective point, Chattanooga. 

" "What we attempted we accomplished. "We took Chattanooga from a force nearly as 
large as our own, and held it after our enemy had been re-enforced by as many men as 
we had in our whole command. 

"W. S. ROSECKANS, Major- General." 

After Rosecrans's retreat to Chattanooga, the passes of Lookout 
Mountain, which covered his communication with Bridgeport, and 
were necessary to secure the transportation of supplies to the Union 
army, were occupied by the enemy, who also sent a force across the 
Tennessee River and captured McMinnville, thus almost completely 
isolating Rosecrans from his base. 

This battle of Chickamauga, as it is called, was one of the most 
bloody of the war, and, without accomplishing any important results 
in relation to the great contest, was fatal to the commanders on both 
sides. The Federal commander lost a high reputation and the con- 
fidence of his Government, by the faulty dispositions which led to a 
defeat more signal than any other of the war, except the first Bull 
Run. The rebel commander lost an influence which had been wa- 
ning since Murfreesboro, through his inexplicable inactivity on the 
Monday following his victory, whereby all the fruits of the contest 
were thrown away. On both sides, the public dissatisfaction caused 
by their conduct produced, ultimately, a change of commanders. It 
may be well, therefore, to look back at the career of each, and the 
circumstances of the campaign to which Chickamauga formed the 
termination. 

The origin of the Array of the Cumberland was a small body of 
Kentucky volunteers, assembled under Colonel, afterwards General 
Rousseau, near Louisville, in the spring of 1861. In the succeeding 
summer, the military Department of the Ohio was organized, and 
given to General Robert Anderson, of Fort. Sumter fame. On the 
11th of August, it was extended over the whole State of Kentucky 
and the State of Tennessee, and was designated the Department of 
the Cumberland. In October, General W. T. Sherman took com- 
mand, Anderson's health failing. In November, Sherman was re- 
lieved by Buell, and the limits and title of the Department were 
again changed to the Department of the Ohio. In November, 1862, 
there was a new arrangement of departments and of commanders. 
Tennessee, east of the Tennessee River, and Northern Alabama and 
Georgia, were made a department, under the revived name of the 
Depai'tment of the Cumberland, into which Kentucky was again 
transferred. The department remained the same under Rosecrans. 

It will be remembered that when Beauregard retreated silently 
and successfully, some time after the battle of Shiloh, from Corinth, 
leaving Halleck, who was then facing him, as ignorant of his move- 
ments as was the rest of the North, he fell back with what remained 
of his army to Tupelo, in JMississippi. Shortly afterwards Beaure- 
gard's health gave way, and Bragg took his place. Bragg found the 



492 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOW. 

army, which had at one time been the finest force, numerically, which 
the Confederates ever had in the field, reduced to foi*ty thousand 
men, in the worst possible condition of discipline, decimated by deser- 
tion consequent upon Beauregard's long inaction at Corinth, and 
swept by disease. It was an occasion for the display of many of the 
finest qualities of a general, as a promoter of discipline, and an organ- 
izer of imperfect or broken-down army departments ; and everybody 
confessed that Bragg was equal to the occasion. He exhibited much 
Off that firmness and indifference to popularity which are so rare 
among republican generals, took upon his own shoulders the odium 
of causing some twelve or fifteen men to be shot Avithout court-mar- 
tial ; and finally, by the total expulsion of whiskey from his camp, and 
by divers other salutary measures, restored his army to a higher 
degree of discipline and efficiency than it had ever before attained. 
With this reorganized army he operated with great success against 
the Army of the Cumberland, under Buell, in the autumn of 1862, up 
to which time Bragg had not ceased to rise in reputation. 

It was then, however, that General Rosecraus, having defeated Van 
Dorn and Price at Corinth, was transferred to the command of the 
Army of the Cumberland. The condition of that army was not un- 
like that of Beauregard's when Bragg succeeded to it. Its ranks liad 
been thinned by disease, battle, and the nameless vicissitudes of war. 
In every respect it was largely overestimated. 'Nearlj seven thousand 
of its number had deserted. More than tioenty-six thousand were 
absent by authority. The consolidated semi-monthly reports for No- 
vember 15th, two weeks subsequent to the change of commanders, 
show that a total of thirty-two thousand nine hundred and sixty-six 
officers and men — at least one-third of the whole army — were absent 
from their command ! The army was composed in about equal pro- 
portions of veteran soldiers and raw recruits. The former were 
poorly clad and equipped, the latter were inexperienced in drill and 
discipline, with officers often ignorant, and sometimes incompetent. 
To sum up, briefly, the spirit of the army was broken, its confidence 
destroyed, its discipline relaxed, its courage weakened, and its hopes 
shattered. Such were the peculiar circiamstances under which Rose- 
crans assumed command. The condition to which he soon brought it 
was well illustrated by its stubborn courage in the hard-fought battle 
of Stone River. 

The two generals had been successful in reorganizing their armies, 
but lost their prestige when those armies were brought into contact. 
Rosecrans has been blamed for fighting this battle, and a review of 
the campaign will show that, even if he could not have avoided an 
engagement, he might have fought it under more favorable circum- 
stances. 

When it was determined to cross the Tennessee River west of Chat- 
tanooga, it became necessary for the army, after effecting th« passage 
of the river, to cross the Sand or Raccoon Mountain, which is the first 
range south of the Tennessee River. Lookout Mountain was then the 
great barrier between them and Chattanooga. This mountain is some 
sixteen hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country, is 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 493 

fifty miles in length, and ends abruptly on the Tennessee, three or 
four miles west of Chattanooga. For forty milel it has but three 
passes practicable for the passage of an army, and those very difficult; 
one at the point of the mountain, near Chattanooga, one at Stevens's 
Gap, twenty-five miles south, and one at Winston's, forty miles from 
Chattanooga. 

The plan of the campaign was, to hold the rebels in check at Chat- 
tanooga, by a small force, sent for the purpose, up the north side of 
the river, opposite the place where the main body of the army, cross- 
ing Lookout Mountain by Stevens's and Winston's Gaps, should get in 
their rear, destroy their lines of communication, and either besiege 
them in Chattanooga, or force a battle on advantageous ground. To 
prevent the rebels from sending a force from Chattanooga, by the 
pass around the point of Lookout Mountain, into Lookout \ alley, to 
interrupt or destroy our lines of communication with our depots at 
Bridgeport and Stevenson, Crittenden's Corps was sent down Look- 
out Valley, to near the foot of Lookout Mountain, which latter was 
held by the enemy with infantry and artillery. The corps of Thomas 
and ]McCook were moved rapidly up Lookout Valley, and across 
Lookout Mountain, the former by Cooper's and Stevens's, the latter 
by AVinston's Gap. As soon as this movement was known to Bragg, 
who, as yet, had not received the bulk of his expected re-enforceiiients, 
it became evident to him that if he remained in Chattanooga the army 
of Rosecrans would get between him and his expected re-enforce- 
ments, and whip them in detail, besides taking possession of his lines 
of communication, without which he could not subsist his army a 
week. 

The evacuation of Chattanooga by the rebels was therefore a ne- 
cessity. Bragg fell back rapidly, and evidently with the intention 
of retreating on Rome. Crittenden, discovering the evacuation, 
moved his coi'ps into Chattanooga by the pass around the point of 
Lookout, and moved out in pursuit of the enemy. Facts soon began to 
be discovered which led to the belief that the enemy had not retreated 
far. A cavalry reconnoissance on the extreme right, to Alpine, ren- 
dered it certain that they had not retreated on Rome, but were con- 
centrating at Lafayette, and receiving re-enforcements, and that it was 
their intention to endeavor to retake Chattanooga. 

Crittenden's Corps, at this juncture, holdhig a position on the 
Chickamauga, near Gordon's Mill, confronted the entire rebel 
army. Thomas's Corps was at the eastern foot of Lookout Moun- 
tain, and McCook was at Winston's Gap, the distance from Critten- 
den's position, at Gordon's Mill, to McCook's right, near Winston's, 
being upward of forty miles, while, from the best information 
gathered from all sources, it appeared that the enemy were rapidly, 
concentrating, and might attack Crittenden before the remainder of 
the army could be brought within supporting distance. It was 
therefore necessaiy, in order to cover Chattanooga, for Rosecrans to 
concentrate his army rapidly, and in the face of the enemy. It was 
while this was being done that the i-ebels attempted to turn his left 
flank, and obtain possession of the roads in his rear leading to Chat- 



494 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

tanooga : in the attempt to prevent this the battle was brought on. It 
was absohitely necessary, under the circumstances, to secure the pos- 
session of Chattanooga, which, it is very evident, Bragg never in- 
tended to permit us to hold. It was a common matter of wonder, 
when the Union army first occupied the place, why Bragg left so 
many public buildings standing, all his hospital buildings and dc''p6ts, 
and two steamboats at the landing, all of which he would naturally 
have destroyed in evacuating the place with the intention of leaving 
it for any considerable time in oiir possession. 

Could General Rosecrans have concentrated his army at Chatta- 
nooga, avoiding a battle meanwhile, the contest would undoubtedly 
have taken place there, instead of on Chickamauga Creek. Whether 
the results of such a battle would have been more advantageous to 
our arms, or not, is a question difficult to answer. 



CHAPTER XLYII. 

Inaction of Bragg. — TTis Position. — His Indecision. — Rosecrans Recruiting. — Storms, 
Hooker Arrives. — Grant Ordered up. — He Supersedes RosccranS. — Thomas in Com- 
mand of Department. — Position of tlie Army. — Movement to open River. — Defeat 
of the Enemy. — Sherman's March. — Combat. — Change of Route^ — Burnside's Posi- 
tion. — Longstreet Detached from Bragg. — Siege of Knoxvil!e. — Burnsido Hard 
Pressed. — Bragg Weakened. — Grant Attacks. — The MovemoQt Successful. — Sher- 
man Relieves Burnside. — Retreat of Longstreet. 

After the battle of Chickamauga the opposing armies remained for 
a long time inactive. The enemy's forces continued before Chattanooga, 
where Rosec^rans was, receiving re-enforcements, Bragg employed 
means to cut off supplies coming to the Federal army by the direct 
route, while his-main army, strongly re-enforced on the 20th nnd 21st, 
held a line from Bridgeport to Cleveland. Longstreet occupied the 
extreme left on the Tennessee River, from Bi-idgeport to Trenton, 
Johnston the centre at Lafayette, holding Lookout Mountain, and 
Bragg the right at Dalton, with his right at Cleveland, His cavalry, 
under Wheeler, f »raged in Rosecrans's rear, and captured the train of 
the Fourteenth Corps, Some eight hundred wagons and two thousand 
mules were captured and destroyed. Most of the supplies for the 
Army of the Cumberland were carried over the mountains by pack 
mules, on account of the difficult transportation. The trains were 
much annoyed by rebel sharpshooters between Bridgeport and Chatta- 
nooga, who daily jncked off teamsters, mules, and horses, and so closely 
was the Union army pressed that rations began to fall short in Chat- 
tanooga. 

The long inaction of Bragg greatly demoralized his army. Two 
days after the battle it was agreed, unanimously, by a council of war, 
that the Confederate army should strike en masse in the direction of 
Knoxville. But scarcely had the division generals commenced the 
execution of this resolve, when Bragg announced that he had changed 
his plan, and the army sat down, and continued for nearly three weeks 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 495 

enveloping the town of Chattanooga and the treble lines which sur- 
rounded it. 

In the mean time, Rosecrans was reorganizing his troops and 
working industriously with the spade to strengthen the defences, be- 
sides securing his lines of communications and accumulating sujjplies. 
These operations were, however, greatly retarded by the storms of an 
unusually wet autumn. On the 23d of September, the Eleventh and 
Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac were detached under 
Hooker to re-enforce Rosecrans, and were assigned for the protection 
of the line of communication between Bridgeport and Nashvile. 

While these events were occurring, such of the forces of Grant at 
Vicksbnrg and elsewhere in the Southwest as were available, were put 
in motion for Tennessee, and Grant himself, who was then at New Or- 
leans, was ordered to take command of the array in Tennessee. He 
arrived at Louisville October 18th, and issued General Orders, No. 1 : — 

" Head-Quartkrs Military Division of the Mississippi, ) 
" Louisville, Kentucky, October 18, I8fj3. ) 

"general orders, no. 1. 

"In compliance with General Orders, No. 3.37, of date Washington, D. C, October IGth, 
1863, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the ' Military Division of the 
Mississippi, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and of the 
Tennessee.' 

" The head-quarters of the Military Division of the Mississippi will be in the field, 
where all reports and rolurns required by army regulations and existing orders will 
be made. 

" U. S. Grant, Major- General." 

On the 19th, Rosecrans took leave of the army, and Major-General 
George H. Thomas was placed in command of the Department of the 
Cumberland, and W. T. Sherman of that of the Tennessee. The tw^o 
corps of McCook and Crittenden, the Twentieth and Twenty-first, 
consolidated into one, and designated the Fourth, were assigned to 
Gordon Granger. 

At this time Sherman was yet on the route from Memphis, and 
Hooker, with his two corps, had just arrived at Bridgeport, o|)posite 
the points held by Longstreet. Tlie army occupying Chattanooga 
had its right at Chattanooga Creek, near the base of Lookout Moun- 
tain, and the left at Citico Creek. The picket lines followed these 
two creeks for some distance, and then passed across the low grounds 
between, which lie also between the foot of Missionary Ridge and 
the high grounds about the town upon which the defensive woiks were 
constructed. These works were connected by a strong line of rifle-pits. 
Behind this line and aroimd the town the greater portion of the army 
was bivouacked, for very little camp equipage was to be had. This 
was the only point held by a Federal force south of the river, while 
the north side was occupied with troops stationed to guai-d the points 
above. The base of the army at Chattanooga was at Stevenson and 
Bridgeport, and was supplied from depots at Louisville ami Nashville 
by a single track of railroad. The south side of the river, however, 
from Lookout Mountain to Bridgeport was in possession of the enemy, 



496 HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLIOIT; 

and the river road on the north side was rendered impassable by their 
sharpshooters stationed on the opposite bauk. It was thus necessary 
to bring all supplies to the army over a distance of fifty or sixty miles, 
taking the road from Bridgeport up the Sequatchie Valley, over the 
mountains into the Anderson road, thence to Chattanooga. The Ten- 
nessee was crossed by pontoon bridges, constructed from such mate- 
rials as the forest and the town could aflbrd. The storms rendered 
the roads nearly impassable, and the army was in danger of starvar 
tion. 

As it was very desirable to open the river and restore the transpor- 
tation of supplies by that cliannel, General Thomas devised a plan 
having this object in view. Hooker, who held the riglit at Bridgeport, 
was ordered, on October 27th, to cross the Tennessee at that point, and 
demonstrate against the enemy's left flank, in Lookout Valiey. At 
the same time a force under General Hazen passed the river at Brown's 
Ferry, below the city, where pontoons had been skilfully laid by 
General W. F. Smith, and began ascending Lookout Mountain, which 
w^as soon taken, the enemy giving way with very slight opposition. 
When Hazen crossed the river and marched up thepoint of Lookout 
Mountain, the retreat of the enemy's forces in that directiovi was cut 
off, and they could only retire up the valley towards Trenton, Georgia, 
some twenty miles, thus making a long detour before they could join 
the main rebel army. This force consisted of two brigades of infantry 
and one battery. Hooker crossed the river at Bridgeport, and moved 
up, uniting with the force at Brown's Ferry. This opened the river, 
the road to Kt.diy's Ferry, and the direct road to Bridgeport, as well 
as the river road on the north side around the bend. This successful 
movement is thus described by a spectator in the camp of the enemy : — ■ 

" The enemy were several miles distant, and the smolto of their bivouac tires, resting 
above the tree-tops, indicated a halt. SulDsequently the column resumed it motion, and 
during the atiernoon the long, dark, thread-like line of troops became visible, slowly 
wending their waj' in the direction of Chattanooga. On Lookout Peak, gazing down 
upon the singular spectacle — a coup (Vceil which embraced in curious contrast the beau- 
ties of nature and tlie achievements of art, the blessings of peace and the horrors of 
war — were Generals Bragg, Longstreet, and others, to whom this bold venture of the 
enemy opened at once new vistas of thouglit and action. Infantry, artillery, and cav- 
alry, all glided silently by, like a procession of fantociid in a panorama, until, among 
all the 'sundown's sumptuous pictures' wliicli glowed around us, there was not one 
like that of the great, fresh, bustling camp, suddenly grown into view, with its thou- 
sand twinkling lights, its groups of men and animals, and its lines of white-topped 
wagons, now strung like a necklace of pearls around tlie bosom of the hiUs. The Fed- 
erals had succeeded in effecting a junction with the army of Chattanooga. 

" The question whicli naturally arises is, why did not General Bragg throw his army 
in front of the advancing columns and check the movement? The answer is in the 
shape of one of tliose stolid facts which even strategy cannot always stir. On Mon- 
day night, General Thomas — or perhaps Grant, for he is now in Chattanooga — crossed a 
force of six tliousand men, first over tlie Tennessee at the edge of the town, then over 
the neck of land known as the Moccasin, and finally over the river again at Erown'a 
Ferry, in rear of Chattano-tiga, where, after a brief skirmish witli one of our regiments, 
they took possession of the hills and commenced the work of fortification. Simul- 
taneously with this movement, a column at Bridgeport, consisting of the Eleventh 
Corps, (jeneral Howard, and the Twelfth Corps, General Slocum, the whole under 
command of General Joe Hooker, stai-ted up the valley. 

" Under these circumstances, an interposition of q^ forces across the valley would in 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLIOIS'. 497 

the first place have required the transferor a considerable portion of our army from 
the east to the west side of Lookout Mountain, thereby weakeninof our line in front of 
Chattanooga, while tlie enemy reserved his strengtli; secondly, it would have necessi- 
tated a figlit on both our front and rear, with the flanks of the Federals protected by 
the mountains: and, linally, had we been successful, a victory would only have demor- 
alized two corps of the Yankee army, without at all influencing the direct issue in- 
volved in the present investment of Chattanooga." 

This movement resulted in givini^ Thomas possession of the river to 
l^ridgeport, twenty-eight miles distant from Chattanooga, and the 
point at wliicli the Nashville Railroad crosses the Tennessee. Several 
steamboats were immediately employed in bringing up supplies, and 
the army was soon on full rations again. 

The march of General Sherman's troops from Vicksburg was not 
unmolested. On the 21st the advance, under Osterhaus, moving east- 
ward from Corinth, encountered near Cherokee Station, eighty-nine 
miles from Tiiscumbia, a body of rebel cavalry under Generals S. D. 
Lee and Loring, estimated at from four to six thousand men. The 
enemy Avas discovered at eleven o'clock drawn up in line of battle, 
with skirmishers advanced. A heavy fog rendered it difficult to find 
out nutch about liis position, and the tight opened somewhat to ourdis- 
advant.ige. Presently, however, our line was advanced, and the enemy 
vigorously attacked ; and General Osterhaus, having succeeded in 
getting up his twenty-pounder Parrotts, the rebels, under their fire, 
broke in great confusion. The fight, which was very spirited through- 
out its entire duration, did not last over sixty minutes from the, firing 
of the first gim, until the enemy was in full retreat. 

The enemy under Johnston, however, compelled Sherman to change 
his route. It had been proposed to bring his column along the south 
bank of the Tennessee, in order that he might open the Memphfe and 
Charleston Railroad from Bear Creek as far east as Decatur, and as 
much firther towards Iluntsville as possible, under intimations from 
the War Department that this would be the main channel of commu- 
nication with Chattanooga. Work Avas accordhigly commenced, and 
by the 1st of ISTox ember the road had been oj^ened from Corinth, 
through luka and across Bear Creek, to Cherokee Station, Alabama. 
As soon, however, as this intention was apparent to the rebels, a swarm 
of their cavalry settled on the railroad, harassing the advance and de- 
stroying every thing destructible. After enduring this annoyance for 
some time, the programme was changed, and Sherman, abandoning the 
attempt to open and guard the raih'oad line, crossed to the north side 
of the Tennessee, where his march would not be interrupted. 

At this time, Burnside was covering Knoxville and an important part 
of East Tennessee. In the expectation that he could be driven out, 
Longstreet had been detached from Bragg's army to move on Knox- 
ville, and on the 6th of November he captured the garrisons of ten of 
Burnsides's outposts, fifty miles from Knoxville, threatening to com- 
pel the Union general to fight at disadvantage or imcover Knoxville. 
From that point the rebel cavalry advanced towards Knoxville, and on 
the 15th captured portions of two or three cavalry regiments, number- 
ing three hundred men, at Marysville, fifteen miles from Knox- 
32 



498 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 

ville, in the direction of the Little Holston, and drove tlie remainder 
of the force into Knoxville. 

On learning this result, General Saunders, commanding a cavalry 
brigade, advanced to give the enemy fight, but finding them too strong 
for him, he withdrew his force in line of battle three miles from Knox- 
ville. This position, after an inefiectual struggle, was abandoned. 
From this point, this portion of the enemy's force advanced on Rock- 
ville, eight miles from Knoxville, driving the Union outposts before 
them close up to the latter place. While these operations were pro- 
ceeding on the line indicated, the main force of the enemy, under Loug- 
Btrcet, Cheatham, and Pegrara, advanced by way of Loudon and 
Lenoir — the passage of the river at the former place being made on 
Saturday, November 14th, and the Union troops falling back before 
them in good order. During all the 15th brisk skirmishing was going 
on, and on the 16th the enemy was held in check all day at Campbell Sta- 
tion, twelve miles from KnoxviUe, on the Lenoir road. Burnside was, 
during this action, personally in command. His loss amounted to two 
hundred and fifty men: rebel loss unknown. During the 16th our 
army fell back on Knoxville, and early on Tuesday morning (I7th) the 
line of battle was formed around the city. At noon the rebels ap- 
peared on the Lenoir road, two miles from the town, and heavy skir- 
mishing immediately commenced — Saunders holding the line gallantly 
and stubbornly until nightfall. Late in the evening our troops charged 
the rebels, and drove them from their ground, but fell back to the orig- 
inal line. On Wednesday, 18th, heavy skirmishing was resumed, both 
parties losing severely. General Saunders, a brave and excellent 
officer, was among the wounded, and died of his wounds on the fol- 
lowing day. Thursday and Friday, 19th and 20th instants, witnessed 
a continuation of the struggle, with the element of heavy artillery 
firing added, and on the 23d we find the following dispatch from 
General Bragfix : — 

" Missionary Ridge, November 23. 
" To General Cooper : 

" "We hold all tlie railroads leading into Knoxville, except the one between Holston and 
French Broad Rivers. General Jones's cavalry might close that. The enemy's 
cavalry is most broken up. Wheeler cut ofl' his train between Cumberland Gap and 
Knoxville. 

(Signed) "Br,a.xtox Bragg." 

The siege of Knoxville proceeded without any occurrence of special 
interest vmtil the 28th, when an attack was made against a small fort 
mounting six guns, on a hill near the town, and commanding the ap- 
proaches to it on that side of the river. The fort was occupied by the 
Twenty-ninth Massachusetts, the Seventy-ninth New York, and two 
companies of the Second and one of the Twentieth Michigan. On its 
front and flanks was once a field of pines, which had been cut down 
with the tops falling in all directions, making an almost hnpassable 
mass of brush and timber. A space around the fort was cleared. The 
ditch in front was about ten feet deep, and the parapet nearly twenty 
feet high. The assault was made near daylight, on the 29th, by the 
brigades of Bryan and Humphrey, with a party from Wolford's. The 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 499 

enemy advanced in three lines and made the attack fiercely, but all 
attempts to scale the sides of the fort failed, and they were finally 
repulsed with a loss of two hundred killed and wounded, and several 
hundred made prisoners. Meantime the force of Burnside was closely 
pressed, and provisions became so scarce that his troops wore pnt 
on half rations of bread. 

By the movementofLongstreet, however, Bragg was Aveakened, and 
Grant therefore determined to attack the latter, and if possible separate 
him from Longstreet. The forces of Bragg held Missionary Ridge, the 
Chattanooga Valley, and Lookout Mountain, with their left resting on 
the latter, and their right on the ridge near the tunnel of the Knox- 
ville and Chattanooga Railroad. Their pickets occupied the south 
bank of the Tennessee River for miles above, and their supplies were 
brought by the railroad from Atlanta and Dalton. The principal rebel 
force w^as in the Chattanooga Valley, between Lookout Mountain and 
Missionary Ridge, and on that slopeof Lookout, thus being very nearly 
on his centre. The ridge was heavily posted with artillery. 

The movement projected by Grant was promptly executed. Orders 
were sent to Burnside to lure Longstreet as far away as possible, snd 
full back to a position where he could stand a siege and subsist from 
the country. A division of Sherman's troops was to be sent to Tren- 
ton, threatening the enemy's left flank. Under cover of this move- 
ment, Sherman's main body was to march up by Hooker's lines, cros^^- 
ing the Brown's Ferry bridge mostly at night, thence into a concealed 
camp on the north side of the river, opposite South Chickainauga 
Creek. One division was directed to encamp on the Xorth Chicka- 
mauga ; about one hundred and twenty pontoons were to be taken 
under cover of hills and woods, and launched into the North Cliit-ka- 
mauga ; these were to be filled with men, to be floated out into the 
Tennessee and down it, until opjposite the South Chickamauga (about 
three miles below), to efiect a landing on that bank, and thiow up 
works ; the remainder of the command were to be taken across in the 
same boats, or a portion of them ; the Tennessee and South Chickamauga 
were to be bridged, and then the artillery crossed and moved at once 
to seize a foothold on the ridge, taking up a line facing the enemy's 
right flank near the tunnel. Howard's Corps of Hooker's command 
Avas to cross into the town by the two bridges, and fill the gap be- 
tween Sherman's proposed position and the main body of Thomas's 
army. Hooker, with the remainder of his force and the division sent 
to Trenton, was to carry the point of Lookout, and then threaten the 
enemy's left, which would thus be thrown back, and forced to evacuate 
the mountain and take position on the ridge ; and then the Federal 
troops, threatening the enemy's communications upon one flank, were 
to advance the w^hole line or turn the other flank, as the chances might 
dictate. Then a jjart of the force was to follow as far as possible, 
while Sherman destroyed the railroad from Cleveland to Dalton, and 
then pushed on to relieve Knoxville, and capture, disperse, or drive off 
Longstreet from before it. 

General Smith, chief engineer, took personal charge of the prelimi- 
naries necessary for the move on the left flank. The pontoons were 



500 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

put in tlie Cluckamauga ; the men encamped ; the biidge trains re:idy 
to debouch at the proper point ; and so completely was every thing 
arranged that no confusion whatever occurred. Artillery was posted 
on the side of the river to cross fire in front of the point of landing, 
and force the same, if necessary. 

On Monday, November 24th, an armed reconnoissance was made by 
Thomas on his left, which developed the enemy's lines and gave the 
Union general a line of battle in advance of his picket lines, at the 
same time allowing the Eleventh Corps (Howard's) to come into the 
position assigned it. At midnight the men entered the pontoons, 
floated down, and effected, a landing. At daylight the pontoniers were 
at work, and at noon the Tennessee River was bridged by a pontoon 
bridge fourteen hundred feet long, and the rest of Sherman's troops 
crossed with his artillery. He then pushed out to the ridge and took 
up his position, and Howard communicated with him, his force having 
marcijed to its place. Hooker's forces formed a line of battle running 
up and down the side of the mountain and sweeping around the point, 
and at night of the same day (the 24th) held Avhat he had gained, and 
comnumicated with Thomas's right. That night the enemy evacuated 
Lookout Moimtain top, and fell back from his front to the ridge. 
Thus, on Tuesday night, Bragg was threatened on both flanks, with a 
heavy line of battle in his front. It was difficult for him to determine 
what the Federal move would be. His railroad must be held, at all 
hazards, from Sherman. The amount of Hooker's force he could dis- 
tinctly see. He I'e-euforced his right very heavily, leaving enough to 
hold his left and front, as he supposed. On the 25th, Wednesday, 
Sherman commenced to move. Two hills were taken. From the 
third he was several times repulsed, and he moved around more force, 
as if to get in rear of Bragg's line, and the latter then commenced 
massing against him. The ci'itical moment had now arrived. Hooker 
moved his columns along the Rossville road towards Bragg's left, and 
this drew still more force from the latter's centre. 

Grant now ordered Thomas to advance and take the rifle-pits at the 
base of the mountain. The Army of the Cumberland, remembering 
Chickamauga, and impatient by reason of remaining spectators of the 
operations of Sherman and Hooker, for two days went forward with a 
will, drove the enemy in disoi-der from his lower works, and went 
on, heedless of the heavy artillery and musketry hurled against them 
from the crest of the ridge. Half-way up they seemed to falter, but it 
was only for breath. Without returning a shot tliey kept on, crowned 
the ridge, captured thirty-five out of the forty-four pieces of artillery on 
the hill, turned some of them against the masses in Sherman's front, and 
the rebel line fell back, while the rest of Bragg's army, including Bragg 
and Hardee, fled, routed and broken, towards Ringgold. Thousands of 
prisoners and small-arms and quantities of munitions of war were taken. 
Hooker took up the pui-suit, and that night Mission Ridge blazed re- 
splendent with Union camp-fires. The next day, Hooker pushed tho 
enemy to Ringgold, where he made a show of stubborn resistance, 
but was forced to retire. Sherman and Howard pushed for the rail- 
road, which they smashed completely. The Union loss in this battle^ 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]S'. 501 

in killed, wounded, and missing, was reported at about four thousand. 
Upwards of six thousand rebel prisoners, not including wounded, were 
captured, besides fjrty-two pieces of artillery, many thousand small- 
arms, and a large train. The rebel loss is not known. 

Sherman was now re-enforced by the Eleventh Corps, and began his 
march to relieve Knoxville. Five miles above Loudon, at Davis's 
Ford, the Eleventh Corps crossed the Little Tennessee, and at Mor- 
gantown, seven miles farther up, the Fourth and his own corps crossed. 
The Eleventh moved on the next day to Louisville, a distance of thirty- 
one miles. The other troops moved to Marysville. All were on the 
south side of the Holston. On the night of December 3d, the cavalry 
of Sherman reached Knoxville. This movement turned the flank of 
Longstreet, and he raised the siege and retreated towards Rutledge on 
that night. On the next day, the Fourth Corps arrived at Knoxville, 
and in conjunction with Burnside's forces immediately commenced a 
pursuit. Longstreet fell back into the border of Virginia, and took a 
strong position. Burnside was subsequently relieved from the com- 
mand of the Department of the Ohio at his own urgent request, and 
General Foster assigned to its command. 

When Longstreet reached Rogersville with his main force, he was 
joined by Vaughan and Ransom, and he here made a stand which re- 
lieved Bragg from the pressure of pursuit, and remained there some 
time, exposed to many hardships. 



CHAPTER XLVin. 

Operations against Charleston. — Arrival of Monitors. — Montauk. — Attack by the 
Enemy. — Iron-clad Attack oa Sumter. — Capture of the Atlanta. — General Gillmore in 
Command. — Assault on Fort Wagner. — Bombardment of Fort Sumter. — Siege and 
Reduction of Fort Wagner. — Occupation of Morris Island 

The operations in the Department of the South after the evacuation 
of James Island were for a long time unimportant, owing to the 
employment of troops in other operations. Early in 1863, a naval attack 
was contemplated upon Charleston, with which a land force was 
deemed necessary to co-operate. General Foster was, therefore, sent 
with a considerable force and a large siege equipage to assist the naval 
attack. But not proving acceptable to General Hunter, then in com- 
mand, he returned to North Carolina, leaving his troops and siege 
equipage. These, in consequence of the failure of the naval attack, 
were never employed for the purpose intended. The vessels engaged 
in blockading the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, com- 
prised the South Atlantic Squadron, Rear- Admiral S. J. Dupont com- 
manding. Early in January, 18G3, the first detachment of iron-clads, 
destined to operate against Charleston, arrived, and the Montauk was 
ordered to attack Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River, with a view 
of testing her capabilities. Accordingly, on January 27th, the Mon- 
tauk, supported by seven gunboats, opened upon the fort with her 
fifteen and eleven inch guns, and, having expended her shells, retired. 



502 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOI^. 



She was struck thirteen times, but received no material injury ; and 
the fort, a powerful sand-work, mounting several guns, was in no per- 
ceptible degree affected by the bombai-dment. This settled the ques- 
tion of the efficiency of this species of defensive works as against iron- 
clads. On the morning of the 4th January, the enemy's iron-clad steam 
rams, Palmetto State and Chicora, imder Flag-officer Ingraham, ran 
out of Charleston in a thick haze, and attacked the blockarling fleet. 
They disabled the Mercedita and the Keystone State, but retired on 
the approach of the Housatonic. The enemy claimed that by this 
operation they had broken up the blockade of Charleston, by tempo- 
rarily driving off the fleet, and that by the law of nations sixty days' 
notice would be required to restore the blockade. This claim was not 
allowed, however. 

The preparations that had long been on foot for a combined attack 
by the iron-clads upon the fortifications of Charleston Harbor were 
finally completed, and on the morning of April 6th, 1863, the fleet 
passed the bar, and moved to the attack in the following order : 
Weehawken, Passaic, Montauk, Patapsco, New Ironsides, Catskill, 
Nantucket, Nahant, and Keokuk. Admiral Dupont was on board his 
flag-ship, the New Ironsides. The squadron wns ordered to pass up the 
main channel without returning the fire of Morris Island, and to engage 
Sumter on its northwest face, at a distance of from eight hundred to 
one thousand yards. At half-past twelve o'clock, the fleet began to 




HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION-. 503 

move, the "Weehawken, having a raft for clearing obstructions, being 
in advance. The fleet got within effective range of Fort Sumter and 
SulUvan's Island shortly before three o'clock, and at ten minutes to 
three the batteries of Sullivan's Island, Morris Island, and Fort Sumter 
opened upon it. In the channel between Sumter and Sullivan's Island 
the obstructions proved to be of so formidable a character that the 
Weehawken deviated from her course, and the line got into some con- 
fusion. The New Ironsides became unmanageable;, and was fouled by 
the Catskill and Nantucket, so that for half an hour the three vessels 
were at dead-lock. It was four o'clock before the remainder of the fleet 
got into position on the northeast front of Sumter, at five hundred and 
fifty to eigiit hundred yards distance, beyond which point, owing to float- 
ing torpedoes, it was found impossible to pass. Meantime, the enemy had 
concentrated a fire of three hundred guns upon the fleet, exceeding in 
rapidity of fire and weight of metal any previous cannonade known in 
warf ire. The iron-clads could reply but with sixteen guns, and their 
officers described the effect of the shot upon the sides of the vessels as 
like the ticking of a clock. A dense cloud of smoke settled over the 
fleet, which was the focus of this fire, adding to the embarrassment of 
the occasion. The iron-clads directed their efforts mainly against Sum- 
ter, and the Keokuk ran up to within five hundred and fifty feet of the 
fort, where she remained thirty minutes a special target. In that time 
she received ninety shots, three per minute. Of these, nineteen pen- 
etrated at and below the water-line, some entering her turret. She drew 
off' with pumps gomg to keep her afloat, having fired but three times. 
The remaining vessels suffered far less than the Keokuk, and none were 
materially injured. The New Ironsides never got fairly into action, 
and discharged but one broadside. At half-past four, Admiral Dupont 
signalled to withdraw from action. During the forty-five minutes that 
the fleet had been under fire, five had been partially disabled, while the 
injuries inflicted by them upon the fort had been comparatively slight. 
Under these circumstances, the whole fleet, with the exception of the 
New Ironsides, returned on the 12th to Port Royal. The President 
telegraphed to Dupont to hold his position inside Charleston Bar, and to 
permit the enemy to erect no new batteries on Morris Island. This 
w.as in view of a second attack upon Fort Sumter and Charleston by 
the combined military and naval forces. 

The most marked and extraordinary conflict within the limits of this 
squadron, or indeed in the service during the year, and in some respects 
one ot the most significant and instinctive naval battles of the war, took 
place on the 17th June, in Warsaw Sound, between the Weehawken, 
a vessel of the Monitor class, and the formidable armored steamer At- 
lanta. Like the contest in Hampton Roads, in March, 1862, when the 
Monitor and Merrimac were engaged, this battle was between armored 
vessels and of great disparity in size, but the result was vastly more 
speedy and decisive. The Atlanta was a powerful steamer, had been 
iron-plated by the rebels, and prepared for war purposes at immense 
expense. In the confidence of certain victory over her comparatively 
diminutive antagonists, the Weehawken and Nahant, she was accom- 
panied by boats loaded with gay parties to witness her triumph ; but 



504 



HISTORY OF TIDE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



the brave officers and men of our turreted vessels knew their power 
and sought the encounter. This battle was to test not only the vessels, 
but the new fifteen-inch ordnance, then for the first time brought into 
naval Avarfare, and concernhig which there had been, as well as with 
respect to the vessels themselves, some variety of opinion. The con- 
flict was so brief and decisive that only one of the two Monitor vessels, 
though not widely separated, and each eager for the fight, was able to 
participate in the engagement. The Nahant, having no 2:)ilot, followed 
in the wake of the Weehawken, but before she could get into action 
the contest was over. Such was the brevity of the fight that the Wee- 
hawken, in about fifteen minutes, and with only five shots from her 
heavy gims, overpowered and captured her formidable antagonist, be- 
fore the Xahant, which was hastening to the work, could discharge a 
single shot at the Atlanta. This remarkable result was an additional 
testimony in favor of the Monitor class of vessels for harbor defence 
and coast service against any naval vessels that have been or are likely 
to be constructed to visit our shores. It appears, also, lo have extin- 
guished whatever lingering hopes the rebels may have had of with- 
standing our naval power by naval means. 

Early in June, General Hunter was succeeded in the command of the 
Department of the South by General Q. A. Gillmore,* and about the 
same time Rear-Admiral Dupont having expressed a willingness to 
relinquish the position which he had occupied for eighteen months, 
Rear-Admiral Andrew H. Foote was detailed to relieve him. When 
on his way to his command, however, he was seized with fatal illness 
and died in New York. His associate and second in command, Rear- 
Admiral John A. Dahlgren, proceeded immediately to Port Royal, and, 
on the Gth day of July, assumed command of the squadron. A com- 
bined operation of naval and army forces, the latter under General 
Gillmore, was immediately instituted for the occupation and possession 
of Morris Island, on the south side of the entrance to Charleston Har- 
bor. Morris Island, the site of Forts Wagner and Gregg, is a narrow 
ridge of sand, formed by successive accumulations from the beach, 
running along the entrance to Charleston Harbor. This ridge slopes 
from the shore inward, terminating in a series of salt-water marshes, 
intersected by narrow creeks, which lie to the west of it. Tlie width 
of the portion disposable for the trenches in no point exceeds two 
hundred and twenty-five yards, while in others it narrows to twenty- 
five yards at high tide. 



* Qninoy Adams Gillmore was born in Lorain 
County, Ohio, in 1S25, and graduated at West Point, 
at the licad of liis class, in 1S49. Previous to the 
breaking out of the war he was much emi)loye<l on 
the foriiti cations, and was also for tour years instruc- 
tor of en^^inccring at West Point. In October, 18G1. 
he was appointed chief engineer to the Port Itoyal 
Expedition, and in the succeeding Ajiril hejilanned 
and carried out the operations lor the capture of 
Fort Pulaski, in the Savannah Kiver, of which he 
published an account in 1863. In April, 1SG2, he 
■was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. 
Having been transferred to the Department of the 
Ohio, he di'fiated a large rebel force near Somer- 
set, Ky., on March 30th, 186ii. In June, he assumed 
command of the Department of the South, and, in 



the series of operations which led to the occupa- 
tion of Morris Island, developed a new era in the 
science of engineering and gunnery. lie retained 
command of "the Department of the South until 
the spring of 1SG4, when he took the field at the 
head of the Tenth Army Corps, under Butler, to 
co-operate in the movement against liichraond. 
Having come into collision with Butler, he was 
relieved of his command, and in the latter part of 
the year undertook a tour of inspection among the 
fortifications in the West. In the spring of 1 865, 
he was reappointed to the Department of the 
South. He now comman<ls the Department of 
South Carolina, and is major-general of volunteers 
and a brigadier-general of the regular army. 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 505 

The plan of attack proposed by Gillmore was: First, to effect a 
lodgment on the south side of Morris Island, which it was known that 
the enemy was then strongly fortifying. Second, to besiege and reduce 
Fort Wagner, by whicli all the works on Cummings's Point would ne- 
cessarily fall. Third, from the positions thus gained, to reduce Fort 
Sumter. Fourth, the vessels of war to remove the obstructions at the 
entrance of the harbor and reach the city by running by tlie works on 
Sullivan's Island. 

The fiist point was effected by a diversion made on the Stono, which 
drew off half the enemy's forces from Morris Island, and rendered its 
capture by surprise comparatively bloodless. This was done July 10th, 
as appears by the following dispatch : — 

" Head-Quarters Department op the South ) 
"In the Field, Morris Island, S. C, July 12, 1863. \ 

" Major-Grencral H. "W. Halleck, General-in-Chief: 

"Sir: — I have the honor to report that at five o'clock on the morning of the 10th 
instant I made an attack upon the enemy's fortified position on the south end of 
Morris Island, and, after an engagement of three hours and a quarter, captured all his 
strongholds upon that part of the island, and pushed forward my infantry to within six 
hundred yards of Fort Wagner. 

•'We now liold all the island except about one mile on the north end, which includes 
Fort Wagner and a battery on Cummings's Point, mounting at the present time four- 
teen or fifteen heavy guns in the aggregate. 

" The assaulting column was gallantly led by Brigadier-General Strong. It landed 
in small boats under cover of my batteries on Folly Island and four monitors led by 
Rear-Admiral Dahlgren, which entered the main channel abreast of Morris Island soon 
after our batteries opened. The monitors continued their fire during the day, mostly 
on Fort Wagner. 

" On the morning of the 11th instant, at daybreak, an efibrt was made to carry Fort 
Wagner by assault. The parapet was gained, but the supports recoiled under the fire 
to which they were exposed, and could not be got up. Our loss in both actions will not 
vary nuich from one hundred and fifty in killed, wounded, and prisoners. We have 
taken eleven pieces of heavy ordnance and a large quantity of camp equipage. 

"The enemy's loss in killed, wounded, and missing, will not fall short of two 
hundred. 

"Q. A. Gillmore, Brigadier- General Commanding^ 

The failure of two assaults on Fort Wagner led to a modification of 
the plan. As Fort Sumter kept up an annoying fire across Fort Wag- 
ner upon Gillmore's trenches, some heavy guns were placed in battery, 
and at a distance of from two to two and a half miles succeeded in 
silencing the fire. Having effected this important object, the ap- 
proaches and other works against Fort Wagner were more easily 
pushed forward. Armed with seventeen heavy guns, well flanked 
with a wet ditch, a bomb-proof for its garrison that resisted the 
heaviest shells, approachable only in front over the sand ridge which 
narrows down to twenty-five yards in width just in front of the work, 
guarded on the east by the sea and on the west by Vincent's Creek 
and the marsh from surprise, seen in reverse by Battery Gregg and 
thirty giuis on Sullivan's Island, in flank by the batteries on James's 
Island, while all the ground in advance of it was swept at one point 
or another by all its -guns, a more diflicult problem had seldom, if ever, 
been presented for the solution of the engineer than its reduction. 

The first parallel and the batteries ia it were ready on July 18th, and 



506 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

fire was opened at one thousand three hundred and fifty yards, several 
hours prior to the assault on that day. It was commenced at noon by 
General Gillmore's batteries and the frigate Ironsides ; five monitors, 
two mortar schooners, and three wooden gunboats soon joined in. The 
enemy replied briskly from Fort Wagner, Battery Bee, beyond Cum- 
mings's Point, and the guns on the southwestern lace of Fort Sumter. 
The fire was chiefly directed against the vessels, and occasionally a shell 
was thrown at the batteries. Soon after four o'clock tlie fire of F'ort 
Wagner ceased. It was known that one gun had been dismounted, and 
another was supposed to have exploded. Under the impression that 
the works were avacuated, another attempt to occupy them was deter- 
mined upon. For tliis purpose two brigades, consisting of the Seventh 
Connecticut Regiment, the Third New Hampshire, the Ninth Maine, the 
Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, and the Forty-eighth New York, under 
Brigadier-General Strong, and the Seventh New Ilampslure, Sixth Con- 
necticut, Sixty-second Ohio, One Hundredth New York, and Fifty- 
fourth Massachusetts (colored), under Colonel Putnam, were ordered 
forward from behind the sand-hills. The brigades were formed in line on 
the beach, with the regiments disposed in columns, the colored regiment 
being in advance. Tliis movement was observed at Port Sumter, and 
a fire was opened on the troops, but without eflfect. At dark the order 
was given for both brigades to advance. General Strong's leading, and 
Colonel Putnam's within supporting distance. The troops went for- 
ward at quick time and in silence, until the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, 
led by Colonel Shaw, was Avithin two hundred yards of the work, 
when the men gave a fierce yell and rushed up the glacis, closely fol- 
lowed by the other regiments of the brigade. 

The enemy, hitherto silent, opened upon them furiously with grape, 
canister, and a continuous fusilade of small-arms. The negroes, how- 
ever, plunged on, and many of them crossed the ditch, although it con- 
tained four feet of water, gaining the p.arapet. They were dislodged, 
however, in a few minutes, with hand-grenades, and retired, leaving 
more than one-half of their number, mcluding their colonel, dead 
■m>on the field. The Sixth Connecticut Regiment, under Lieutenant- 
Cfolonel Rodman, was next in support of the I'ifty-fourth, and they 
also suffered terribly, being compelled to retire after a stubborn contest. 
The Ninth JNIaine, which was next in line, was broken up by the pas- 
sage of the remnant of the repulsed colored regiment through its lines, 
and retired in confusion, excepting three comjianies which stood their 
ground. 

It now devolved upon the Third New Hampshire Regiment to push 
forward, and, led by General Strong and Colonel Jackson in person, 
they dashed up against the fort. Three companies gained the ditch, 
and wading through the water, found shelter against the embankment. 
Here was the ci-itical point of the assault, and the Second Brigade, 
which should have been up and ready to support their comrades of the 
First, were unaccountably delayed. Strong then gave the order to fall 
back and lie down on the glacis, which was obeyed, without confusion. 
While waiting here, exposed to the heavy fire, Strong was wounded. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION 507 

Finding that the supports did not come, he gave the order for his 
brigade to retire, and tlie men left the field in perfect order. 

Hoon afterwards tlie other brigades came on, and made up for their 
tardiness by their valor. Rushing impetuously up the glacis, unde- 
terred by the fury of the enemy, whose fire was not intei'miited, 
sevei-al of the regiments succeeded in crossing the ditch, scaling the 
parapet, ami descending into the fort. Here a hand-to-hnnd conflict 
ensued. The troops fought with desperation, and were able to diive 
the enemy from one side of tlie work to seek shelter between the trav- 
erses, wliile they held possession for something over an hour. This 
piece of gallantry was unfortunately of no advantage. The enemy 
rallied, and, having received re-enforcements, made a charge upon them 
and expelled them from their position by the force of numbers. One of 
the regiments engaged in this brilliant dash was the Forty-eighth New 
York, Colonel Barton, and it came out almost decimated. The Forty- 
eighth was among the first to enter the fort, and was fired upon by a 
regiment that gained the parapet some minutes later, under the suppo- 
sition that it was the enemy. About midnight the order was given to 
retire, and the troops fell back to the rifle-pits outside of their own 
works. The loss in killed, wounded, and missing Avas fifteen hundred 
and thirty. 

The second parallel was opened by the flying sap on the 23d July, at 
seven hundred and fifty yards from the fort. The third parallel, at 
four handled and fifty yards, on August 9th ; and beyond tliis point the 
trenches were sometimes pushed forward by the flying sap, sometimes 
by the full sap, as opportunity demanded. The fourth parallel, at 
about three hundred yards, was made on the 22d and 23d August. 
The fifth parallel at two hundred yards, and a ridge wrested from the 
enemy, August 26th. Beyond this point the approaches were simply 
zigzags, making very acute angles with each other, as there was not 
front enough for a parallel. 

The bombardment of Fort Sumter had been irregularly opened on 
the 18th of August, and was continued until August 24th, when Gill- 
more reported it a shapeless mass of ruins, and that it was no longer 
necessary to continue the bombardment. Batteries were established 
within effective range of Charleston, and notice was given to Gen- 
eral Beauregard to evacuate Fort Sumter, and that Charleston would 
be shelled. Beauregard protested, and threatened retaliation. The 
bombardment was commenced, with very little effect, however, on 
military events. Gillmore now moved to the front all his light mortars, 
enlarged the positions for his sharpshooters, obtained the co-o])eration 
of the Ironsides by day, used powerful calcium lights to blind the 
enemy by night, and opened fire with as many heavy guns to his rear 
as he could without danger to his men in the trenches, thus essaymg 
to keep the garrison coufine<l to their bomb-proof, and to breach this 
through a breach in the work. These measures were inaugui-ated on 
the morning of September 5th, and for forty-two hours the fort 
was silent. The garrison were immured in their bomb-proof, and the 
work went on in safety except from the batteries on James's Island. 
The men moved about in the trenches, even sat on their parapets, and 



508 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 

hunted torpedoes, at which they had become as skilful as rat-catchers 
at scenting out rat-holes. The counterscarp of the work was crowned 
on the night of September 6th, and some formidable obstructions in 
the ditch removed. All being now ready for an assault, the order for 
it was given ; but seeing the hopelessness of their position, the enemy 
evacuated just in time to avoid the result. 

The evacuation Avas thus reported by Gillmore : — 

" Department of the South, Head-Quarters in ) 
THE Field, September 7, 1863. \ 

" Major-General H. "W. Halleck, General-in-Chief: 

" General : — I have the honor to report that Fort "Wagner and Battery Gregg are 
ours. Last night our sappers mined the counterscarp of Fort Wagner on its sea 
point, unmaslviug all its guns, and an order was issued to carry the place by assault at 
nine o'cloclv this morning, that being the hour of low tide. 

" About ten o'clock last night tlie enemy commenced evacuating the island, and all 
but seventy-five of them made their escape from Cummings's Point in small boats. 

" Captured dispatches show that Fort Wagner was commanded by Colonel Keitt, of 
South Carolina, and garrisoned by one thousand four liundred effective men, and Bat- 
tery Gregg by between one hundred and two hundred men. 

" Fort Wagner is a work of the most formidable kind. Its bomb-proof shelter, capable 
of containing one thousand eight hundred men, remains intact after the most terrific 
bombardment to which any work was ever subjected. 

"We have captured nineteen pieces of artillery and a large supply of excellent am- 
munition. 

" The city and harbor of Charleston are now completely covered by my guns. 

" I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Q. A. Gillmore, Brigadier- General Commanding." 

The captured forts on Morris Island were enlarged and new batter- 
ies erected by General Gillmore, which effectually commanded Fort 
Sumter, and could aid any naval attack on Charleston. But little 
further progress, however, was made in the siege during the remainder 
of the year. The forts of the enemy were occasionally bombarded 
severely, and the shelling of Charleston at intervals, during day and 
night, Avas continued. The portion of the city within the reach of the 
shells was greatly injured, and entirely abandoned by its inhabitants. 
An attempt was made by the enemy to blow up the frigate Ironsides, 
with a torpedo, on the night of October 5th. It failed of success, and 
did no serious damage to the vessels. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

Advance on Richmond. — Crossing of the Rapidan. — Routes of Corps. — The Enemy 
Attempts a Flanking Movement. — Meade's Attack. — Repulse of GrifiBn. — Hancock 
Arrives.— Concentration of the Army.— Burnside ordered Forward. — New Dispositions. 
— Advance of Hancock on the Gth. — Arrival of Longstreet. — FaU of Wadsworth. — 
Longstreet Wounded. — Attack on the Union Right. — Results of the Two Days' 
Fighting. 

The advance of the Army of the Potomac against Richmond com- 
menced on the evening of Tuesday, May 3d, when the men, provided 
with six days' rations, broke up camp, and marched for the Rapidan. 
The Second Corps crossed at Ely's Ford, and the Fifth and Sixth at 
Germania Ford, the Fifth Corps being four hours in advance of the 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLI01S-. 509 

Sixth. A plankroad, as our readers will remember, runs from Fred- 
ericksburg "west, past Chancellorsville, the former head-quarters of 
Hooker, and Old Wilderness Tavern, and across Mine Run to Orange 
Court-IIouse. Hancock, with the Second Corps, advanced from Ely's 
Ford to Chancellorsville, the Fifth Corps from Germania Ford to Old 
Wilderness Tavern, and the Sixth held the road from the ford to the 
tavern. The Lieutenent-General and General Meade had head-quarters 
at Germania Ford on Wednesday night, the 4th. At early dawn on 
Thursday, Hancock was to mo\e by the Pamunkey road in a south- 
westerly direction to Shady Grove Church ; Warren was to move five 
miles west, to Parker's Store, twenty miles distant from Orange Court- 
House, and the Sixth Corps was to follow on the Germania Ford plank- 
road. Sheridan's Cavalry was to scour the country on the left of Han- 
cock. This disposition, if carried out, would have straightened the 
army in a line facing southwest, with Hancock on the left. These 
operations were intended to be preserved until the trains could cross 
the river, when a general advance was to be made towards Orange 
Court-House, the presumed base of the enemy. 

These dispositions Avere, however, not suifered to be completed. The 
enemy, from his signal station on Clark's Mountain, had observed the 
whole movement, devised its intent, and made preparations to defeat 
it. His movement began on Wednesday night, while the Second Corps 
was at Chancellorsville. The corps of Ewell moved along the turnpike 
from Old Verdicrville, on Mine Run, to take the Sixth Corps in flank, 
while marching along the Germania Ford plankroad, while A. P. Hill 
moved over the Orange Court-House plankroad, which runs for some 
distance parallel to the turnpike, and up which Warren was advancing. 
Thus, as we have said. Grant's array v,'as in a line running northwest 
and southeast ; Sedgwick at the right in front of Ewell, Warren in 
the centre in front of Hill, but not yet in line, and Hancock marching 
to take position on the left. The enemy's design being ascertained, 
Sedgwick and Warren were hastily formed in line of battle on the 
Germania plankroad, and Hancock was ordered to diverge upon the 
Brock road, which would bring him iipon the Orange Court-House 
road in the rear of Warren. The danger was that Hill would force his 
way down this road and get possession of it before Hancock could 
eftect a junction, aiid thus cut the army in two. To guard against this, 
the Second Division, Getty, of the Sixth Corps, was detached to 
support Warren's left. Meantime, the enemy pressed heavily in 
front, and the Fifth New York Cavalry was driven in with considera- 
ble loss. 

It was supposed that Lee intended by a fierce attack upon the right 
centre to destroy the army; and to frustrate that attempt, Warren was 
ordered to assume the offensive. About noon, Griffin (who had reported 
the enemy in his neighborhood, and as having driven in his advance, 
consisting of the Eigliteenth Massachusetts, Avith the Eighty-third Penn- 
sylvania, mider Colonel Hayes, o£the foi-mer) was ordered to push his 
(First) Division of the Fifth Corps out to the right and left of the turn- 
pike, to feel the enemy. Accordingly, he moved Bartlett's Second 
Brigade to the left of the road, and Ayres's Third Brigade of regulars 



510 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

to the right — Barnes's First Brigade (Sweetser in temporary com- 
mand) being in reserve. Less than a mile's mai'ch, stretching across 
the turnpike, brought them against a part of Ewell's force, well posted 
on a wooded acclivity. A sharp engagement at once ensued for an 
hour; but the pressure of the enemy in full strength upon our two 
brigades, and especially iipon Ayres's on the left, could not longer be 
resisted, and our forces foil back, leaving two pieces of artillery, with 
nearly all the horses killed, in the enemy's hands. WadsAVorth's Fourth 
Division, and Robinson's Second Division, of the Fifth Corps, at once 
relieved Griffin's Division, after its well-fought battle, and held the 
enemy in check. After an hour's firing by infantry and artillery, the 
enemy moved off to another point in our line. Our loss, principally 
confined to Ayres's and Bartlett's Brigades, was in the region of one 
thousand men. 

At eleven o'clock, word was sent to General Sedgwick that skirmish- 
ing in front of the Sixth Corps was becoming heavy. He accordingly 
galloped down the Germania plankroad about a mile, dashed into the 
forest at the head of his staff, and penetrated to the front through the 
tangled underbrush and knotted trunks and ragged foliage of a thick 
chapparal. Through, and beyond this, far in front, the deep occasional 
boom of a gun might be heard amid the quickening rattle of the skir- 
mish firing, but the denseness of the wood preventedany knowledge of 
what was going on at any distance. There was a volley at last — Gen- 
eral Griffin's Division of the Fifth Corps had opened the fight. 

'■^Fonoard! hy the rhjht fiank^ forward!''' rings along the lines. 
Yonder in front are the gleaming bayonets of our first line of battle ; 
back, just in rear, is the second line, the anxious eyes of the soldiers 
peering through the trees. 

And through a thicket blind and almost interminable, over abatis of 
fallen trees, through swamps and ditches and brush-heaps, and onca — 
a glorious breathing-space — across a half-acre of open field, the obedient 
troops move on. The "bizz" of the balls, which had been occasional, 
now comes thicker and faster, while the crashing volleys are more dis- 
tinct; and as the advancing linos approach a forest, a little way ahead, 
there is heard a crackling, roaring tumult, mingled with wild cheers. 

The Fifth Corps has begun the fight in earnest — Griffin is pressing 
on. Wadsworth and Robinson and Crawford are going in: the latter, 
on the left, supported by Getty, is advancing towards the enemy at 
Parker's Store. Behind Crawford and Getty, who are on the Orange 
Court-House road, is the junction of that and the Brock road, up which, 
from the direction of Chancellors ville. Hancock is advancing to make 
connection. That is the vital poinL — that junction; to be held against 
all odds unto the death, else the army is severed. To hold the enemy 
all along the line in check, to prevent his masking any forces in our 
front upon that point, the Fifth Corps is pressing on, and the Sixth 
Corps is about to enter. 

It was at this moment that Griffin fell back, and Crawford's Divi- 
sion, that had been sent forward to Parker's Store, retreated with 
loss. Hancock, who, in obedience to orders, had checked his advance, 
was rapidly marching across to close the gap in the line of battle. He 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIT. '511 

arrived in season — but with no time to spare — and found tlie advance 
of the enemy ah-eady inserting themselves in the interval. Getty's 
Division, of the Sixth Corps, had been temporarily detaclied and moved 
to the left, to the right of the Orange Court-House plankroad. The 
advance, the First Brigade, of Mott's Fourth Division of the Second 
Corps, had barely formed junction with Getty, when A. P. Hill was 
upon them with great force. 

Birney formed on Getty's right, Mott and Barlow on the left of the 
line, and Gibbon's Division was held in reserve. The enemy were 
checked, but tlieir concentration continued. Troops were sent to the 
left from the Fifth Corps, and by four o'clock Hancock was in com- 
mand of half the army in action. 

And now, from left to right the sound of the shock of battle arises 
anew. To relieve the pressure tipon the Second Corps, an advance of 
the whole line is necessary. Hancock is advancing, Seilgwick is 
advancing, Warren is preparing. Like a great engine, dealing death, 
the Second Corps and its supports move forward, taking eqnal death 
in return. Companies fall, regiments are.thinned, brigades melt awav. 
Stricken in the head by a builet, General Alexander Hayes, command- 
ing the Second Brigade of Birney's Division, has rolled from his horse, 
dead. General Getty is wounded ; Colonel Carroll, commanding the 
Third Brigade of the Second Division, is wounded ; a host of line 
officers are stricken low ; the enemy fights like a demon, but the fight 
moves on. 

Sedgwick moves on, breaking the enemy's line for a moment, and 
taking four or five hundred prisoners. There are ripples of disaster on 
all the line, but they are quickly repaired. Slowly, for the enemy is 
stubborn ; slower yet on the extreme right towards the river, for the 
enemy there has massed another force and strives to break our fiank. 
He finds a rock, and, though he checks our advance, though hundreds 
of soldiers sink in death before him, he does not come on. 

And as the day dies, and the darkness creeps uji from the west, al- 
though no cheer of victory swells through the ^yilderness from either 
side, we have accomplished this much at least, with much sore loss : 
the concentration of our army, the holding of tlie junction of the Orange 
Court-House and Brock roads, the turning back of the enemy's right 
flank from our path towards Richmond, and the average gain of a half- 
mile of ground. 

In some respects, however, we had gained decided advantages. 
First, General Grant had learned the position and strength of Lee's 
army — a knowledge of the gi*eatest value. Second, he had been able 
to gather his troops well in hand, putting them into a more substan- 
tial line than at the opening of the engagement. Finally, there was 
no longer any doubt as to the policy of calling General Burnside from 
the further side of the river — the enemy's force being obviously all in 
our fi-ont. The Ninth Corps, under General Burnside, came to the 
field of battle on Thursday, after a forced march, and was distributed, 
as occasion required, on the right, ric^ht centre, and left centre. But 
our line remained substantially as during the day, stretching northAvest 
and southeast over a line nearly parallel to that from Germania Ford 



512 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

to Chancellorsville, and with head-quarters not much in advance of the 
Wilderness. 

The enemy had intrenched himself in our front on an extended ridge, 
approachable only through a thickly-wooded swamp of considerable 
width, protected by a front and flank fire ; and during the night the 
sound of axes showed that he was engaged upon new defences. 

The Union troops were consolidated and posted anew, the three 
corps retaining their respective positions — Warren in the centre, 
Sedgwick on the right, Hancock on the left, the latter still having the 
lion's share of troops, gathered from all the corps. On the extreme 
right of Sedgwick, and nearest the river, was Shaler's Fourth Brigade 
of the First Division, and in succession to the left came Seymour's, 
Neill's, Upton's, Russell's, and Smith's. Warren's Corps prolonged 
the line through the forest and across the Locust Grove road to within 
half a mile of the Orange Court-House road. Across this road and far 
to the left the troops led by Hancock were disposed — Carroll's and 
Hayes's (now Crocker's) Brigades on the right, and Ward's and Owens's 
Brigades on the left of the thoroughfare. The throe brigades of Getty's 
Division of the Sixth Corps, cammanded by Eustis, Wheaton, and 
Grant, were in support. Mott's Division of the Second Corps adjoined 
on the left — the whole left of this line being imder command of Birney. 
The divisions of Gibbons and Barlow formed the left of the line, under 
command of Gibbons. Our cavalry were operating still farther on the 
left, and the left flank of the army was for the first time in a j^osition 
strongly supported by artillery. 

The Second Corps had strongly intrenched itself on the Brock road 
with logs and abatis, and the rest of the line was protected by light earth- 
works. The weak point in the line was a gap between the centre and 
left, to stop which a part of Burnside's Corps was sent forward. 
This was not done without much delay that was nearly fatal to the army. 
Orders were issued for both Sedgwick on the extreme right and Han- 
cock on the left to attack at five A. M. on the morning of Friday, May 
6th. The enemy, however, made an attack twenty minutes earlier, 
but without much vigor. lie was repulsed by the Sixth Corps, which 
gained a few hundred yards without any material advantage. 

Meantime, Hancock, at five o'clock, moved to the attack with such 
vigor, that by eleven o'clock he had gained a mile of groimd from 
Brock road towards Parker's Store, and had got possession of some 
of the enemy's rifle-pits. This advance increased the gap between the 
Second and Fifth Corps, and Burnside's man were still absent. Han- 
cock had in his front the divisions of Heth and Wilcox, of Hill's 
Corps, which had suflered greatly on the previous day, and were to 
have been relieved at night. They stood gallantly for a while ; but at 
last, shrinking before the compact masses hurled upon them, they 
commenced a retreat, which from a walk grew into a run, from a run 
into a demoralized rout. At this moment the corps which Longstreet 
had so long led advanced along the plankroad. Into their leading 
files dashed at headlong speed and in wild disarray the broken ranks 
of Heth and Wilcox, mingled with field-pieces, ambulances, caissons, 
runaway horses, and shouting oflicers striving to bear up against the 




? '°°^1 



H'V'N_ F ''^"TTT ] 



mSTOET OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 513 

rout, but whirled along in its resistless current. Beside the road waa 
General Lee, irritated and excited beyond precedent, eager to stem the 
torrent of flight hy catching hold of any organized body of men and 
launching them in person against the head of the Federal advance 
Upon this hurly-burly of confusion and alarm supervened at the most crit- 
ical moment Longstreet and his Corps. This iresh body of troops, with 
Kershaw's Division in advance, came forward upon the exhausted Fed- 
eral troops in such force, overlapping the left, tliat the Third Brigade 
Colonel Frank, broke and fled back. The pressure was so great aion<^ 
the whole line of the command thus assaulted, that it was also broken 
in several places. Portions of the front line retreated in disorder. 
Ofiicers who commanded there, commanded in some instances troops 
not their own, and of whose fighting qualities they knew nothing-. 
Those ofiicers did their best, but could not stem the panic. General 
Wadsworth,* galloping, appealing, commanding, fell dead from his 
horse in the fi-ont of the battle, deserted by more than half his troops. 
The line fell back before the advancing rebels, and the ground 
whence Ileth and Wilcox had been forced once more passed into their 
hands. Hancock's whole force retired behind the line intrenched the 
day before on the Brock road. In this encounter the enemy lost Gen- 
eneral Jenkins killed, and General Longstreet wounded. The circum- 
stances under which the latter was injured were thus described by a 
Southern spectator : " At this moment (the retreat of Hancock) Long- 
Btreet, after brief consultation ^^'ith General Lee, suggested a flank 
movement not dissimilar to that by which, twelve months before, 
the bloody day of Chancellorsville was decided by Jackson. It was 
commenced : the promise of the first movement was richly encoui-aging. 
Generals Longstreet and Jenkins rode in great glee with their staff 
along the plankroad, when one of those unforeseen accidents which are 
inseparable from war, and doubly hazardous with undisciplined troops, 
checked in an instant all laughter and merriment. A volley at short 
range, issuing from Mahone's Brigade of Confederates as they poured 
obliquely through the tangled undergrowth of the Wilderness, struck 
Longstreet's little party like a wdiite squall ; General Jenkins sprang 
higirfrom his saddle and fell dead with a bullet through his brain; 
Longstreet himself lay stretched in the road pulseless and inanimate, 
and,''as all thoufcht, with but few minutes of life left in him. Instantly 
the flank movement was arrested. About an hour later, Longstreetj 
awakinf^froni his swoon, exclaimed to Dr. Cullen: 'In another halt 
hour, but for my wound, there would not ha\e been a Yankee rcgnnent 
standing and unbroken on the south of the Rapidan.' " It is some- 
what remarkable that this took place very near the spot where btone: 



* .Tames Satniicl Wadsworth was born in Gene- 
sco, New York. October 30th, 1S07, was educated at 
Harvard and Yale Colleses, and admitted to tlie 
bar in 18-03 Uut having inherited an iminense 
lande.l estate in Western New York, he devoted 
himself chiellv to its improvement. He was a 
prominent member of the Republioan party from 
the perioil of its formation, and a commissioner 
to the Pe.ice Conference at Washincrton' in IStil. 
Ho embarked heartily in the cause of the Union, 
was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers 

33 



August 18G1, and in March, 1S62. became Military 
Governor of Washinston. In the fall of that year 
he was the Union candidate for Governor ot Now 
York, but was doleated by Horatio S.'vinour. As 
commander of a division of the Army of the Po- 
tomac he fousht with reputation at Kredericks- 
burc, Chancellorsville, an.l Getty.-bur?. and fVM 
at the head of the Fourth Piy.isi"" <>' t>"- Fifth 
Corps, at the battle of the \V ilderuess, May 6th, 
ISW, as described in the text. 



514 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

wall " Jackson, a year previous, lost his life by a similar mistake of his 
own men. 

A comparative lull occurrerl at noon, and our forces took the oppor- 
tunity it afibrded to draw up and concentrate their lines, interposing 
the greater part of Burnside's Nhith Corps between Hancock and 
"Warren. The left also was brought forward a little from the Brock 
road, to which it had been driven, towards the centre. Hardly had 
these fortunate dispositions been made, when again, in the middle of 
the afternoon, the enemy fell upon our left and centre AvitJi great fury, 
and again pushed them back. At the junction of tlie left and centre 
the attack was particularly severe, Crawford's Third Division of the 
Fifth Corps, Carr's Fourth Division of the Second Coi-ps, and Steven- 
son|s_ Division of the Ninth Corps suffering its brunt. The latter 
division, on Hancock's right, giving way overpowered, the enemy 
rushed througli the gap. Hancock then dispatched Carroll's Third 
Brigade, Second Division of the Second Corps, to SAveep along the 
whole line and attack the enemy in flank. The manosuvre was most 
gallantly and successfully executed, the enemy retiring with much loss, 
and our troops gradually gaining their oldalignment. The left and centre 
of the army, thus having attacked and been attacked throughout the day, 
stood firm at last — the field and forest floor before it and around it st rewu 
with its and the enemy's dead, and throbbing with its wounded. It 
had taken in the course of the day many prisoners ; it held a larger part 
of the field than that occupied in the morning ; its losses were severe. 

The resolute and persevering enemy was not yet at rest, however, 
but now massed his troops for a final rush at the extreme right, where 
were posted the commands of Shaler and Seymour. On the extreme 
right, towards the river, a dark column wound its way out of the 
breastworks of the enemy, through the thick forests towards our right 
flank, moving with such deliberation that a working party was enabled 
to throw up a slight earthwork between themselves and our troops. 
A supporting column formed behind this work. Between six and 
seven p. m., the attack burst with resistless force upon the troops of 
Shaler and Seymour, who were mostly captured, with their command- 
ers, a few only escaping to Germania Ford. Tliis disaster on the right 
exposed the whole army to imminent peril. Amid the panic, however, 
are seen Sedgwick and the officers upon his staff building up order out 
of the ruin. The grand old commander — his hat off, his bridle dropped, 
a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other — is an assurance of safety 
preventing further panic. The enemy come on, but to no further con- 
quest. For there is a line of steel which cannot be broken — ISTeill's 
Brigade. Against it, as a billow against a rock, the exultant masses 
of the enemy fall and break, and are thrown back, and retire. 

The disaster to the extreme right of the Sixth Corps Avas of a serious 
character, and might have proved fatal had the enemy been in a condi- 
tion to follow up his advantage. But so deai'ly was the advantage 
gained that their effort to thrust thenaselves between us and the Ger- 
mania Ford was left unprosecuted, even when it was nearest being 
Buccessful. Artillery, however, had been posted to command the col- 
umn of rebels, in case it should burst through and over the right flank 



HISTORY OF TKE GREAT REBELLION. 515 

of our army. Our losses in this wing fell little 'below six thousand, of 
which four thousand, probably, occurred during the enemy's assault. 
Our losses in the Second Corps ranged in the neighborhood of three 
thousand. And our total losses in the two days' fighting were not far 
from fifteen thousand men. Those of the enemy were probably no 
less severe. In these battles there was an unusual proportion of 
wounded among the casualties, arising from the fact that so little 
artillery was used on either side. Among our general officers killed 
in the two battles were Hayes and Wadsworth; and on the rebel side, 
Jones and Jenkins, with Longstreet, Pegram, and Hunter severely 
wounded. 

It is remarkable that in the official dispatches on both sides, including 
those of our Secretary of War and of General Lee, each army claimed 
to have " repelled the fierce attack of the enemy," rather than to liave 
initiated the attack. At all events, it seems clear tbat both armies de- 
signed attack. On Tuesday our forces undoubtedly moved out to find 
the enemy, and discovered him advancing to oppose us. In like man- 
ner, it is certain that an attack both on the right and left was ordered 
for our forces at five a, m. on Friday. On the left it was made, but on 
the right it was anticipated by the enemy, who had the same intent, 
but had set the time of execution a few minutes earlier than we. The 
same mutual disposition to attack reappeared more than once during 
the day, and witii marked emphasis in the afternoon, and at the attack 
on Hancock. It may be added, that this terrific infantry contest of 
Friday closed on a disputed field, neither army having gained great 
advantage, and friend and foe lying side by side over a broad stretch 
of territory in attestation of the equal fortune of the day. General 
Grant held substantially the same line as on Thursday evening, but he 
had strengthened it on the left. During the night, preparations were 
made to strengthen the right also, and to repair the disaster which 
the enemy's last charge had wrought on that flank. Except for this woik, 
the night was comparatively quiet, our army lying silently alon^ their 
hasty lines of rifle-pits, and the rebels still keeping their more formidable 
intrenchments on the edge of the woods, while the intervening space 
so often fought over was held by the dead and wounded of both the 
combatants. 



CHAPTER L. 

Movement upon Spottsvlvania.— The Enemy on the Alert— Attack of Mav lOth.— 
Death of Sedgwick.— Position of the Troops.— Grant "to Fight it out on that Line. 
—Assault by the Second Corps on May 12th.— Large Captures of Prisoners and 
Guns.— Results of tlie Struggle.— Sheridan's Cavalry Raid— Death of General 
Stuart— Battle at Meadow Bridge.— Sheridan at the James River. 

The morning of Saturday, May 7th, opened with an interchange of 
shot and shell. The right wing had been protected and strengthened 
in view of renewed attack. The morning wore away, however, with 
nothing of more importance than skirmishing. About noon a rather 
vigorous demonstration was made against our centre, and repelled by 
a portion of the Fifth Corps and a battery which obtamed position m 



516 HISTOEY OF. THE GEE AT EEBELLIOW. 

the woods. Reconnoissances in the afternoon discovered that the 
main body of the enemy had fallen back some distance. Preparations 
were at once made for a further advance, but in view of the exertions 
of the last few days, a brief respite for rest was allowed. The follow- 
ing passage, written by an eye-witness, gives a graphic description of 
the scene at head-quarters at this moment: "The lieutenant-general 
here, at the foot of a tree, one leg of his trowsers slipped above his 
boots, his hands limp, his coat in confusion, bis sword equipments 
sprawling on the ground ; not even the weight of sleep erasing that 
persistent expression of the lip which held a constant promise of some- 
thing to be done. And there, at the foot of another tree, is General 
Meade — a military hat, with the rim turned down about his ears, tap^ 
ping a scabbard with his fingers, and gazing abstractedly into the 
depths of the earth through eye-glasses that should become historic. 
General Humphreys, chief of staff — a spectticled, iron-gray, middle- 
aged officer, of a pleasant smile and manner, who wears his trowsers 
below, after the manner of leggins, and is io all things independent 
and serene, paces yonder to and fro. That rather thick-set officer, 
with closely-trimmed whiskers, and the kindest of eyes, who never be^ 
trays a harsh impatience to any comer, is Adjutant-General Williams. 
General Hunt, chief of artillery, a hearty-faced, frank-handed man, 
whose black hair and whiskers have the least touch of time, lounges 
at the foot of another tree, holding lazy converse with one or two 
members of his staff. General Ingalls, chief quartermaster of the army, 
than whom no more imperturbable, efficient, or courteous presence is 
here, plays idly and smilingly with a riding-whip, tossing a telling 
word or two hither and thither. Staff officers and orderlies and 
horses thickly strew the grove." 

Amid these reposing men drops an occasional shell from the enemy, 
and as the day draws to a close there are signs of renewed activity. 
At dusk an order Avas issiied for the whole army to move towards 
Spottsylvania Court-House, via Todd's Tavern. The Fifth Corps 
marched in advance, the Sixth Corps next, Hancock and Burnside 
following. The Sixth Corps marched on the Chancellorsville road, 
reaching Piney Branch Church towards the latter part of Sunday fore- 
noon, the 8th. A part of our troops stretched across and occupied 
Fredericksburg, the Twenty-second New York Cavalry entering that 
city at eight o'clock on Saturday evening. A depot for oar wounded 
was established there, and a basis for supplies arranged. Hancock's and 
Burnside's Corps pressed on, on Saturday night, resuming the chase 
again at daylight on Sunday morning, and camping at noon twenty 
miles away southerly from the Old Wilderness battle-field. The Fifth 
Corps, remaining till dark on the battle-ground, marched all Saturday 
night, though exhausted by the events of the four days and nights pre- 
ceding, taking the Brock road past Todd's Tavern, towards Spottsyl- 
vania, 

Meanwhile the enemy's cavalry was on the alert, and Stuart reported 
to Lee that Grant had resumed his flank movement, and that under 
cover of the thick woods he was throwing a force forward in the 
direction of Spottsylvania Court-House, on the direct road to Rich- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 



517 



mond. Orders were immediately issued for Anderson's Corps (late 
Longstreet's) to march at eleven o'clock at night for that place, and 
preparations were immediately made to put the whole army in motion 
for the same destination on the following day. The distance from the 
battle-field, which is near the western boundary of Spottsvlvania 
County, to the Court-House, is fifteen miles. Warren's Corps left the 
Wilderness Tavern with Bartlett's Brigade in the advance as skirmish- 
ers. These pushed forward with confidence, but incautiously advanc- 
ing, when near Spottsylvnnia Court-IIouse, beyond the main body, 
were assailed by a heavy fire and driven back with severe loss. Gen- 
eral Robinson fell, wounded in the leg. A line of battle was then 
formed, with Grifiin on the right, Robinson on the left, and on his left 
Crawford's and Wadsworth's (now Cutler's) Divisions. The troops 
in the rear were brought up, and a portion of the Sixth Corps formed 
on the right. Meantime, E well's Coi-ps had joined Longstreet's (now 
Anderson's) at Spottsylvania Court-House, where Lee had succeeded 
in throwing his army in advance of Grant's movement to the same 
place. Hill's Cor|)S had not yet arrived, but was hourly expected. 

These events of the 7th were ofiicially given to the public as fol- 
lows : — 

" WAsnmGTON, Monday, May 9 — L p. ir. 

"A bearer of dispatches from General Meade's head-quarters has just reached here. 
He states that Lee's army commenced falling bacli on the night of Friday. Our army 
commenced the pursuit on Saturday. Tlie rebels were in full retreat for Richmond by 
the direct road. Hancock passed througli Spottsylvania Oourt-House at daylight yes- 
terday. Our head-quarters at noon yesterday were twenty miles south of tiie battle- 
field. We occupy Fredericksburg. The Twenty-second New York Cavalry occupied 
that place at eight o'clock last night. The depot for our wounded is established at 
Fredericksburg. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of TFixr." 

Sunday night, the 8th, found the Union army intrenched, facing the 
enemy northwest of Spottsylvania Court-House in an irregular line. 
Monday, the 9th, was occupied by the two armies in getting into posi- 
tion and preparing for battle. There was more or less skirmishing 
throughout the day, and some artillery firing, which began at dawn. 
There" were some changes in the disposition of the troops. The ene- 
my's sharpshooters were very busy, depriving the Union army of many 
a valuable ofiicer. General W. H. Morris, of the Sixth Corps, and 
numbers of others, Avere killed or wounded. The most severe loss was 
that of General Sedgwick,* who, accompanied by his stafl*, had walked 



* John Sedgwick was born in Connecticut, 
about 1815, and p-aduated at West Point in 1S37 
He was bi-evetted captain and major for gallant 
conduct in the Mexican war, .and at the outbreak 
of the rebellion held the position of lieutenant- 
colonel of the Second United States Cavalry. He 
was soon after promoted to the colonelcy of the 
Fourth Cavalry, and on August 31st was commis- 
sioned a brigadier-general of volunteers. As com- 
mander of the Third Division of Sumner's Oorp.s 
he participated in the Peninsular campaign, and 
particularly distinguished himself at Fair Oaks. 
He was wounded at Antietam, was promoted in 
December, 18C'2. to be a major-general of volun- 
teers, and in February, 18^8, took command of 
the Sixth Army Corps. During the Chancellora- 



ville campaign, he stormed and captured Marye s 
Hei-hts, in the rear of Fredericksburg, and sub- 
sequently after hard fiirhting .isainst overwhelm- 
iiiS numbers, succeeded in crossuig the P.appn- 
hannoek with his command. He h.id an hotior- 
ai.le share in the Gettysburg campaign, and in 
November, isfrj, was publicly thanked by General 
Meade for a well-e.xecuted manoauvre on the Kapi- 
din by which we captured a whole rebel division, 
with several guns and colors. Ho died in tlio 
manner described in the text, leaving a reputatiou 
as a brave, judicious, and accomplished olhcer, 
second to tliat of no man in the army. He sev- 
eral times held temporary command of the Army 
of the Potomac, and more than once declined the 
supreme command. 



518 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOir.~ 

out to the advanced line of breastworks occupied by Ids men. A con- 
stant hum of bullets about this place caused the soldiers in the works 
to dodge and duck their heads. The general smiled at them good- 
naturedly. He had a winning smile. Finally, one bullet hummed so 
near a soldier that he dropped down upon his face. General Sedg- 
wick touched him with his foot in humorous disdain. "Pooh, pooh, 
man ! Who ever heard of a soldier dodging a bullet ? Why, they 
couldn't hit an elephant at that distance." 

There was a laugh at this, even though the straggling shot yet 
hummed unpleasantly around. The general was still smiling over the 
banter, when Colonel McMahon heard the buzz of a bullet culminate 
in what seemed an explosion close beside him. 

" That must have been an explosive bullet, general." 

No answer. But as the face of General Sedgwick slightly turned 
towards the officer at his side, a sad smile was upon it. Another mo- 
ment, and the form of the general fell helplessly backward. It was 
caught by Colonel McMahon as it fell. A ball had entered the face, 
just below the left eye, pierced the brain, and passed out at the back 
of the head. He never spoke afterwards, though he breathed softly 
for a Avhile. 

* On Tuesday, oixr forces at dawn occupied a line stretching out a 
length of about six miles on the northern bank of the Po, and taking 
the general form of a crescent, the wings being thrown forward ; the 
Second Corps held the right wing, and the Sixth the left. The pre- 
ceding night, Hancock had succeeded in crossing the Po, and now held 
a line on the right, nearly parallel to the road from Shady Grove 
Church to the Court-House. Warren held the centre, being on the east 
side of tlie Po ; and Wright, who had succeeded Sedgwick in the 
command of the Sixth Corps, the left, facing towards the Court-House. 
Farther out on the left was Burnside's Ninth Corps, which, unknown 
to himself, and fortunately unknown to the enemy, was disconnected 
from its supports, and in a very dangerous position. Arnold's, Rod- 
ger's, Sleeper's, and other batteries covered our right ; Meade's, Mar- 
tin's, and others our left centre. In our front was a dense forest. The 
enemy slill held Spottsylvania and the region north of the Court- 
Ilouse. On the preceding day, his left rested on Glady Run, sweeping 
northward, and sheltered by strong works. His right curved in a sim- 
ilar direction, and rested on the Ny River; and his centre, a little 
tiirown forward from the right centre and left centre, was posted on 
commanding ground. His position was well supported by bi'eastworks, 
and along his centre was the forest and underbrush, lining a marsh 
partially drained by a run. In the morning the conflict opened by a 
terrific cannonade of our artillery against the advancing rebel lines ; 
and for the first time in the campaign, this arm was brought into full 
and destructive use. 

Mott's Fourth Division of the Second Corps was then transferred to 
the left, and the advance continued at this point. Orders, hoAvever, 
had been given to attack the rebel centre. Accordingly, Gibbons's 
Second and Birney's Third Division of the Second Corps were drawn 
back from the other side of the Po, to connect with Warren. The 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 519 

Second and Fourth Divisions of the Fifth Corps commenced the attack 
on the centre. The rest of the Fifth Corps and the two divisions of 
the Second then advanced and fought with great tenacity for several 
hours, driving the enemy to his rifle-pits, but tailing to cnpturc them. 
Gibbons's gallant Second Division, and especially Carroll's Brio-ade suf- 
fered severely in repeated charges. General Rice, of tlie Second Bri- 
gade, Fourth Division, Fifth Corps, was at this time killed. The check 
of our centre threw the remaining division, Barlow's (First), of the 
Second Corps, on our right, in extreme peril, and orders were given 
to withdraw it to this side the river. The enemy, huwever, had al- 
ready attacked it in great force, and turned it. He pounced so sud- 
denly and fiercely upon the division as to force it back from the flank- 
ing position it held, and produce a momentary confusion. This was soon 
checked, and the division, though pressed by superior numbers, fought 
its way slowly backward, and, still fighting, retreated acioss the river 
and joined the Second Corps, against the right of which the enemy con- 
tinued to exert his strength until after nightfall, when he was rejjulsed. 
Towards evenmg, a most energetic and gallant assault was made by 
the whole line. Across the open fields, through reaches of wood, 
through depths of swamp and mire, the dark lines of our battalions 
struggled forward against a fearful fire poured down upon them from* 
works that only our artillery could reach efiectively. The divisions of 
the Fifth Corps, subjected to an enfilading volley of great guns from 
right and left, sufiered greatly. Tlie terrible work set for these men,' 
mider such a fire, was not accomplished, when darkness closed around 
the struggling hosts with the repulse of the enemy on the right of the 
Second Cor[)S. Upton's First Brigade of Wright's First Division of 
the Sixth Corps, Avith Russell's Third Brigade of the Third Division, 
moving steadily forward amid a raking and murderous fire, without 
firing a shot, scaled the enemy's works in gallant style, and captured 
more than one thousand of the very men who had stampeded the 
brigades of Shaler and Seymour on Friday night in the Wilderness, 
and sending a scattering volley after a host of flying rebels. Twelve 
guns also came into our possession. But Upton, finding himself fiir in 
advance of the army, was compelled to foil back with his prisoners 
from his daring assault. As always before, night closed on a hard- 
fought but indecisive field. Our losses were perhaps more severe than 
those of any previous day. The Sixth Corps alone, in the battles up 
to that night, had lost over five thousand killed and wounded. The 
following bulletin Avas issued upon the reception of the news of these 

events in Washington : — 

" ■Washington, May 11--11.30A. m. 
" To Major-General Dix : 

" Dispatches from General Grant, dated at eight o'clock this morning, have just 
reached this Department. Hesavs: — 

" ' We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result to this 
time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. 
I think the loss of tlie enemy must be greater. We have taken over live thousand 
prisoners in battle, wliilo he has taken from us but few except stragglers. J propose 
to fight it out on tliis line if it takes all summer.'' 

" The Government is sparing no paias to support him. , ,t^ „ 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 



520 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



Wednesday, May 11th, was a day of no extended operations, and 
was spent mostly in skirmishing and changing positions on both sides. 
The enemy shifted his lines to the left, and corresponding movements 
were made on the Federal side. It had been determined to assault on 
Thursday morning, and the Second Corps being selected to make the 
attempt, it was, during the night, which was very stormy, moved 
from the riglit to the left of the Sixth, between that and Burnside, so 
that on Thursday morning the corps were disposed as follows : the 
Fifth Corps on the right, the Sixth Corps next, the Second Corjjs next, 
and Burnside, as before, on the extreme left. It was in front of Han- 
cock's new position that the vital section of the enemy lay — a strong 
salient angle of earthworks, ditched in front, defended by cannon at 
every point, and held by Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps, Ewell's 
whole corps adjoining. 

On Thursday, the 12th, Hancock's* Corps occupying a position ex- 
posed to the enemy's guns, moved at dawn cautiously up to the enemy's 
lines amidst a dense fog. Barlow's Division — Niell's Brigade leading 
— formed in column by battalions, took the advance, while Birney, 
Mott, and Gibbon, in two lines of battle, supported the attack. The 
storming column advanced silently, and without firing a shot, up to 
•the angles of the breastworks, over which it rushed, taking the forces 
within in flank, surrounding them, capturing nearly the entire division 
of Johnson, three thousand men, with its commander, and also a bri- 
gade or two of other troops, Brigadier-General George H. Stuart in com- 
mand. Over forty pieces of artillery were also captured. The point 
of the lines thus carried was at Ewell's right and A. P. Hill's left, 
and the captured division was a part of Stonewall Jackson's famous 
old corps. It was an exceedingly important point, Hancock being 
thus inserted like a wedge between the enemy's centre and right. 

The charge of the Second Corps was followed by a heavy cannon- 
ade all along the line, to which the enemy replied with great vigor. 
Five furious charges were made by the enemy to retake that position. 
Ewell's Corps, driven from it in the morning, came down first en masse, 
and were repulsed. HiU moved down from the riglit, joined Ewell, 
and threw his divisions into the struggle. General Wright moved up 
from the right, supporting Hancock to meet the surge. Anderson 
came on from the extreme left of the enemy's line. Warren sent in 
troops from the left of ours. The lines of both armies, thus contracted, 
met in a continual death-grapple in and to the right of the angle taken 
in the morning. The enemy's columns dashed with unflinching deter- 
mination auainst our lines, retiring each time with great loss. At 



* WinfieUl Scott Hancock was born in Mont- 
gomery County, Pennsylvania, in IS'24, and grad- 
uated at West" Point in 1844. He was brevetted 
first lieutenant for gallant conduct in the Mexican 
war, subsequently saw uiueh service in the West, 
and at the breaking out of the rebellion held the 
position of quartermaster. He was appointeii 
brigadier-general of volunteers in September, 
1S61, commanded a brigade in the Peninsular cam- 
paign, and was hishlv commended for his conduct 
at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5th. 1SC2. 
After the battle of Antictam. he assumed com- 
mand of a divibiou in tlio Second Corps, and dis- 



tinguished himself at Fredericksburg, Chnncel- 
lorsville, and Gettysburg'. At the last-named 
battle he held comiiiand of the Second Corps, and 
was severely wounded. He participated in the 
campaign of 1S64 against Richmond, and organ- 
ized the assault which led to the capture of John- 
son's division. May r2th. In the latter part of 
the year he resigned the command of the Second 
Corps to General Humphreys, and was assigned 
to the First Corps, then reorganizing. At the 
close of the war he commanded in the Shenandoah 
Valley. He is now major-general of volunteers, 
and Jus charge of the Middle 0opai-tmeut. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 521 

length, towards noon, they ceased their efforts to retake the position. 
But they had successfully disputed our further advance. Part of the 
captured cannon remained covered by sharpshooters, so that neither 
party could carry theni off. The only solid advantage gained was the 
possession of the angle surprised in the morning. The enemy's front 
remained elsewhere apparently impregnable, every avenue of approach 
being swept by the withering fire of artillery, and their force be- 
ing strong enough to hold the position against twice the attacking 
numbers. After many heroic attempts to force them, the design waa 
abandoned. 

General Meade began early in the afternoon contracting his line and 
massing troops on his left, with a view to turn the enemy's right. All 
the afternoon the battle raged with great fury. The enemy made cor- 
responding movements from his left to his right. Every inch of soil, 
muddy with gore, was fought over with desperation, and yielded only 
when it became impossible to hold it. Neither the rain nor the mire 
of the roads delayed the rapidity or intensity of the fight. The rival 
bayonets often interlocked, and a bloody grapple over the intrench- 
ments lasted for hours, the rebel battle-flags now surging up side by 
side with our own, and anon, torn and riddled, disappearing in the 
woods. The dead and wounded lay thickly strewn along the ground, 
and fairly heaped up where the figlit was deadliest. 

After fourteen hours' fighting, night fell on a battle unsurpassed in 
severity in the history of the war. For the first time in the campaign 
a decided success was achieved. Warren and Wright, who moved two 
hours after Hancock, had not advanced on the enemy's front; but this 
was not expected, as his position could not there be carried. On the 
extreme left, Burnside had severely suffered ; while on the left centre, 
Hancock had stormed and held an important angle of the enemy's 
works, despite all their efforts to repossess it. Ofticial dispatches add 
that the day's work also gave us more than three thousand prisoners, 
and also two general ofticei-s, and eighteen pieces of artillery actually 
brought into our lines. Between forty and fifty pieces had been at one 
time captured, but the remainder rested on debatable ground, and were 
subsequently withdrawn by the enemy. The brilliant dash of the morn- 
ing had secured a strong grnsp on the enemy's left centre, and an ad- 
vance of a mile in our line" in that direction. Five determined assaults 
were made during the day to expel our troops, but all were_ fruitless. 
No more gallant, desperate, or long-continued fighting, on either side, 
for the possession of intrenchments, had occurred during the war; 
while the severity of the wounds gave proof of something more than 
musketry fighting. 

The foregoing movements were thus described by the Assistant Sec- 
retary of War, who accompanied the army in its advance : — 

"Spottstlvania Court-House, Va., Friday, May 13, 18G-1— 8 A. u. 
"Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

"Lee abandoned his position during the night, whether to occupy a new position In 
the vicinity, or to make a tliorougli retreat, is not determined. 

" One division of Wright's and one of Hancock's are engaged in sctthng this ques- 
tion, and at half-past seven A. M. had come up on liis rear-guard. Though our army is 



522 



mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIO]!^. 



greatly fatigued from the enormous efforts of yesterday, the news of Lee's departure 
inspires the men with fresh energy. The whole force will soon be in motion, but the 
heavy rains of the last thirty-six hours render the roads very difficult for wagons and 
artillery. The proportion of severely wounded is greater than on either of the pre- 
vious days' fighticg. This was owing to the great use made of artillery. 

" C. A. Dana." 

Meanwhile, on May 9th, a picket body of cavalry, tinder the imme- 
diate comtiiand of General Sheridan,* chief of cavalry of the Army of 
the Potomac, had left the front on an expedition to the rear of Lee's 
army, the main object of which was to cut off the rebel communica- 
tions and supplies. Moving rapidly south along the Negro Foot 
road towards Childsburg, he crossed the North Anna River at the 
fords and suddenly pounced upon the Beaver Dam Station of tlie Vir- 
ginia Central Railroad, where a rebel provost-guard, having charge of 
nearly four hundred Union prisoners, was captured. The latter were 
promptly released. Thence moving towards Richmond, he sent a de- 
tachment to Ashland Station, on the Fredei'icksburg Railroad, where 
the track, station-house, and considerable rolling stock were destroyed. 
On the 11th the command, again concentrated, had reached a point 
within six miles of Richmond, where the rebel cavalry under General 
Stuartf was encountered, and, after a sharp fight, defeated, with the loss 
of several guns, Stuart himself being mortally wounded. On the suc- 
ceeding morning a detachment penetrated to the second line of defences 
of Richmond, but not being in sufficient force to make a dash at the 
city, rejoined the main body, which was moving towards Meadow Bridge, 
on the Chickahominy. The rebels, aware by this time of the intentions 
of Sheridan, were moving rapidly in superior force to surround and cut 
him off, and uj^on reaching the river the Union cavalry found Meadow 



* Philip Henry Sherirtan was born in Perry 
County, Ohio, in 1831, and graduated at West 
Point in ISM. He saw considerable service in the 
West, and after the outbreak of the rebellion was 
commissioned a captain in the Thirteenth United 
States Infantry. For nearly a year he acted as 
chief quartermaster in the Trans-Mississippi De- 
partment, and in May, 1862, was appointed colonel 
of the Second Michigan Cavalry. In June he was 
put in command of a cavalry brigade, and for a 
brilliant victory over the rebel General Chalmers, 
at Booneville, Mississippi, July 1st, he was pro- 
moted, on General Grant's recommend.ation, to be 
& brigadier-general of volunteers. During the in- 
Tasio'n of Kentucky by Bragg, in 1S62, he was as- 
eigncd to the command of a division in Buell's 
army, and subsequently fought at Perrysville and 
Murfreesboro', earning by his valor in the latter 
engagement his promotion to be major-general of 
volunteers, lie participated in the campaign of 
186.3 against Chattanooga, and dgain distinguished 
himself at Chickamauga and the'succeeding battle 
on Missionary Itidt'C. In the spring of 1SG4 he 
was summoned eastward to assume command of 
the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, in which 
capacity he -led several daring expeditions against 
the enemy's commuiiications. In August he took 
ch.arge of the military division of the Shenandoah, 
gained the brilliant victories of September 19th and 
21st over Early, and on October 19th won the hard- 
fought battle of Cedar Creek, changing by his op- 
portune arrival a Union defeat into a signal vic- 
^9ry. In March, 1S66, ho moved Ma cavalry to tho , 



James River, and in the flanking movement by 
which Lee was driven out of Petersburg and event- 
ually destroyed, he held tho chief con)raand, de- 
feating the rebels with severe loss at the battle of 
Five Forks. At the conclusion ot the war he went 
to Texas as commander of the military division of 
the Gulf. Ue is a major-general of tho regular 
army. 

t J.ames E. B. Stuart was born in Patrick Coun- 
ty, Virginia, about 1882, and graduated at West 
Point iu 1S54. He served in a cavalry regiment un- 
til the outbreak of the rebellion, when he resigned 
his commission and entered the rebel army, in 
which, in September, 1861, he was commissioned 
a brigadier-general. In the ensuing winter he or- 
ganized the rebel cavalry forces in Virginia, and 
duringthe Peninsuhir oami)aign distinguished him- 
self by a raid in MeClellan's rear, which was the 
precursor of that general's cliange of base to the 
James Kiver. and of the seven days' fighting which 
accompanied the movement. He commanded the 
cavalry during tho succeeding invasion of Mary*' 
land, and a few weeks after the battle of .\ntietam 
again rode around the Union lines, bringing off a 
considerable auKumt of spoil.s. In the Chancel- 
lorsville campaign and Lee's second invasion of 
the North, his cavalry was active, and, after tho 
battle of Gettysburg, etfectually covered the rebel 
retreat. He was mortally wounded in an encoun- 
ter with the Union cavalry at Yellow Tavern, nea» 
Richmond, on the llth, and died a few hours latea 
He then held the rank of lieutenant-geueraL 



inSTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 523 

Bridge destroyed and the Fredericksburg Railroad bridge, which 
crosses the Chickahominy near this place, commanded by defensive 
works. To add to Sheridan's embarrassment, another rebel force now 
came up. in his rear, cutting off his retreat and seriously ieopardizing 
the command. 

Plemmed in between two fires, with a difficult river to cross, and a 
vigilant and confident enemy surrounding his tired troopers, Sheridan 
acted with consummate coolness and judgment. The railroad bridge 
being under the circumstances impracticable, he immediately com- 
menced to reconstruct Meadow Bridge, though exposed the Avhile to a 
severe fire, to which his own artillery effectually replied, and obliged 
to repel the enemy in his rear by frequent counter-attacks. At length, 
the bridge was completed, and preparations were made to pass his 
ammunition train across. But as this operation, under the hot fire 
of the enemy, would be attended with no little risk, he gathered his 
men up for a final charge, and, putting himself at their head, sabre in 
hand, drove the rebels in confusion to the shelter of the neighboring 
woods, their flight being accelerated by several well-aimed shots from 
the Union artillery. The trains were now quickly passed across the 
river, and the rebel force on the farther bank was driven through 
Mechanicsville to Cold Harbor, with the loss of many prisoners. Sheri- 
dan encamped that night at Gaines's Mill, the old battle-ground of 
June 27th, 1862, and on the 14th reached General Butler's head- 
quarters, near City Point, on the James River. He then opened com- 
munications with Yorktown, and thence with Washington. 



CHAPTER LI. 

Eetrograde Movement of the Enemy. — Bad Condition of the Roads. — Union Movement 
to the Left. — Relative Position of Armies. — Re-enforcements. — Irruption on the Rear 
Repulsed. — Grant Crossing the North Anna. — Impregnable Position of the Enemy. 
— North Anna Recrossed, and Movement to the Left continued. 

Friday, the 13th, continued, stormy, but the skirmishers were early 
pushed out, only to discover that the enemy had fallen back to a new 
position, made necessary by the loss of the angle occupied by Hancock. 
The roads were in such a condition that rapidity of movement was out 
of the question, and the day was occupied mostly in burying the dead. 
General Meade issued a congratulatory order to the troops. ToAvards 
night, new dispositions were determined on. The enemy's right being 
deemed the only practicable point of attack, our lines were to be 
once more shifted down to the left, in the endeavor to flank. The 
Fifth and Sixth Corps were selected this time, for an attempt resem- 
bling that of the Second and Ninth. The position of Thursday, the 
12th, as already indicated, ran thiis, from right to left: Warren, 
Wright, Hancock, Burnside. About nine o'clock, on Friday night, 
the two right corps were put in motion, and marched all night to their 
new position. The difficulties of the march through the ankle-deep 
and knee-deep mud, and amid the furious storm, made the movement 



524 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

elotv and arduous, and only endurable by contrast with the severer 
experience of constant battle. 

On the morning of Saturday, the 14th, the enemy was found to have 
fallen back a little, and to have brought his line more to the cast, still 
holding the Court-House and the forked roads. Li this neighborhood, 
the Ny and the Po Rivers, branches of the Mattapony, approach each 
other to form their junction. The Federal army was in the fork form- 
ed by these streams, and at right angles with the road from Fredericks- 
burg to Sjiottsylvania. The several corps were posted as follows: 
Hancock's Second Corps on the right, Burnside's Ninth on the right 
centre, Wright's Sixth on the left centre, Warren's Fifth on the left. 
On Saturday, Wright had not been able to get immediately into posi- 
tion, and was farther to the left and a little thrown back, as if in re- 
serve. The position was a good one, on the crests of rolling ridges 
running nearly northwest and southeast, and covering the southerly 
bank of the Ny River. There was also space for the sweep of the 
artiller3^ Unfortunately, the almost indescribably bad condition of 
the roads had prevented the successful completion of the movement in 
season to authorize an attack. There was no hope of surprise, and 
before our artillery trains and infantry masses were in position the 
enemy was alert and hostile. 

The head-quarters of Grant and Meade were at Gail's House, eight 
miles from Fredericksburg and two miles from the Court-House. The 
extremities of the two wings were about equidistant from the house, 
and the skirmishing line a mile in front. The enemy's position was a 
semicircular line of earthworks, with rifle-pits here and there, well 
established on commanding heights, and the whole flanked right and 
left by dense Avoods. Artillery was already in position, and new in- 
ti'enchments building. A part of the works appeared to be sodded, 
showing an old construction, and the utmost activity was manifest in 
strengthening the position. Our forces soon commenced to throw up 
field-works, and the great armies, so lately contending with bayonet 
and bullet, were now quietly and sedulously emulating each other with 
the spade. 

Stmday, the 15th,' was the twelfth day since the army had left Cul- 
pepper, and was the first of comparative rest that the men had enjoyed. 
There was but little skirmishing on either side. On Monday, the 16th, 
Grant sent word to Washington that operations would be suspended 
until the roads should be passable. Monday and Tuesday passed in 
welcome rest for the army. The wounded were sent back in long 
trains of ambulances to Fredericksburg, and the roads were lined 
with crippled soldiers painfully making their way in the same direc- 
tion. Mosby's guerrillas scoured the country on both sides of the 
Rapidan, picking up squads of stragglers. Re-enforcements had been 
received to the extent of thirty-five thousand, according to the an- 
nouncement of the Secretary of War, to fill up the terrible gaps made 
by the previous ten days' service. The time was similarly employed 
by the enemy. 

By Tuesday afternoon, the iTth, the ground had become somewhat 
improved, so as to admit of reconnoissauces. Hitherto the constant 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



525 



effort of Grant had been to turn the enemy's right. It was no-w de- 
termined to reverse the operation, and, if possible, to throw the enemy 
off his guard ; the more so that the ground was more favorable for 
manoeuvring on our right than on our left. In accordance with this 
determination a new disposition of troops was made during Tuesday 
night, and the line was formed Wednesday morning, the 18th, from 
right to left, as follows : Wright, Hancock, Burnside, Warren. The 
right and right centre, Wright and Hancock, were to attack. It was 
hoped by this means to surprise the enemy, as our movements of the 
past week — refusing our right constantly, and massing on the left — 
seemed to indicate a fixed purpose on the part of Meade of turning 
the rebel right. The enemy, however, divined the intention, and were 
ah-eady perfectly prepared. When Hancock advanced he found thera 
in an impregnable position. Hancock pushed through two outer lines 
of rifle-pits, which had been abandoned in apj>arent haste to draw him 
on, but presently struck an extremely strong line of breastworks, with 
abatis in front, and very heavily armed with artillery. The position 
could only have been carried by an immense loss of life, if it could 
have been carried at all. The order for assault was, accordingly, at 
ten o'clock a. m. countermanded. A nearer view of the position it was 
intended to assail convinced the commanding general that it could not 
be carried. If it could be gained by hard fighting, he was not the man 
to flinch on that account ; but success seemed hopeless. 

General Grant, finding it impossible to force the enemy's front, once 
more determined to move by his left. On Wednesday night a cav- 
alry force under General Torbert entered Guinney's Station, a point 
on the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroads, about ten 
miles in a direct line southeasterly from Spottsylvania, across the Po, 
and consequently on the right and rear of the enemy's position. Tlie 
cavalry destroyed the buildings and supplies, the telegraph apparatus, 
&c. This was only the precursor of a general movement in that di- 
rection. On Tlmrsday a portion of the right began to move towards 
the left, and dispositions were in progress to carry out the whole 
movement, when an unexpected interruption took place. Ewell,* 
noticing the movement of our troops from the right, moved a part of 
his corps to thwart it. The division of Rhodes having the advance, 
crossed the Ny River, and reached the Fredericksburg wagon-road in 
the rear of our right flank, where he captured ambulances and a subsist- 
ence train within three-quarters of a mile of the head-quarters of Gen- 
erals Meade and Grant. The only troops we had on the ground at 
the time were Tyler's Division of heavy artillery, which had lately 
been brought from Washington. Three divisions, one each of the 



* Rinhanl Stoddard Kwell was born in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia about 1S20, and ;.'raduate,d at 
West Point in 1S40. He was brevetted captain 
for gallantry in the Mexican war, subsequently 
saw considerable service in the West, and at the 
outbreak of the civil war resifrned his co-mmis- 
sion and entered the rebel army, of which he 
was appointed a brijadier-jeneral. He was sub- 
sequently promoted to be a inainr-general, and 
took command of a corps in the Army of Vir- 
ginia. He lost a leg at the second battle of Bull 



Knn, and did not resume his command until after 
the liattle of Gettysburg. He piirticipated in the 
invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1S63, 
distinguished himself at GettysburR. and during 
the campaign of 1864-'C5 commanded one of the 
three corps of Lee's army. On April 6th, 1S65, 
his corps was disastrously routed by Sheridan, 
west of Burkesville, and he himself captured. He 
was subseqnently confined in Fort Warren, but 
after some months released. 



526 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps, were sent to his support. Tyler met 
the attack near the woods, where the enemy had formed in a single 
line, with skirmishers in front. He felt some apprehension at the 
result of the encounter, as his troops were raw and had never been 
employed in open field-fighting. But when once fairly under fire they 
showed a degree of courage and audacity which surprised the rebels 
not less than their commander. No sooner did they see the enemy, 
than, regardless of the devices which older troops would have taken 
to screen themselves in a close encounter in the woods, they fired, a 
volley and followed it up by an impetuous charge, which sent the 
rebels quickly towards their camp. The honors of the repulse of the 
enemy, whose boldly-conceived movement might, under different cir- 
cumstances, have produced disastrous results, rested with Tyler's heavy 
artillery division, and partly also with Birney's Division of the Second 
Corps, and Crawford's of the Fifth, which formed line, enabling Tyler 
to withdraw, after driving the enemy for several miles and clearing 
the valley of the Ny. 

The grand movement, which had been delayed by this attack, recom- 
menced on the night of Friday, the 20th, when Torbert's Cavalry left 
Guinney's Station, on the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, and 
pushed on to Bowling Green, fifteen miles southeast of Spottsylvania, 
and thence to Milford Station, hoping to capture Lee's stores ; but 
they had been already removed. At midnight of Friday, the Second 
Corps followed the cavalr}'", striking Massaponax Church about four 
o'clock, Guinney's Station on Saturday morning, and finally Bowling 
Green — reaching the latter point, after a march of about twenty miles, 
by nightfall of Saturday. The weather was fine but warm, and the 
roads good. Proceeding from Bowling Green, the Second Corps next 
struck the Mattapony at Milford's Bridge, five miles south, crossed the 
river, and formed line in a commanding position about a mile from the 
bridge. Here, a few hundred rebel cavalry dashed against Barlow's 
Division while forming, but discovering in season they were about to 
ca])tm-e a Tartar, Avheeled and escaped with safety. The enemy's 
infantry was in strong force in front. During the day of Sunday, the 
22d, the corps marched forward and held the ground for a mile or two 
from the Mattapony. Milford Station is about forty miles from Rich- 
mond. 

At ten o'clock on Saturday morning, Warren's Fifth Corps broke 
camp and followed the Secon<l, encountering cavaliy, like its prede- 
cessor, near Guinney's. The Sixth and Ninth followed the Fifth, 
bringing up the rear, and, on Saturday, the whole army had left Spott- 
sylvania. Our advance found everywhere that the movement had beeh 
anticipated ; stores had been removed, and Lee's main army taken 
from our path. All the corps had more or less skirmisliing — that in 
the rear being at one time quite lively, but no damage or delay was 
caused. The advance was conducted in a bold and confident style, 
the corps striking out, with, occasionally, long gaps intervening, caus- 
ing no little tr(>pidation in some quarters, lest a part of our force 
should be cut off by an attack of the enemy, while it marched by the 
flank. 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 527 

By Sund'ay the column began to consolidate, and a sort of line was 
formed, facing westerly, the Second Corps holding the left at Milford 
Station, and the Fifth the right at Guinney's, with the centre in the 
direction of Bowling Green. It was already clear to Grant that the 
enemy was preceding him in the direction of Hanover Coiirt-House, 
and the whole army on Monday pushed forward at a rapid rate, and 
reached the North Anna River in the neighborhood of Jericho Mills. 
The Second and Fifth Corps were in the advance, the latter at the 
right of the Second. Hancock rushed at the enemy's strong position, 
after briefly reconnoitring its strength, his troops gallantly charging 
the enemy, while our batteries played into their works. The battle 
was very severe ; but, with a loss of about three hundred men, Han- 
cock succeeded in forcing the position. Meanwhile, Warren's Fifth 
Corps had already crossed higher up, without much difficulty, but 
were soon attacked with fury and vehemence. Secretary Stanton's 
dispatch from General Grant says that Warren " was attacked with 
great vehemence. I have never heard more rapid or massive firing, 
either of artillery or musketry. The attack resulted in a destructive 
repulse of the enemy. At the position attacked by Hancock the 
rebels were intrenched, and in considerable force, between the creek 
he had crossed and the river, and made a pertinacious resistance to 
his onset ; but before dark he had forced them from their works and 
driven them across the stream." By night, the Second and Fifth 
Corps were both across the river, and the Ninth and Sixth held the 
thither side. On Tuesday the whole army was across. 

Lee had even on Friday night suspected Grant's movement. He 
knew the impregnability of his own position. He knew that the Fed- 
eral advance on his works had been abandoned without serious attack, 
and when Ewell's attack on the Federal lines discovered the absence 
of Hancock, Grant's plan was demonstrated. At midnight of the 
20th two corps of the rebel army were already on the way to head 
oiF Grant, while the third remained on the ground and attacked the 
Federal Sixth on Saturday morning. The route of Lee was much 
shorter and more direct to the same point than that of Grant. He 
accordingly sent a flying body to harass the troops of Grant, while 
Ewell and Longstreet passed over the Telegraph road, and A. P. Hill 
farther to the west, over the Negro Foot road, and when our troops 
reached the North Anna River, Longstreet and Ewell had been in 
position twenty-four hours. 

Tuesday, the 2-4th, was passed in getting the army into position on 
the south of the North Anna. Port. Royal, on the Rappahannock, 
became the new base of supplies, and head-quarters were at Jericho 
Mills. 

On Wednesday noon, the 25th, the line rested as follows, from right to 
left: Wright's Sixth Corps, Warren's Fifth, Burnside's Ninth, Hancock's 
Second. Wright's Corps was held rather in the rear, covering Jericho 
Ford. Hancock's extreme left touched on the railroad, and was but 
very little advanced from the river. Between our right and left the 
enemy was found in strong force opposite our centre, with his left a 
little thrown back. Our ojsrn line extended about four miles. Tlie 



528 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

reconnoissances of the day showed that the enemy's line lay northwest 
of Sexton's Junction, in the general form of a V. The apex, or his 
centre, stretched towards the North Anna, his right wing resting on 
the formidable marsh known as Bull Swamp, through which the creek 
of that name empties into the ISTorth Anna, and extending across the 
Fredericksburg Railroad, protecting it and covering the junction. 
His left wing ran along Little River, crossing the Virginia Central, and 
protecting it also at Sexton's Junction, The salient, an obtuse angle, 
was pushed out towards Ox Ford, confronting Burnside. Hancock's 
Corps lay pretty nearly parallel with the enemy's right. This position, 
naturally strong, appeared to be fortified with extensive and elaborate 
intrenchraents, to which the enemy was busily adding others. The 
whole position looked formidable, and the enemy did not yield to the 
slight pressure of our reconnoissance. 

On Thursday head-quarters were at Quarles's Ford. Reconnoissances 
again went on, but showed nothing new. The strength of the rebel 
army, with the morass on the right and the river on the left, with its 
centre dangerously inserted between the two fords, and threatening to 
penetrate our own centre, was again ob\ioiis. In case of a battle, the 
rapidity with which troops could be thrown back and forth from flank 
to flank, as occasion required, was no less obvious. The position was 
skilfully chosen, and, it would seem, threatened our security, as well 
as provided for its own. 

A glance at the position sufficed to show that it was almost impi-eg- 
nable, and once more the movement to the left commenced. To make 
this movement, it was necessary to recross the North Anna, which was 
swelling from the recent rains, and no time was to be lost. With a 
vigilant enemy on his rear, the task was not easy. To cover the move- 
ment, a demonstration was made during Thursday, the 26th, on the 
enemy's w^orks, and the cavalry set to burning the track of the Virginia 
Central Railroad. Under cover of this attack, on Thursday evening, 
the Sixth Corps quietly and swiftly withdrew to the north branch of 
the river, followed by the other corps in quick succession, and moved 
out easterly for the Pamunkey. Hancock protected the rear, and, 
meanwhile, a strong skirmish line w^as left in front, to engage the 
enemy's attention and disarm suspicion. At 9 o'clock on Friday 
morning, Torbert's First and Gregg's Second Division of Siieridan's 
Cavalry took possession of Hanover Feny and Ilanovertown, finding 
there only a rebel vedette. General Torbert captured seventy-fiA'Q 
cavalry, including six officers. The First Division of the Sixth Corps 
arrived at 10 a. m., and the rest of the column closely followed. On 
the morning of the 27th, while our army moved down the north side 
of the Pamunkey, Breckinridge's Division was sent to move down on 
the south side of the stream, to Hanover Court-House, to act as a corps 
of observation ; and a brigade of cavalry was sent stiil farther on, on 
the Pijjing Tree road. Ilanovertown is on the Pamunkey, fifteen miles 
northeast of Richmond, nine miles in an air line from Hanover CouTt- 
House, and sixteen from White House, on the same river. But the 
exceedingly tortuous nature of the river makes the two latter dis- 
tances very much greater by river and somewhat greater by road. It 



HISTORY or THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 529 

•was at once evident tlint the fimiliar spot knoTvn as "White House was 
henceforth to be our base of supplies. Thirteen niilea cast of White 
House is "West Point, where the Mattapony and Pamunkey form, by 
their confluence, the York River. The distance by the winding stream 
is much greater. A railroad connects the two points. 

In the afternoon of Friday, General Meade's head-quarters were at 
Mongohick Church, situated at the cross-roads on Mehixen Creek, in 
King William Comity, ten miles north of Ilanovertown, On Satur- 
day morning, the 2Sth, our troops had obtained complete possession of 
Hanovertown and the neighboring region, having marched probably 
twenty-five miles, in the heat and dust, shice Thursday night. On 
Sunday, the 29th, the whole army was successfully across the Pamun- 
key, and fronted southwest, about three miles from the river. The 
corps moved cautiously forward, and an attack from Lee was expected. 
None such was made, however, and the only firing came from recon- 
noitring parties far in the front. Reconnoissances were made from 
each corps, followed up by a gradual advance. It appeared that the 
enemy was in force half a dozen miles distant from our lines, across 
Tolopatomoy Creek, with his extreme right holding Shady Grove and 
Mechanicsville, his right centre in front of Atler's Station on the Vir- 
ginia Central, and his left still persistently covering Hanover Court- 
House. Trains now began to run to and from White House, and dis- 
positions were made for battle. 



CHAI^TER LIL 

Original Plan of Campaign. — Butler's Expedition up tho James. — Movement on Peters- 
burg. — Fort Darling. — Repulse of tlio Union Forces. — Attack bj Beauregard. — 
Beauregard Ro-enforces Lee. — Smith sent to Support Grant. 

The campaign of General Grant upon his appointment as Lieutenant- 
General to the chief command of all the armies of tjie United States, 
comprised a simultaneous movement by the army under Sherman in 
Tennessee, by that under Sigel in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and 
another under Butler, which was to land at City Point on the James 
River, and destroy the Petersburg Railroad connection with Rich- 
mond, thus preventing Beauregard, who commanded on the south side 
of the Jaines, from going to re-enforce Lee. This expedition, consist- 
ing of the Eighteenth Corps, Major-General W. F. smith, known as 
Baldy Smith, and the Tenth Corps, Major-General Gilhnore, was em- 
barked on transports at Yorktown and Gloucester Point. Demon- 
strations of an advance up York River were made to deceive the 
enemy, and then the whole proceeded up the James. This movement, 
made on the same day as that on which Meade's army crossed the 
Rapidan, took the enemy somewhat by surprise. There was no at- 
tempt at City Point or elsewhere to dispute the landing, which was 
described in the official telegram as follows : — 
34 



530 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIONT 

" Off City Point, Va., May 5. 
"Lieutenant-General Grant, Commanding Armies of the United States, Washington, 
D. C: 

"We have seized Wilson's Wharf Landing. A brigade of Wild's colored troops are 
there. At Fort Powhattan Landing two regiments of the same brigade have landed. 
At City Point, Ilinks's Division, with the remaining troops and batter}^, have landed. 
The remainder of both the Eighteenth and Tenth Army Corps are being landed at 
Bermuda Hundred, above the Appomattox. 

" No opposition experienced thus far. The movement was apparently a complete 
surprise. Both army corps left Yorktovvn during last night. The monitors are all 
over the bar at Harrison's Landing and above City Point. The operations of the fleet 
have been conducted to-day with energy and success. Generals Smith and Gillmore 
are pushing tlie landing of the men. General Graham, with the army gunboats, led 
the advance during the night, capturing the signal-station of the rebels. 

"Colonel West, with eighteen hundred cavalry, made several demonstrations from 
"Williamsburg yesterday morning. General Kautz left Sufl'olk this morning with his 
cavalry, for the service indicated during the conference with the Lieutenant-General. 

"The New York flag-of-truce boat was found lying at the wharf, with four hundred 
prisoners, whom slio liad not time to deliver. She went up j'esterday morning. 

" We are landing troops during the night — a hazardous service in the face of the 
enemy. Benj. F. Butleu, Major- Central Commanding. 

" A. F. Puffer, Captain and A. D. C." 

• General Kautz, ■with three thousaud cavalry from Suffolk, on the 
same day with the movement up the James River, had forced the 
Bkick water, and burnt the railroad bridge at Stony Creek, below 
Petersburg, but not in time to prevent the troops under Ilill reaching 
Petersburg in time to contest the progress of our troops. lie also 
made a dash at Petersburg, but was compelled to retire with loss. 
On Monday, the 9th, our troops advanced in force against the Rich- 
raonil and Petersburg Railroad, with the purpose of more eifecttially 
disabling this main line of sujiply for General Lee. Gillmore on the 
right and Smith on the left, feeling their wny cautiously through the 
thick woods, they advanced in momentary expectation of a fight; but 
contrai-y to expectation, their march was unopposed, and, after doing 
Bome damage, the troops occupied the north bank of Swift Creek, three 
miles above Petersburg. 

While in front of Vicksburg, in conversation with a number of offi- 
cers, General Grant, without expecting to be ever called to the place, 
gave his views of the proper plan to capture Richmond. He said that, 
in his view, two armies should move against the rebel ca]>ital — one by 
way of the Rapidan, and the other by way of Petersburg. Either of 
these columns should be strong enough to fight Lee out of his intrench- 
ments — a circumstance which would compel Lee to keep his army 
together, as a division, with the James River between the sections, 
must prove fatal. The army on the south Avas to cut off communica- 
tions, and threaten the destruction of the rebel capital from the south, 
and be able to take it, if Lee did not fall back ; if he did fall back, the 
army from the north could press him, and besiege him in the capital, 
and by means of gunboats a perfect connection across James River 
could be kept up. The moment the array on the south side occupied 
Manchester, Richmond would become untenable ; and under any cir- 
cumstances, with all communications cut, the city could not stand a 
long siege ; and though a portion of the rebel army might escape^ it 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 531 

could only do so in a demoralized condition. Such being the views of 
Grant, it is evddent what part General Butler was intended to play in 
the campaign. 

On Friday, May 13th, a cavalry expedition under Kautz went out for 
the purpose of destroying the railroad communications between Rich- 
mond and Danville. In support of this movement Gillmore advanced 
with his corps, on the left, up the railroad towards Chester and Rich- 
mond, while Smith, with the Eighteenth Corps, moved on the right, 
up the Richmond and Petersburg turnpike along the James River. 
Ames's Third Division of the Tenth Corps remained to watch Peters- 
burg. Smith advanced, skirmishing with the enemy, until he reached 
Proctor's Run, three miles from Fort Darling, and Gillmore, on the 
left, reached the Halfway House, when the troops rested for the night. 
In the morning the enemy were discovered behind a line of earthworks, 
stretching from the James to a quarter of a mile beyond the railroad, 
and constituting the outer defences of Fort Darling. Brisk skirmishing 
at once commenced. The Third New Hampshire, the One Hundredth 
New York, and Twenty-fourth Massachusetts were sent to turn the 
enemy's right flank, while our left, under Gillmore, was ordered to 
swing round upon the centre and right. The attack of the flanking 
party was successful, and the enemy withdrew to a stronger line, three- 
quarters of a mile beyond. ]\Iore or less skirmishing was kept up un- 
til the 16th, when the enemy, under Beauregard, attacked vigorously. 
Our line Avas formed with Smith's Corps on the right, and Gillmore's 
on the left. Early Monday morning, the 16th, concealed by a very 
dense fog, the enemy, under General Ransom, massed his troops against 
our right wing, which at that time was particularly vulnerable. He 
burst upon Hickman's Brigade, of Weitzefs Division, Smith's Corps, 
and, in the blinding fog and darkness, a terrific conflict ensued. Borne 
down at last by numbers, the gallant brigade fell to the rear with loss 
of some artillery, four stands of colors, and about three hundred pris- 
oners. Here Colonel Drake's Brigade, Weitzel's Division, consisting 
of the Eighth Maine and One Hundred and Twelfth New York, came 
to the rescue, and by hard fighting for a time stayed the tide of the 
enemy. Farther to the left, Wistar's and Burnham's Brigades of 
Weitzel's Division were also set upon with fury. On our left there 
was a simultaneous attack, Hawley's and Barton's Brigades of Terry's 
Division, Tenth Corps, were roughly han<lled, and the line forced 
back. Gillmore covered the retreat. A movement of the. enemy to 
cut off the retreat was repulsed by Ames. The two corps then feU 
back to their intrenchments, the enemy holding the turnpike. Our 
total loss was nearly four thousand men, a great proportion of them 
being captured on the right, from Heckraan's Brigade, consisting of the 
Ninth New Jersey, and the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty- 
seventh Massachusetts. Ashby's and Belger's batteries lost ten guns. 
A large number of ofl!icers, including General Ileckman, were also 
captured by the enemy, who admitted a loss of fifteen hundred. 

The cavalry under General Kautz returned at sundown on Tuesday. 
The object had been to tap the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and 
the attempt had more or less annoyed the enemy. 



532 UISTOllY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 

Thus tte prime object of the expedition of General Butler seems 
to have failed, although he had succeeded in getting a foothold ou the 
south side of the James. If, after his first landing at the mouth of the 
Appomattox River, he had shown more A'igor, it is difficult to see how 
Petersburg, distant some ten miles from tlie Jajnes River, could have 
been saved. As it was, time was given to Beauregard to gather up a 
force from Charleston and Wilmington, and he had little dilliculty in 
subsequently inflicting a defeat on Butler's forces. Butler was also 
blamed for not intrenching when he carried the first line of the ene- 
my's works. The movement would then perhaps have proved a suc- 
cess. 

The forces remained inactive until the 19th, when Beauregard moved 
in front of the Union lines, and about midnight attacked Terry's and 
Ames's Divisions of the Tenth Corps. AVith some intermissions the 
attack Avas kept up until nine o'clock of Friday, the 20th. A more 
vigorous assault was then made. In front of General Ames's line was 
a series of rifle-pits, between which and our intrenchments intervened 
a field devastated by fire, aroimd which the woods formed an irregular 
semicircle. The enemy came down upon these rifle-pits in force, cap- 
turing them after a desperate fight. In an attempt to retake the rifle- 
pits, the Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania and Thirteenth Illinois Regiments 
were ordered to move through the Avoods to co-operate with a move- 
ment made by another portion of Gillmore's forces. Misunderstand- 
ing the order, the troops Avere moved by the flank along the skirt of 
the woods. Marching steadily along, they came unexpectedly upon a 
"battery, Avhich opened a murderous cross-fire, literally moAviug them 
doAA'n. It appeared to the looker-on as though the eniire Ibrce melted 
away before this terrific rain of grape and canister. The loss is esti- 
miited at three hundred. The other movement was successful, and the 
enemy Avere driven Irom their position. The rebel General Walker 
was dangerously Avounded and captured. Butler then ordered the 
navy gunboats in the Appomattox to shell the Avoods in front of the 
left and towards the centre. 

Butler Avas noAV in a measure shut up in his lines, and Beauregard 
was enabled to send a portion of his force to the support of Lee. His 
total force was composed of tAvelve brigades: ClLngman's, Greysie's, 
and Ransom's Brigades of North Carolina troops ; Ilunton's, Burlon's, 
Terry's, Corse's, and Wise's Viiginia Brigades; Ilagood's and Walk- 
er's South Carolina Brigades, and Bushrod E. Johnson's Brigade — al- 
together about thirty thousand men. 

On Tuesday, the 24th, some of the enemy's cavalry, under Fitz- 
hugh Lee, attacked the fort at Wilson's Wharf, on the north bank of 
the James, garrisoned by colored troops, but retired with the loss of 
tAveuty-six killed and many wounded. On the 26th, Genernl Martin- 
dale made a similar attack upon the enemy's lines at Bakehouse Creek, 
and retired with the loss of thirty men. 

It was noAV that Grant, moving by Ids left, was approaching White 
House, his new base of supplies, and required re-enforcements over and 
above Avhat had been sent from the North. General Smith Avith the 
Eighteenth Corps was therefore detached on the 29th, for the White 



HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS-. 533 

House via Fortress Monroe. From tlie moment of the dopavture of 
the Eighteenth Corps, Butler was penned up between a watchful 
enemy and the river, secured, however, from disaster by the gunboats. 
The movement of Smith's Corps was promptly known to the enemy, 
who also detached a force to Lee, which reached him before Smith 
joined Meade. Butler remained within his lines, against which the 
enemy made occasional demonstrations, without important results on 
either side. 



CHAPTER LHI. 

Position of Crrant's Army. — "Warren's Advance. — Further Development of the Union 
Left Wing. — Severe Battles around Cold Harbor. — New Flank Movement determined 
upon. — Crossing of the James and Junction with Butler. — Results of that Campaign. 

The morning of Monday, May 30th, found Grant's line of battle dis- 
posed as follows : Wright's Corps on the extreme right, extending in 
the direction of Hanover Court-House ; Hancock's on the right centre, 
on the Shady Grove road; Warren's on the left centre, on the Mechanics- 
viUe road ; Burnside's on the left, and a little in rear, and so disposed 
as to threaten Richmond. Our right and rear were covered by Wil- 
son's Third Cavalry Division, which had previously been ordered to 
destroy the railroad bridges over the Little River and South Anna, and 
to break up the roads leadmg thence to Hawe's Shop. Gregg's and 
Torbert's Divisions were dispatched out on our left flank. The Old 
Church Tavern cross-roads were held by Torbert's Division, with a 
picket force of two squadrons along the road leading from Cold Harbor 
to Old Church Tavern. 

About noon, Torbert's pickets were driven in by an apparent at- 
tempt to get in our rear. A brisk skirmish was followed by the re- 
treat of the enemy along the Cold Harbor road. Towards five o'clock, 
Warren began to move slowly towards Mechanicsville. Crawford's 
Division, which w^as in advance, towards Shady Grove, and a little de- 
taiched, was suddenly assailed by Rhodes's Division of Early's Corps, 
with great vigor. The flank of Warren's Corps being thus endangered, 
General Meade ordered an attack all along the line, in order to relieve 
him. Hancock was the only one who received the order in time to 
attack before dark, and he immediately dashed upon the enemy's skir- 
mish line, captured their rifle-pits, and held them all night. Tlie en- 
gagement was rapid and brilliant, and the losses not large. Warren 
held his ground, about seven miles distant from Richmond, and near 
Mechanicsville. The enemy at once moved down troops to prevent 
any further dangerous concentration on his right. At midnight, an 
attack was made upon Hancock, inflicting more or less loss, but ^^•ith- 
out material success. On Tuesday, the 31st, a general advance of our 
lines began, attended by considerable firing, the enemy being little 
inclined to be pushed farther back from his ])Osition. The army 
now occupied nearly the same ground that it had two years before, 



534 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^f. 

when McClellan was before Richmond. Warren, noAV in command of 
the Fifth Corps, was upon the same spot where then he had commamled 
a brigade of Porter's Corps. The Union army was now re-enforced by 
the Eighteenth Corps of Smith, while the enemy was joined by Breckin- 
ridge and Beauregard. The line of the enemy was disposed so as to 
cover the Chickahominy, which is the outer line of defence for Rich- 
mond, with its right, and the Virginia Central Railroad with its left. 
Most of the ground between the Chickahominy and the Pamunkey is 
favorable for manoeuvring, being open and dry. South of the former 
river are those well-known swamps which were traversed by McClellan. 
Parallel with the river runs a road from Winston's Bridge, on the 
north, to Bottom Bridge, on the south, on which are Shady Grove and 
Mechanicsville ; and pai-allel with this road, and north of it, is another, 
which runs through Walnut Grove, Cold Harbor, and Gaines's Mill. 
Lee's hue held this road from Atlee's Station, on the Fredericksburg 
Railroad, to Gaines's Mill. His cavalry reached Hanover on his left, 
and Bottom Bridge on the south. This line was not straight, but at 
the northern part faced east, and at its southern position northeast, 
and was disposed as follows, left to right : A. P. Hill, Anderson, Ewell. 
The Federal line, consequently, faced westerly and southwesterly, and 
on Tuesday, May 31st, was disposed as follows, from right to left: 
Wright, Hancock, Burnside, Warren. 

Grant intended on Tuesday to resume his customary movement of 
massing upon his left. Torbert's Division of cavalry was, therefore, 
sent to Cold Harbor. This led to some skirmishing, which notified the 
enemy of what was intended. Meanwhile, Lee, suspecting Grant would 
attempt to repeat what was known among the Confederates as his 
" crab movement," began to manoeuvre for position. Kershaw's and 
Hoke's Divisions, of Anderson's Corps (the latter temporarily attached 
to the corps), were sent to the right, to the old battle-fields of Gaines's 
Mill and Cold Harbor, with orders to occupy the eminences in that 
quarter. A sharj) fight ensued, which resulted in Torbert's holding 
nis ground. 

During the night, the Sixth Corps marched across from the right to 
Cold Harbor, where it was to be joined by the Eighteenth Corps, which 
had been detached from Butler, and landed at the White House. The 
latter corps, after losing its way, arrived on the ground at tlu\e o'clock 
in the afternoon of Jmie 1st, having marched twenty-five miles, and 
took position, on the right of the Sixth, in four lines, the Sixth being 
in one. The two corps then stood as follows, from right to left : Mar- 
tindale's, Brooke's, and Devens's Divisions, comprising the Eighteenth 
Corps, and Ricketts's, Russell's, and Neill's, of the Sixth. In front was 
a ploughed field, and beyond a strip of pine forest, where the enemy were 
intrenched. Our artillery opened on the left, and almost immediately 
the line moved briskly forward. The two centre divisions, Devens's 
and Ricketis's, with a cheer, charged across the ploughed field at a run, 
receiving a biting fire from artillery and musketry ; and so vigorous 
was the onset, that they carried the enemy's first line, with six hvmdred 
prisoners. The line thus brilliantly carried, as well as a lodgment se- 
cured farther to the right, it was soon found were enfiladed by the 



IIISTOEY OF THE GKEAT EECELLION. 535 

enemy's fire. A portion of tlie Eighteentli Coi-ps made a vigoroxis 
efibrt to silence the fire, and with some success. The ])Ositioii gained 
was, however, commanded by a redoubt in the enemy's second line, 
and it was relinquished. During the night, the enemy made the most 
persistent eiforts to recover their lost line, but without success. The 
Federal loss was over two thousand; that of the enemy considerably 
less, as he was covered by his works. The result of the day's fighting 
was the retention of Cold Harbor by the Union forces. 

The Union line was now eight miles long, extending from Bcthesda 
Church to Cold ITarbor, and,"by reason of the march of Wright and 
the accession of Smith, was formed as follows, from right to left: 
Hancock, Burnside, Warren, Smith, Wright. Cold Harbor, the left 
extremity, was simply an old house, the tavern at the junction of roads 
leading to the White House on the east, Dispatch Station and Bottom 
Bridge on tlie south, Richmond r/,? Gaines's Mill on the west, and 
Hanovertown and Newcastle on the north. The possession of the road 
thence to White House was indispensable to Grant. Betliesda Church, 
the right of the line, was also an old structure, on the road fi'om Hano- 
vertown to Shady Grove, not far fi-om the latter. On the right, in the 
afternoon of the 1st, there was a forward movement of Gibbon and 
Potter, with a view to cover an intended withdraw;^! of (he Second 
Corps from right to left, to follow the footsteps of the Sixth, already 
gone to extend our flank in that direction. The result was a rally of 
the rebels in force, and a determined attack, towards evening, on our 
whole line, as soon as the two divisions had fallen back. 

Grant now determined to make the attempt to push Lee across the 
Chickahominy, and secure a place to ford the stream, and it was with 
this object that the Union left had been prolonged by shifting the 
Second Corps to that quarter of the field. The new disposition was 
completed by noon of Thursday, the 2d ; but, owing to a heavy rain- 
storm, the attack was postponed until the following morning. Heavy 
skirmishing continvied during the 2d, without material ailvantage to 
either side. Lee, suspecting this movement, had posted his troops to 
meet the anticipated attack. His right was held by Breckinridge's 
and Mahone's Divisions of Hill's Corps ; his centre by Kershaw's, 
Field's, and Hoke's Divisions of Anderson's Corps; and his left by 
Ewell's Corps, all of which were protected by strong intrenchaients. 
The rain having ceased, at four o'clock on the morning of Friday, June 
8d, the assault was made. Our line was well massed and compact, 
moving as follows, from right to left: Burnside, Warren, Smith, W right, 
Hancock, reaching from '^Toloi>atomoy Creek to and across the road 
from Cold Harbor to the Chickahominy. The ground was varied, 
along the line, with wood-lands, swamps, and open, our left being on a 
posiiion a little elevated, and the rebel line lying in a strip of ^yood3 
and coverimi the series of roads parallel to the river, of which particular 
description has before been giv(!n. Promptly at the hour appointed, the 
skirmishers advanced, and very quickly the whole line was wrapped in 
the fire and smoke of terrific b;itile. Although the struggle lasted five 
hours, the first ten minutes decided its fate. In that first rush of ad- 
Vance, ten minutes of time canied our whole front close up against a 



536 HISTORY OF TILE GREAT REBELLION. 

line of works, which wo were unable to break through, or, breaking 
through, were unable to hold. 

In Hancock's Corps, Gibbon had the right, with Barlow on the left, 
Birney being in reserve. The two divisions of Gibbon and Barlow 
dashed gallantly forward, across wood-lands and underbrunh, and, again 
emerging into an open space swept by shot and shell, passed straight 
up the acclivity on which the enemy had concentrated tlieir men and 
artillery, as being the stronghold of their line. The impetuosity of the 
charge, not checked even by the terrible slaughter, carried the men 
over the breastworks of a salient on Breckinridge's left, where they 
captured three guns. But, General Finnegan, re-enforcing the enemy 
at this moment, drove Hancock's troops out, recaptured the guns, and 
took some prisoners from Owen's Brigade, Gibbon's Division. Not 
until ihe splendid attack of Hancock's Corps had been made was he 
awai-e of the supreme importance of the position thus carried and lost, 
whicli had been the key-point of the battle of Gaines's Mills, two years 
before. This position is a bald hill, named Watts's Hill, dominating the 
whole battle-ground, and covering the angle of the Dispatch road. 
Along this ridge the enemy's works formed a salient, and in front of 
it was a sunken road. Of this road Hancock got possession, and the 
brigades of Miles and Brooks actually struck and carried the work 
directly on the salient. Had the Union troops lield this point, they 
would have had a position whence the entire of the enemy's line 
might have been enfiladed. 

The Sixth and Eighteenth Corps at the same time emulated the de- 
termined courage of the Second, but with no better results. Charg- 
ing through the underbrush and across the open, they were received 
by the murderous enfilading fire with which all our most advanced 
brigades found their daring repaid. The assault of the Sixth Corps 
was made with the utmost vigor, and succeeded in carrying the first 
line of rebel rifle-pits along its entire front, and got up within two 
hundred and fifty yards of the main works. Smith's Corps, connect- 
ing on the right with the Sixth, had .advanced in conjunction with it ; 
but the left division, that of Martindale, who led the attack in heavy, 
deep columns, got disarranged, and was repulsed. Smith made three 
difl"erent attacks to relieve Martindale, but his last supports did not 
get up in time to allow him to hold on. The effect of this re- 
pulse on the left of Smith had a disastrous effect on the })Osition of 
Wright. It uncovered the right flank of the Sixth and exposed Rick- 
etts's Division, which was stoutly holding the advanced position, to a 
savage fire on the prolongation of its line. For a long time, these lat- 
ter hung obstinately to their conquests, which, at length, were wrung 
from them, and they Avere forced back with great loss. But here, as 
on the left, our men held and intrenched a position considerably in 
advance of the starting-point, close up to the enemy's works. The 
Fifth and Ninth Corps on the extreme right pushed out their skir- 
mish lines and kept up a cannonade. The weight of the battle was, 
however, driven against the position of Anderson and Breckinridge's 
left. 

In many respects the battle was a repetition of that of the 12th of 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 537 

May at Spottsylvania Court-Houec. While he kept up a threatening 
attitude along the whole line, Grant massed a very heavy force ana 
hurled it again and agidn with tremendnous \nolence against a single 
point. Seven times the persistent valor of the Sixth Corps carried the 
men with indomitable force against the right centre of the enemv, and 
seven times the strength of the rebel position defied the efforts of the 
assaulting columns. Nevertheless, our whole line was advanced close 
to the enemy — within fifty yards for a great portion of it — and, on the 
extreme left, one brigade Avas reported to be but fifteen yards from the 
enemy. Both armies kept close to then- breastworks, the exposure of a 
figure above the intrenchments, at that narrow distance, being f ital. Un- 
der such circumstances, when the Federal troops advanced, the concealed 
Confederate marksmen cut them down in wide swathes stretching 
far across the field. At Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor the Confeder- 
ates were more completely behind breastworks than at any previous 
battle of the Avar. Hence their small comparative loss. The battle 
raged with great violence until half-past ten o'clock a. m., just five hours. 

Among the Confederate killed in this battle were Brigadier-General 
Doles, of Georgia ; Colonel L. M. Keitt, of South Carolina, formerly 
a member of the United States House of Representatives, and Colonel 
Edwin Willis, of Georgia, a late graduate of West Point. The 
Union loss in these terrible assaults was estimated at about seven thou- 
sand. The enemy reported theirs at one thousand. 

Saturday, the 4th, w^as spent by the Union troops in intrenching. In 
exposed positions, tliis work could only be carried on at night, the 
enemy's sharpshooters being very busy, and pursuing men and ofticers 
with fatal dexterity of fire. Our own marksmen retorted wherever 
practicable, and desultory skirmishing resounded along the line all 
througli the day. To appreciate the situation of the parties, it must 
be remembered that the hostile lines were separated, for long ex- 
tents, only by distances varying from fifty to one hundred and fifty 
yards. The position of the corps remained substantially as on Friday. 
During the night of the 5th, Grant retired his right Aving about tAA^o 
miles, placing it behind a swamp Avhich protected its front and fiank. 
On the same evening he sent a communication to Genernl Lee, propos- 
ing that, when the armies Avere not actually engaged, either party 
might, upon notification to the other, succor its wounded and bury its 
dead. Lee replied that he preferred that the party desiring to remove 
its wounded and inter its dead should do so through a flag of truce. 
The care of the Avounded and dead Avas accordingly efl:ected by this 
means. 

The battle of Friday Avas one of the most terrible of the war up to 
that time. The movements of the preceding days had draAvn our lines 
close in front of the Chickahominy, and reduced the military problem 
to the forcing of the passage of that liver — a problem which, if solved 
in our favor, would decide whether Richmond could be carried by a 
coup de mam, if a decisive victory should attead our arms, or Avhether 
operations would settl-c down to a siege in form. The great struggle 
did not result hi a success. Probably no action so important in its 
character Avas ever croAvded into so brief a space of time — ten terrible 



538 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOjS". 

minutes in the early dawn developed on the ]\art of the enemy such 
strength both of position and force, as to carry conviction that any 
victory that could be here achieved would be purchased at too great 
a cost. All that matchless valor directed by consummate skill could 
do, was done, but it was in vain. 

The results of the attack on Cold Harbor made it evident that the 
rebel position could not be carried by a direct attack in front, and a 
repetition of the flank movement to the left was determined upon ; but 
as it was necessary to rest the men and to prepare a new base, Grant 
remained ten daj's without any farther attempt to advance. The time 
•was spent, however, in busy preparation to march for the James and 
then cross to join Butler. The enemy was, meanwhile, constantly on 
the alert, and made repeated attacks on either wing, while he kept 
pace with the gradual extension of Grant's line, always appearing in 
force as the Union left crept out towards the east. On Friday, the 
10th, the railroad which had just been laid down between the army 
and White House was taken up, and the rails put on board barges. 
On Saturday the enemy roughly handled Mcintosh's Cavalry on our 
right flank, while the main cavalry force made demonstrations on the 
route between Richmond and Washington. On the night of Sunday, 
June 12th, the army was at length put in motion for the James River, 
intending to cross the Chickahominy by three bridges, which occur in 
the following order: Bottom Bridge, Long Bridge, six miles farther 
east, and Jones's Bridge, twelve miles from Bottom Bridge. . The 
enemy held the river as flxr as Bottom Bridge, where he was in- 
trenched. Wright and Burnside, on breaking camp, marched for 
Jones's Bridge, crossed the river and moved rapidly for Charles City 
Court-House, nine miles f om the bridge and within one of the James. 
At the same time, Hancock and Warren crossed at Long Bridge and 
marched for Wilcox's Wharf, on the James, twelve miles due south, 
and a little west of Charles City. Smith's Corps returned via White 
House, in transports, to Fortress Monroe and Bermuda Hundred, 
where Butler was intrenched with the Tenth Corps. General Btitler 
had carefully prepared pontoons for the crossing. At three o'clock on 
Sunday afternoon, Meade's head-quai'ters were moved irom Cold Har- 
bor south of Summit Station, near Long Bridge, and at six the next 
morning, head-quarters were in the saddle on the march. 

The whole movement was conducted with great success. Tlie men 
moved cautiously from their intrenchments, which, for miles, as we 
have already said, lay under the enemy's guns. And only a lew shells 
thrown at the r(!ar, as it moved off, betokened that the enemy had 
taken the alarm. All night and all day Monday, the troops moved for- 
ward, with hardly more skirmishing or impctliinent than that of their 
first march from Culpepper to Chancellorsville. On Monday evening, 
the advance had reached Wilcox's Landing, where also head-quarters 
were. Before noon of Tuesday, our forces were all up, having made 
their movement in perfect security, and (he only fighting being a little 
cavalry skirmishing at its close. On Tuesday, the 14th, the crossing 
was commenced, our army was transferred to the south side of the 
James, and the change in position fully consummated. The little 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJST. 539' 

opposition made to the movement by Lee was a?ci-ibed to the want 
of stout artillery horses necessary for field ser\ice. Of the whole 
movement, a dispatch from head-quarters to the "War Department 
says : " Our forces drew out from within fifty yards of the enemy's 
intrenchments at Cold Harbor, made a flank movement of about fifty- 
five miles march, crossing the Chickahominy and James Rivers, the 
latter two thousand feet wide and eighty-four feet deep at the point 
of crossing, and surprised the enemy's rear at Petersburg." 

Grant was now exactly on the opposite side of Richmond from that 
at which he began his campaign. The Federal gunboats and trans- 
ports planted Butler at Bermuda Hundred, at the very outset of the 
campaign, with the express purpose of effecting a diversion on the 
south of Richmond, while Grant made the main attack from the north. 
It is obvious, therefore, that while the army maintained the character 
it had already acquired for indomitable perseverance. Grant orily re- 
sorted to this manoiuvre because his original plan had not fulfilled 
expectations. He began from this moment, to all mtents and purposes, 
a fresh campaign. Few generals and few troops would have persisted 
in this dogged and determined struggle. 



CHAPTER LW. 

Advance on Petersburg. — Position of the City. — Assault and Capture of Earthworks 
and Guns. — Assault of Saturday, June 18th. — Repulse. — Aspect of the Campaign. 

On- the morning of Wednesday, June 15th, the Eighteenth Corps, 
which arrived at Bermuda Hundred on the evening of the 1-tth, from 
Fortress Monroe, started for Petersburg, A pontoon bridge ha<l been 
thrown across the Appomatox, at Point of Rocks, over which Kautz's 
Cavalry crossed, followed by Brooks's and Martindale's Infantry Divi- 
sions. The skirmishers of the enemy were encountered on the City Point 
road, along Avhich the advance was made. At Harrison's Creek, the 
enemy held a line of rifle-trenches with two field-pieces, from which the 
head of the column suflfered a good deal. Brooks's Division coming up, 
however, they hastily retired behind a temporary line of eartlnvorks, 
about two miles from Petersburg, leaving their guns in the hands of 
the Union troops. In front of this new line, the latter were now 
drawn up in line of battle, Martindale holding the right, Brooks the 
centre, and Hinks the left. Towards sunset, the line charged with 
great determination and vigor, in the face of a hot artillery fire, carry- 
ing the earthworks with sixteen guns and three hundred prisoners. 
Tlie Federal loss was about five hundred. After the battle, the Second 
Corps arrived, too late, however, to render the success decisive, and by 
the next morning the Ninth Corps was on the ground. Meantime, Kautz 
had moved to the left and attacked the enemy's works on the Norfolk 
and Petersburg Railroad, but, finding them too strong, he retired after 
a smart skirmish. The Federal attack upon Petersburg had been sus- 
tained by the local forces, the main rebel army having not yet arrived. 



540 mSTOEY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 

On Tliursday morning, the 16th, General Butler conceived the idea of 
advancing in his front, to inta-cept the movement of Lee towards Peters- 
burg. He accordingly sent out a portion of the Tenth Corps, which, 
after destroying a portion of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, 
"was compelled, by tlie approach of overwhelming forces, to retire 
within the lines. 

The city of Petersburg lies chiefly on the southerly bank of the 
Appomattox, which thence runs nearly northeast to the James. It 
■\vas defended by several lines of earthworks, consisting not only of 
square redoubts, but also of well-established rifle-trenches. It was the 
outer line of these that had been carried on the 15th, and was now 
held by Birney's Corps. The abandonment of the north side of the 
James by Grant had not been fully credited by the enemy, who left a 
force under A. P. Hill to guard against any sudden movement in that 
direction. Now, however, Beauregard's men again filled up so rapidly 
the ti-enches in front that it was necessary to hurry up Burnside to 
hold the ground won. That corps at length coming up, after a forced 
march from Charles City Court-House, aline of battle was immediately 
formed, Smith on the right, Hancock in the centre, Burnside on the 
left. The ground in front was rather open, though rugged, with here 
and there fields of grain. At six a. m, on the 16th, the attack was 
made. Barlow's Division and Griffin's Brigade, of Potter's Division, 
made a handsome charge under destructive artillery fire, and succeeded 
in gaining a foothold in the rifle-pits outside of the stronger works. 
Here our troops were annoyed by the enemy's fire, and Barlow, in 
connection with Burnside, determined to try an assault on the main 
works. But meanwhile the enemy opened so severely on Burnside as 
to show there was no hope of surprise. The enemy also cut off" the 
skirmish line in Barlow's front, amounting to three hundi-ed men, with 
their officers. Aftei* a three hours' fight, therefore, the assault was 
suspended till morning. The right had not taken an important part 
in the contest, and had lost but a few men. Birney's loss was about 
five hundred, and Potter's, in his gallant charge, not less. The entire 
loss was probably from fifteen hundred to two thousand. The enemy's 
loss was probably much less, from their advantage of position. 

On Friday the attack was renewed, and some rifle-jjits were carried 
by Burnside's Corps. About nine o'clock on Friday night, the enemy 
showed himself in force upon Birney's fi'ont, but did not advance. A 
little later, he made a desperate and successful efibrt to retake from 
Burnside the works captured during the day. He moved in tw^o col- 
umns, one in front, the other in flank. A rery sharp fight followed. 
The enemy succeeded in leaping the works under cover of the dark- 
ness, and drove our men out. In the early part of the attack, about 
two hundred of the enemy were captured by us, and in yielding up the 
works, a like loss was suffered by us. The enemy's batteries co'"--" "-^d 
the attack by A'igorous shelling. 

Early in th.c morning of this same day, part of Pickett's and Field's 
Division of the enemy attacked our lines near the James. Foster's 
Division, of Brooks's Tenth Corps (from which General Gillmore had 
been relieved), held a line extending across from near Ware Bottom 



HISTOET OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIT. 541 

Church towards the Appomattox. The enemy were posted near How-, 
lett's House, in his front. Our line was pushed back a little. 

It was now determined to make a new and more vigorous assault 
on Saturday morning, the 18th, and the line was formed as follows, 
from right to left : Martindale's and Hinks's Divisions of the Eigh- 
teenth Corps, Wright's Sixth, Hancock's Second (under Birney), Burn- 
side's Ninth, Warren's Fifth. At four o'clock a. m. the assault was to 
be made. But, upon sending out skirmishers, the enemy was found to 
have abandoned the works in our immediate front foV an inner series 
of defences. New combinations were necessary, therefore, for the 
day. These were completed, and by noon a general advance of the 
three left corps was ordered. In the Second Corps, Gibbon pushed up 
an assaulting column of three brigades, the first and second of his own 
(Second) division, and the Second Brigade of Mott's Division. The 
remainder of the corps threw out double lines of skirmishers to divert 
the enemy's attention. Gibbon's men moved promptly up to the works 
to be assaulted, which were situated near the Fredericksburg and 
City Pomt Railroad. As they came out from their cover, they were 
met by a murderous fire, which enfiladed their left. They struggled 
desperately through it, but their ranks were swept by incessant vol- 
leys, from which even their veteran soldiers recoiled. The breastworks 
were approached, but not reached, and our men retired, leaving their 
dead and wounded on the field. 

In the afternoon a second storming party was organized, to com- 
mence the attack from General Mott's position. The assaulting column 
was formed of Mott's Division, with ctetachments from the other two 
divisions. A little before five o'clock p. m., Mott moved out his force 
in two columns, and in gallant style the two leading brigades burst 
upon the enemy. They were received with a withering fire from con- 
centrated batteries and musketry, and in spite of the most desperate 
bravery, were forced back, with terrible loss. The charge was worthy 
of the proverbial gallantry of the corps, but it failed of success, as the 
previous charge had also failed. The movements on the left by the 
Ninth and Fifth Corps AN'ere equally energetic and equally unsuccess- 
ful. The operations of the day, on the whole, did not repay the very 
serious loss sustained. The lines remained comparatively quiet during 
the three following days. 

The first efiect of the transfer of the whole Federal army to the 
south bank of the James River was, of course, the withdrawal of the 
Confederate force which had confined Butler to his intrenchments. It 
became necessary for Grant to capture Petersburg, and he immediately 
made the attack, while the enemy were yet unprepared. The attack, 
as we have seen, failed. The enemy, having recovered from immediate 
apprehension for Petersburg, turned his attention in other directions. 
He intrenched largely on the west side of the Appomattox, as Grant 
did on the east side of it. Having again driven BuJ;ler inside his lines, 
he reoccupied his works there, put the railroad into repair, and, from 
their lines as a base, began to make demonstrations in front, and to 
raid towards the James. On the night of Sunday, the 19th, he de- 
stroyed the wharves at Wilcox and Westover Landings. 



542 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJiT. 



CHAPTER LV. 

Relative Strength of Armies. — Grant Moves against the Railroad Connections of Rich- 
mond. — Combat of June 21st. — Repulsed the 23d. — t^heridan'a Expedition. — Move- 
ment of Wilson and Kautz on the Danville Road. — Five Hundred Thousand Men 
called out. — Explosion, of the Mine in Front of Petersburg. — Failure of the Assault. 

The consolidation of Butler's army witli that of the Potomac had 
not added much to the relative strength of Grant. A similar junction 
of Beauregard with Lee had been elFected, and the works behind 
which the enemy was intrenched were strong enough to enable him 
to hold them with inferior numbers, and, as will presently appear, to 
detach a force up the valley. On Tuesday, the 21st, Grant commenced 
operations designed to sever the Southern railroad connections with 
Petersburg. The road running to Norfolk was in his possession, and 
it was proposed to occupy and destroy that leading to Weldon. For 
this purpose, the Second Corps, on Monday night, moved to the left, 
and on Tuesday marched rapidly forward in a southerly direction, fol- 
lowed by Griffin's Division of the Fifth Corps, with the Sixth Corj^s in 
support. At the Jerusalem plankroad the enemy were encountered in 
force, and a counter-attack sustained. The troops then fell back into 
position for the night, during which the Sixth Corps came up, and 
formed on the left of the Second, directly on the left of the Jerusalem 
plankroad. The attack was to have been made at daybreak on 
Wednesday, the 22d, but each corps waited for the other until each 
got orders to advance at once, independently of the other, each being 
cautioned to protect his flank in case connection was not made by the 
other. 

No sooner had Barlow struck into the thick woods than he began 
to open a gap between his left and the right of the Sixth Corps, and 
accordingly disposed flanking regiments so as to protect himself at the 
break. Mott, meanwhile, had moved directly to the position indicated 
for him, having Avithout difficulty secured it, and had begun to in- 
trench. Gibbon was already in position. Barlow, liaving moved for- 
ward sufficiently, was about to intrench also, when he was suddenly 
startled by firing on his flank, quickly spreading towards his rear. 
The enemy, Hilfs Corps, advancing to check our movement on the 
railroad, was swil'tly approaching in several solid columns, which fol- 
lowed hard on a dense crowd of skirmishers. At this time, the Sixth 
Corps was far distant on the left and rear, and a gap occurred in our 
advancing line, like that between the Fifth and Second Corps in the 
Wilderness. With more success in the present case than before, the 
enemy took advantage of the error. One entire division, with 
Mahone's Brigade in advance, came driving through the interval. 
Barlow's skirmishers were of course quickly overcome, and, with a 
quick appreciation of his advantage, and an impetuous rush, sweeping 
all before it, the enemy's columii glanced diagonally between the two 
corps, struck Barlow's flank with great force, and almost instantane- 



HISTORY OF THE QEEAT EEBELLION. 543 

ously rolled it up, capturing several hundred prisoners. The sudden 
recoil of Barlow's Division under this most dangerous of all attacks, 
a movement on the flank and rear, quickly uncovered the left flank of 
Mott, and exposed him to the same disadvantage. In his turn, Mott 
fell back also, with the loss of several hundred prisoners, and thus ex- 
posed the left of Gibbon. Meanwhile the other troops from Hill's 
Corps had joined the assault, and, having captured Mott's entire line 
of intrenchraents, now pressed not only in fiont, but in the rear. His 
right brigade was able to repel the comparatively trifling assault. But 
his left brigades were almost encircled by fire. McKnight's four-gun 
battery of the Twelfth New York Artillery opened, and Avas briskly 
and handsomely fonght. But the troops in support were driven back, 
and the enemy had already carried Gibbon's intrenchments. In a word, 
in the sudden shock and confusion, several whf)le regiments were swept 
off and captured, without the chance of any thing like stout resistance. 
McKnight's Battery was then surrounded and captured entire, though 
most of the horses and caissons, and some of the men, succeeded in 
escaping to the rear. 

At length Miles's reserve division, with a New Jersey battery, came 
up, enabling Gibbon's Division to rally on them, and form a new line. 
The enemy was now to some extent exhausted by his own exertions, 
but he repulsed an attempt of Birney to recapture the battery. The 
newly formed line of the Sixth and Second Coips again advanced, push- 
ing the enemy before it; and, having proceeded a short distance, halt- 
ed, and passed the night in strengthening its position. The enemy did 
the same on the east side of the Weldon road. The Federal loss in the 
attack was large, and included a number of prisoners. During the day, 
the cavalry of Wilsoti and Kautz had proceeded to the left, and cut the 
railroad about ten miles from Petersburg. 

On Thursday, the 23d, Wright, finding the enemy weak on the ex- 
treme left, sent the Third, Fourth, and Eleventh Vermont regiments to 
occupy the railroad. They had not reached it, however, before they 
were enveloped by Anderson's Division, and severely handled. They 
lost some prisoners, besides a number killed and wounded. The ene- 
my, flushed with success, pressed our men back to the main body, and 
then attacked right and left. Our line was withdrawn towards even- 
ing to the cover of breastworks, and operations ceased. Skirmishing 
continued to the close of June without any important operations. 

Simultaneously with the transference of his own army from the north- 
ern bank of the Chickahominy to the southern bank of the James, 
Grant sent forth Sheridan, with a considerable cavalry force, to traverse 
the country between the Rappahannock and Richmond, and pass near 
Charlottesville, in the direction of Lynchburg, with a view of i)enetrat- 
ing the valley, in order to give the hand to General Hunter, who was 
advancing on that point to close up upon Richmond. Sheridan set out 
on the 9th of June, and on the 11th reached Trevillian's Station, on the 
Virginia Central Railroad,where he inflicted a severe defeat upon a large 
cavalry force in his front. On the succeeiling day he thoroughly de- 
stroyed the railroad between Trevilhan's and Louisa Court-House ; 
and, early on the 13th, the rebels under Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh 



544 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOi!T. 

Lee h.iA'ing in the mean time gathered in his front in groat numbers, 
and his ammunition getting low, he moved otf towards White House, 
followed at a respectful distance by Wade Hampton, who did not ven- 
ture a serious attack until Sheridan had crossed the Pamunkey. Hamp- 
ton then made a detour, and attacked the trains that Sheridan had left 
at the White House. General Abercrombie, with three thousand men, 
maintained his ground until Sheridan came up, when the enemy was 
driven oft' with loss. As soon as Sherid.an had obtained a little rest, he 
resumed his march to the James with all his trains and guns. He was 
again assailed by Hampton, near Jones's Bridge, on the Chickahominy, 
on the 23d, without much result. As he approached Charles City 
Court-Houso, tlie enemy appeared again on Iiis front, and on Friday, 
the 24th, attacked with vigor the trains protected by Gregg's Divi- 
sion, who succeeded in keeping them at bay. The affair was sharp, and 
Sheridan's rear-guard was badly handled. A brigade of infantry was 
sent to his relief He succeeded in beating the enemy off at length, 
after the loss of four or five hundred men, saving all his train ; and, on 
Saturday, the 25t!i, his whole force crossed the James safely, four or 
five miles above Fort Powhattan, imder cover of the gunboats. 

On the morning of Juno 22d the combined cavalry force of Wilson 
and Kautz set out on a raid against the Weldon and DLmville Railroads. 
At Reams's Station, on the Weldon road, considerable damage was done 
to the track and buildings ; and at Sutherland's and Ford's Stations, on 
the Petersburg" and Lynchburg road, which the column next reached, 
a number of locomotives and cars and about twenty miles of track were 
destroyed. A part of the column now pushed on to Burkesville, the 
junction of the Lynchburg and Danville roads, where a similar destruc- 
tion of projjerty took place, and on the 24th the command bivouacked 
for the night at Keysville, on the Danville road. On the next day the 
railroad bridge over the Staimton River was reached, but was found to 
be too well defended by the enemy to attack. The order to return 
■was now given, and so closely was the column harassed and pressed 
on the route, 'that it broke up into several bodies, which arrived in 
camp at various times between July 1st and 3d, exhausted and in 
wretched j)light. The losses in men, guns, and trains combined to ren- 
der the expedition a costly failure, notwithstanding the damage it had 
inflicted on the enemy. 

There were no important operations undertaken for some time by the 
army before Petersburg. The state of affairs in the Valley of the 
Shenandoah, to which allusion will shortly be made, compelled the 
movement of troo])S to protect Washington, and the Sixth Corps was 
sent thither in the first week of July, a result very different from the 
antici|)ated accession of aid from Hunter as the consequence of the 
hoped-for capture of Lynchburg. The attention of the public was di- 
rectetl to the progress of Sherman in Georgia, from whoso campaign 
against Atlanta most important results were expected. 

Continual skirmishing was kept up in front of Petersburg, with alter- 
nate suc'cess, but no great operations were undertaken. The army had 
need of rest and recruiting. Nearly three months had elapsed since it 
crossed the Rapidau j and having fought its way to the northern bank 



i^ 




©EF3. ^©^ELW EoLEE, 



HISTOKT OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 545 

of the James, it was suffering from intense drought and heat, in the 
presence of an enemy who seemed determined to give it no rest, and 
disorganization and lassitude inevitably resulted from such continued 
effort. A contemporary writer thus alluded to the condition of the 
army in July: "The men, missing the familiar forms and voices that 
had led them to the charge, would complain that they had not their 
old officers to follow. On the other hand, more than one leader of a 
storming party was forced to say, as he came back from an unsuccess- 
ful attempt against the outworks of Petersburg, 'My men do not 
charge as they did thirty days ago.' A few commanders, too, showed 
the fatiguing effects of the campaign by a lack of health, by a lack of 
unity and harmony, or of alertness and skill. The attacks on Peters- 
burg of the 22d and 23d of June showed how fatigue was telling upon 
men and officers. On the former occasion, the Second Corps, whose 
reputation was unexcelled, fell back, division after division, from the 
enemy's onset, and one of the very finest brigades in the whole army 
was captured with hardly a shot fired. But when, in addition to this, 
the Vermont Brigade of the Sixth Corps was badly cut up on the fol- 
lowing day, it became clear that the rapidity of the fighting must be 
checked a while. There was need of rest, recruitment, and some re- 
organization. It may be added, that the influx of raw troops and of 
Augur's troops from Washington, with new ofiicers, had temporarily 
changed the character of brigades, of divisions, and almost of corps." 

The loss of men in the Valley and in Georgia with Sherman Avas also 
very gi*eat ; and in view of the necessity of filling up the thinned ranks 
of the army, the President issued the following call for volunteers : — 

[Official.] 

" BY THE PRESIDENT OF TPIE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

"a proclamation. 

" "Whereas, by the act approved July 4th, 1864, entitled ' An Act further to regulate 
and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces and for other purposes,' 
it is provided that the President of the United States may, ' at his discretion, at any 
time hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers, for the respective term of 
one, two, and three years, for military service,' and ' that in case the quota, or any part 
thereof, of any town, township, or ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a 
county not so subdivided, shall not be filled witliin the space of fifty days after such 
call, then the President shall instantly order a draft for one year to fill such quota, or 
any part thereof, which may be imfilled;' 

" And whereas, the new enrolment heretofore ordered is so far completed as that the 
aforementioned act of Congress may now be put in operation, for recruiting and keep- 
ing up the strength of the armies in the field, for garrisons, and such military operations 
as may bo required for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the 
authority of the United States Government in the insurgent States : 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this 
my call for five hundred thousand volunteers for the military service ; provided, never- 
theless, that this call shall be reduced by all credits which may be established under 
section eight of the aforesaid act, on account of persons who have entered the naval 
service during the present rebellion, and by credits for men furnished to the mihtary 
service in excess of calls heretofore made. 

" Volunteers will be accepted under this call for one, two, or three years, as they 
may elect, and will be entitled to the bounty provided by the law for the period of ser- 
vice for which they enlist. 

" And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct that immediately after the fifth day of 
8S 



546 mSTOEY OF the GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 

September, 1864, being fifty days from the date of this call, a draft for troops to serve 
for one year shall be had in every town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election 
district, or county not so subdivided, to fill tlie quota whicli shall be assigned to it 
under this call, or any part thereof which may bo unfilled by volunteers on the said 
fifth day of September, 1864. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, this eighteenth day of July, in the year of our 
J- 1 Lord one thousand eiglit hundred and sLxty-four, and of ihe independence of 
•- ■ ■■' the United States the eighty-ninth. 

" Abraham Lincoln. 
" By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

Meap.time, there was in progress a noAV attempt to carry the Peters- 
burg defences by means of a mine, while a feint on the northern bank of 
the James should draAV oiFthe defenders of Petersburg. The line of 
Grant's army was twenty miles loug, and by ostentatiously threatening 
the enemy from our right it was supposed he would weaken his own 
right at the point where the true assault, after the explosion of the 
mine, was to take place. The idea of the mine was due to Lieutenant- 
Colonel Pleasants, oftlie Forty -eighth Pennsylvania, a regiment recruited 
mostly among the miners of that State. The point selected was the 
Bide of a ravine, surmounted by an earthwoj-k, in front of Burnside's 
(Ninth) Corps, and the mine was pushed towards a formidable fort of 
the enemy, situated about two thousand yards from Petersburg. The 
distance to be mined was about five hundred feet, and the work was 
difficult. The mine was constructed in the usual method. The surface 
was carefully measured by triangnlation, and the gallery was made in 
the usual shape, four and a half feet high, and about four feet wide at 
the bottom, sloping up to the top. A ventilating shaft was sunk near 
the entrance. The chamber of the mine was about twenty feet below 
the fort, and wings extended from it righ^t and left, extending under the 
fort. In these were placed eight tons of powder, connected by a fuse 
which led out of the gallery. It required thirty days to complete this 
work. During its progress the Ninth Corps kept up an incessant skir- 
mishing, for the purpose of concealing the movement. The plan of 
assault was to explode the mine, and immediately to open a terrific can- 
nonading from every gun on the line. This concentrated fire would 
naturally unnerve the enemy somewhat, and, under its cover, a strong 
Btorming party would rush through the gap made by the explosion, 
and endeavor to carry the enemy's position beyond. In the rear of his 
first line, a hundred and fifty yards distant, was a very strong crest, 
which quite commanded the city of Petersburg. To gain this would 
gain the battle. But the intervening space was difficult and arduous, 
entanglements and abatis being planted near the fort, and the Avhole 
ground being swept by the enemy's artillery. Our own heavy guns 
had been brought up after much hard and dangerous labor through six 
weeks, and with much loss of valuable life among officers and men. 
They now numbered nearly one hundred pieces, some of which were 
eight-inch and some even heavier mortars. 

The assault was fixed for the 30th of July, and preparations for it 
began by a feint on the right. Across the James at Deep Bottom, 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 54T 

Foster's Division of the Tenth Corps \vns intrencheil, Avith a pontoon 
bridge in liis rear, and protected by gunboats. On the 21st a second 
bridge had been thrown over at Strawberry Plains, and a brigade of 
the Nineteenth Corps crossed to hold it. These, with other demon- 
strations, intluced the cnenay to add Kershaw's Division to the other 
troops ill front of Foster. On the 27th, tlie Second Corps left the ex- 
treme left, of the army, and, followed by Sheridan and Kautz, crossed 
the James; and on the following day a line of battle was formed as 
follows, from right to left: Sheridan, Hancock, Foster. Foster de- 
monstrated throughout the day, inflicting severe loss on the enemy. On 
Friday, the 29tli, the feint was continued, and long trains of empty 
wagons were sent north of the river for display. These movements 
had the eflect of causing Lee to send fifteen thousand more men to his 
left. On Friday evening, however, the Second Corps returned quietly 
to Petersburg amid an incessant and vindictive fire. 

Soon after midnight of the 29th, the troops were in position. The 
Ninth Corps had been carefully arranged fronting the mine, to head 
the assault. The Eighteenth Corps was drawn ofi" from the right of 
the Ninth, and massed in its rear. Mott's Division of the Second Corps 
was moved into the vacancy left by the Eighteenth, and tlie other 
divisions occupied adjoining positions, after arj-iving. The Tenth and 
the fraction of the Nineteenth Corps remained on the James and near 
Bermuda Hundred. The assaulting column, then, was the Ninth Corps, 
supported by the Eighteenth, with the Second in reserve on its right 
and tbe Fifth on the left. The whole force was closely massed, only 
the necessary garrisons lining the more distant intrenchments. The 
Ninth Corps was disposed with Ledlie's (First) Division in advance; 
Wilcox's (Second) and Potter's (Third) next in support, and Ferrero's 
(Fourth), the colored division, in tlie rear. 

The time for lighting the fuse was half-past three o'clock on the 
morning of Saturday, the 30th. At that hour the troops were all pre- 
pared, and alive with excitement. An hour passed, and there was no 
explosion. The fuse had gone out in the damp gallery. Again it was 
lighted by some bold soldier. The sun had already risen, when, forty 
minutes past four, a heaving and trembling of the earth was followed, 
by a terrific explosion, and huge clods of earth, with all the contents 
of the doomed fort, guns, caissons, and limbers, and the regiment who 
manned them, were flung into the air. To the myriad of astonished 
spectators it resembled a great fountain. Poised for a moment, the 
mighty column then descended with a resomiding thud^ and the sway- 
ing, quaking, and trembling of the adjacent earth were over. A 
yawning crater, one hundred feet and more in length, with half as great 
width, and a depth of twent)'^ feet, with heaps of ruins, was left where 
once stood a six-gun fort and its camp equipage, and two himdredmen. 
Instantly upon the explosion, a gun broke out from our line, t^en an- 
other, and soon a hundred cannon, from every eminence along the line, 
joined in a fire which exceeded in intensity even that of Malvern Hill 
and Gettysburg. The enemy responded with prompt energy, and their 
entire line added its thunder of artillery and musketry to our own. 
The alacrity with which the enemy rallied to his task from the sudden 



548 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

shock, and the steadiness with which he turned his fire to the storming 
party, in spite of the tremendous shelling Avilh which the Union bat- 
teries endeavored to disconcert him and distract his attention, showed 
that he was in a measure prepared for what had happened. 

Meantime, Ledlie's Division was already in front of its intrenchments, 
with Marshall's (Second) Brigade in advance, and Bartlett's (First) 
Brigade in the rear. On the left of Ledlie was Hartranft's Brigade of 
Wilcox's Division, and, on his right, Griffin's Brigade of Potter's Divi- 
sion. The Second Brigade was delayed by some mistake, but soon, 
with a wild, enthusiastic cheer, leaped to their work, and, rushing across 
the deadly plain, under hot fire, stumbled down into the horrible breach 
which the mine had made. The supporting brigades spread out and 
enveloped the flanking rifle-jDits, captured two hundred prisoners, and 
sent them to the rear. The Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery 
were first to enter the gap, amid tlie wreck of the foit and the upturned 
earth, with the mangled bodies and dissevered limbs of its occupants 
protruding here and there fi"om the disordered, fallen debris. The 
dense cloud of dust still rolled over the place, thickened by the heavy 
smoke of battle, which had now shrouded the whole field from view. 
Here an unfortunate delay took place. Instead of prossmg right on 
for the object beyond, some of the men were set at digging out two 
of the six cannon of the fort ; others threw up hasty breastworks 
against the tempest of shot and shell which already swept the place 
from the enemy's second line, and began reversing the slope of the in- 
trenchments and extending them. Others exhumed the struggling 
garrison, such as were living, and carried back the prisoners to our 
lines, where now ammunition carts and ambulances were hurrying to 
and fro. 

The time spent in trying to intrench to protect a storming column, 
enabled the enemy to get the range with fearful precision from the 
commanding works, and a most terrific fire was poured in upon men 
diffiiins: anionof the ruins of the fort. At length, after an anxious and 
fatal delay, the Ninth Corps was re-formed, and, with Ledlie m the 
centre. Potter on the right, and Wilcox on the left, under cover of the 
fire of the two guns, began the charge. On they went with a will, 
struggling over obstacles, Marshall's Brigade again leading, and Bart- 
lett's pressing on their heels. At every step the fire of the enemy from 
front and either flank concentrated with greater fury on them, and, 
from the thickly-studded defences of Cemetery Hill, from redoubt and 
redan, salient and curtain, ploughed up their ranks with bloody slaugh- 
ter. The charge was checked on the side of the crest, there was a 
halt, and finally, the whole line, wavering under terrible odds, recoUed 
to the fort. 

The colored division of Ferrero, left as a forlorn hope, was then sent 
forward, but, after a gallant charge, recoiled, as the others had done, and 
plunged headlong into the nearest fort for shelter behind the debris. 
Upon this latter point was now concentrated a \erj/eu d^enfer, disor- 
ganizing the shattered remains of the first three divisions of the Ninth, 
many of whose most gallant officers and men were already stretched 
on the plain. The influx of the Fourth Division, driven back in great 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 549 

rout, redoubled the confusion, and to all minds it was evident that the 
day was lost. 

It was now only the question how best to save the troops. This 
matter they were left to decide for themselves. The Fifth and the 
Eighteenth Corps were under brisk fire, and had suffered considerable 
loss. A division of the Eighteenth, with Turner's Division of the Tenth, 
had demonstrated on the right (the latter even gaining the crater, and 
the slope beyond), in useless attempts to distract the attention of the 
enemy. He directed his fire straight upon the dismantled fort, now a 
mere slaughter-pen, in Avhich huddled the fragmentary brigades of the 
Ninth Corps, hoping for relief from their comrades, who lay two hun- 
dred yards distant in their intrenchments. Now squads of men began 
the work of retreating. But this was a perilous undertaking. The 
enemy kept a deadly cross-fire on every rod of tiie space which inter- 
vened between the fort and our lines. In spite of this, the disorderly 
movement was kept up. About noon, a general retreat was ordered. 
A considerable part of the survivors of the assault had crossed towards 
the rear. And now the men in the fort, who had preferred the chances 
of honorable death in repeJiing the enemy to those of the j^erilous re- 
treat, had discharged nearly all their ammunidon. Left unsupported 
by the rest of the army, a final charge of the enemy, about two o'clock, 
baptured them. Among the captured were General Bartlett and 
most of his staff. By the middle of the afternoon the bloody day was 
done. Our loss was in round numbers about four thousand men, of 
Avhom the majority were wounded. The loss of the enemy was about 
one thousand two hundred men, of whom a fifth were prisoners. It 
is conjectured that nearly two hundred men were destroyed by the mine. 

On Sunday, the 31st, a flag of truce was sent for permission to bury 
the dead. This, on account of an informality, was not granted until 
Monday, thirty-six hours after the close of the tight. Immediately on 
the expiiation of the time granted, the enemy again opened fiercely 
with his guns. 



CHAPTER I. VI. 

Sigel's Movement in the T.illey. — Hunter Supersedes Sigel, and Defeats the Rebels 
near Staunton. — Occupation of Lexington. — Lynchburg. — Early sent to the Valley. — 
Retreat of Hunter through Western Virginia. — Advance of Eaily down the Valley 
and Livasion of Maryland.— Defeat of Wallace. — Wasiiingtou Threatened. — Arrival 
of Sixth Corps and Retreat of Early. — Various Encounters iu the Valley. — Hunter 
Superseded by Sheridan. 

That portion of the grand combined attack on Richmond, which 
consisted of a movenient'iip the Valley of the Shenandoah upon Lpich- 
burg, was confided to General Sigel. This movement, in connection 
with that of Grant in front and that of Butler on the south, was 
designed to close the door of retreat upon Lee, and shut him up in 
Richmond with his communications s-evered. The enemy's force in 
the valley was composed of the commands of Echols, Imboden, and 



550 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIT. 

Breckinridge, Imboden having the advance. In the early part of May 
the latter general was driven up the valley by Sigel, towards New- 
market, where a concentration of the rebel troops took place. On May 
15th, Sigel encountered their combined forces at Reed's Hill, near 
Mount Jackson, and suffered a severe repulse, losing a number of guns 
and prisoners. He retreated upon Strasburg, and soon after was re- 
lieved by General Hunter. 

Travelling without pause from "Washington to Cedar Creek, 
General Hunter assumed command of the beaten anny, which he 
found demoralized to a degree that could scarcely be exceeded. 
Nearly two thousand of its infantry were without shoes. Aboxit one 
thousand had thrown away their arms in their flight, and had to be 
rearmed. He received re-enforcements, and advanced upon Staun- 
ton, the enemy falling back before him, and on June 6th inflicted 
a severe defeat upon the rebel General Jones, near Staunton, cap- 
turing tifteen hundred prisoners and three guns. On the 8th of June, 
when Grant was about crossing the James, Hunter occupied Staunton, 
where he was joined by Averill, who had been operating in South- 
western Virginia, on the line of the Lynchburg and East Tennessee 
Railroad, and by General Crook, who had also been raiding upon the 
railroads. A demonstration was made towards Waynesboro' by a 
cavalry force, which was repulsed by Imboden. At Staunton several 
millions worth of public property was destroyed, and on the 10th the 
whole force, about sixteen thousand strong, advanced by two roads, 
forming a junction several miles northeast of Lexington, and forty 
miles from Lynchburg. Lexington was held by McCausland, with 
special orders to make the defence good until re-enforcements arrived 
from Richmond. He made the stand accordingly ; but, finding the 
town directly under the guns of Hunter's infantry advance, and that 
he was being flanked by Averill's Cavalry, who had forded the river 
higher up, McCausland finally fell back. 

Hunter advanced very slowly, throwing cavalry out to the right 
and left, in demonstrations against the railroad connections of the 
enemy. Upon reachmg Lexington he awaited the expected co-operation 
of Sheridan in the direction of Gordonsville, which, as has been pre- 
viously stated, came to naught. Not hearing from Sheridan, he then 
pressed on to Lynchburg, destroying railroads and bridges by the 
way ; but upon arriving before the city, he found it too strongly forti- 
fied to be assaulted with any prospect of success. An attempt on the 
18th satisfied him of the impossibility of capturing the jtlace with his 
limited force. Lee now pi-epared to avail himself of his interior lines 
to throw an overpowering force into the A^alley, crush Hunter, and 
then demonstrate towards Maryland and Washington. His position 
at Petersburg and Richmond was so well secured that he could easily 
spare a whole corps for this object, and still from behind his powerful 
earthworks confront the Army of the Potomac. 

Ewell's Corps was selected, and with Breckinridge's command and 
two brigades from Hill's Corps, the whole commanded by Early, pro- 
ceeded about the middle of June towards the valley. The enemy had 
signal officers upon every hill around, and knew all Hunter's move- 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION". 551 

ments, so that Ewell's Corps was not dispatched from Richmond until 
its j)reseuce at Lynchburg was needed. The Union troops at this 
time were fifteen days' march from regular bases ol supplies, and were 
subsisting upon the enemy's country, while the enemy, by means of 
the railroad from Lynchburg to Richmond, had at any time the power 
of concentrating against Hunter just as many troops as General Lee 
could spare from the Army of Northern Virginia. Hunter was not 
slow to perceive how critical was his position, and on the 19th com- 
menced his march down the valley. But scarcely had he started when 
he found the enemy pressing him so hard that he was compelled to 
leave the valley, abandon part of his trains and guns, and strike across 
the mountains to the Kanawha, hoping to reach Long's Creek, whence 
by steamboat down the Kanawha and up the Ohio to Parkersburg, and 
thence by railroad, he could regain Martinsburg. This eccentric retreat 
of Hunter was forced upon him by lack of all supplies, and by the fact 
that the enemy had a railroad east of the Blue Ridge, from Lynchburg 
to Rockfish Gap or Waynesboro , only twelve miles from St;muton, by 
means of which the whole of Ewell's Corps, and as many other troops 
as Lee might think necessary, could easily have been thrown from 
sixty to eighty miles in Hunter's rear, while Breckinridge, with the 
valley troops, held him in front. And as he had but little ammuni- 
tion, and was utterly out of supplies, while there would be no chance 
to collect in presence of a superior force of the enemy, it appeared re- 
duced to a mathematical certainty that an attempt to return down the 
Shenandoah would be equivalent to the annihilation or surrender of 
our force. Retiring by the Kanawha Valley, he confidently expected 
abundant supplies of commissary and quartermaster stores at Meadow's 
Bluif, about five or six days' march from Lynchburg. More than a 
million rations, about five or six days previous, had been left there by 
Generals Crook and Averill, under charge of two regiments of Ohio 
militia. These stores the enemy had destroyed. 

The enemy, in all about twenty-five thousand men, after driving 
Hunter over the mountains, lost no time in advancing down the valley, 
and on Saturday, July 2d, suddenly made his appearance at North 
Mountain, eight miles north of Martinsburg, thus flanking Sigel, who 
held command there. On the following morning Sigel was compelled 
to fall back upon Harper's Ferry, where he united with General Stahl. 
The small Union force then evacuated the town and held Maryland 
Heights. It now became manifest that another invasion of Pennsyl- 
vania w;is at hand. The enemy's main line of advance was by way of 
Martinsburg and North Mountain, across the Potomac to Hagerstown. 
Refugees, farmers, and citizens soon passed east towards Baltimore, 
and the roads were filled with pedestrians, with droves of cattle, and 
with wagons of all species of construction, carrying such goods and 
valuables as the frightened owners had dared to stay to pick up. The 
terror of the fugitives was extreme, and their stories of what they had 
seen and heard extravagant. The panic was wide-spread and univer- 
sal, and the region for miles became depoi)nlated. 

The enemy advanced steadily, and by the 4th of July the country 
between Winchester and Williamsport was occupied by him. On 



552 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

that clay a part of Mosby's Cavalry crossed at Point of Rocks, while the 
enemy occupied Harper's Ferry and the south bank of the Potomac, 
Sigel holding Maryland Heights. On the 6th, the enemy's cavaliy, under 
McCausland, occupied Hagerstown. In view of the gravity of the sit- 
uation, requisitions for troops were made upon the States of New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, and the Sixth Corps was ordered to 
embark for Washington, which had been nearly stripped of its garri- 
son to re-enforce Grant, and against which the enemy was evidently 
moving, hoping possibly to capture it by a coup de main. One of the 
objecis of Lee in planning this invasion was to induce Grant to retire 
from bef >re Richmond and cover the Federal capital; and the fact 
that the latter general thought it necessary to detach no more than a 
single corps for that purpose, showed that he took the proper view of 
the invasion, nnd Avas not to be enticed by his wily adversary from re- 
laxing the iron grip which he had fastened upon the approaches to the 
rebel capital. 

Meanwhile, General Lewis Wallace, commanding the Middle De- 
partment, had gathered together such troops as were available (H-jin- 
ter not having yet returned from Western Virginia), and essayed to 
retard the progress of the enemy. On Saturday, July 9th, having by 
this time been joined by Ricketts's Division of the Sixth Corps, he 
encountered the enemy, in superior force, on the Monocacy, near Fred- 
erick, and, after a severe fight, was pushed back with loss on the road 
to Baltimore. The enemy immediately sent a column of troops down 
the Washington and Frederick turnpike. It entered Rockville on Sun- 
day moining, and then moved on towards Washington. Five miles 
from Gc,'orgi;town and two miles bt-yond the fortifications, it drove in 
the Federal pickets one mile on Sunday night. At daybreak on Mon- 
day morning, skirmisliing commenced within rifle-shot of Fort Penn- 
eylvania, three miles from Georgetown. 

Simulianeously with the appearance of this force another division 
of troops appeared on the Seventh Street road, four miles from the 
city, directly north, and immediately in front of Forts Stevens and De 
Russey. Here they seemed in larger force. By Monday noon the 
enemy had a strong skirmish line, and some sixty were killed and 
wounded ; but fortunately by this time the remainder of the Sixth 
Corps, and a portion of the Nineteenth from New Orleans, began to 
arrive in the Potomac, and at dusk the veteran troops advanced to 
the iront, where the fighting became severe. The enemy began to 
use artillery, and Forts Slocum and De Russey opened in reply with 
their heavy guns. Immense efforts were made to strengthen the Fed- 
eral lines, and a proclamation required every able-bodied man to turn 
out as militia, and be mustered into service for sixty days. Citizens 
were seen on every hand with guns on their shoulders, Avbile employes 
of Departments and Government workshops, who had been previously 
organized and drilled, turned out several thousand strong. Three 
thousand convalescent soldiers were also obtained from the hospitals, 
in addition to the veteran forces, increasing hourly by fresh arrivals. 
The telegraph lines and railroads having been cut, Washington was, 
for the time being, isolated, and provisions began to rise in price. On 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIO]^. 553 

Wednesday morning, however, the enemy had disappeared : cavalry 
followed in pursuit, and found him retreating towards Frederick. A 
small battery had remained near Bladensburg, firing at the railroad 
train, long after the main line had retreated. 

In tlie mean time, on the 10th, the enemy's cavalry approached 
within sixteen miles of Baltimore, and raiding parties made their 
appearance in various directions. One burned the dwelling of Go- 
vernor Bradford; another captured a train in which was Major-Gen- 
eral Franklin, who managed to make his escape. Other forces busied 
themselves in collecting largo stores of forage, grain, and army sup- 
plies of all sorts, and making ibrced contributions in money. The 
affair at Monocacy was the only persistent effort to oppose the raid. 
That ended in a defeat, and thenceforth the enemy for several days 
had it all his own way, and was enabled, after his demonstration upon 
Washington and Baltimore, to retire across the Potomac with large 
spoils. 

The pursuit was commenced July 13th, by General Wright, with 
the Sixth Corps and one division of Emory's Nineteenth Corps. He 
crossed the Potomac at Edwards's Ferry and moved towards Leesburg, 
where Ricketts overtook and joined him. The cavalry under Duffie, 
of Crook's command, captured some of the rebel trains near Snicker's 
Gap, on the 17th. The remainder of Crook's force then came up, but 
the enemy commanded the stream they had crossed with two guns 
and checked the pursuit. On the succeeding day, Duffie was repulsed 
by Breckinridge, at Island Ford on the Shenandoah, with the loss of 
three hundred men. The enemy proceeded towards Winchester and 
Strasburg, followed closely by Averill, who, on the 20th, had a com- 
bat near Winchester with Ramseur's Division, which he defeated with 
the loss of four hundred men and four guns. Crook then joined 
Averill. On the 23d the enemy advanced in force and drove in the 
Union Cavalry, and on the 24th precipitated himself with so much 
force upon Crook as to push him back, with considerable loss, upon 
Martinsburg, whence, on Tuesday, the 26th, he recrossed the Potomaa 
Early now again held the right bank of the Potomac from Williams- 
port to Shepardstown. The enemy manoeuvred on the Potomac^ effec- 
tively concealing their numbers and intentions, until the 30th, when 
McCausland, with a cavalry force, advanced upon Chambersburg and 
demanded a ransom of five hundred thousand dollars, which, not being 
paid, he fired the town, inflicting a loss estimated at one million dol- 
lars. In the mean time, Averill, who had retreated from Ilagerstown 
towards Carlisle, turned upon McCausland, and on Sunday, August 
9th, our cavalry again occupied Hagerstown. Tlie same day, Averill 
overtook the enemy at Moorfield and routed hmi, capturing all his 
artillery, consisting of four pieces, and many of his wagons and small- 
arms, and five bvmdred prisoners. Our loss was less than fifty men. 
The pursuit was kept up for many miles. For this exploit Averill was 
promoted to the rank of major-general. 

On the Yth of August, Hunter was superseded by Sheridan, who 
was assigned to the command of the forces in the Middle Military 
Division, consisting of the Department of Washington, the Middle 



554 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOI^. 

Department, and the Departments of the Susquehanna and Southwest 
Virginia, which it was now determined to unite under one commander. 



CHAPTER LVIL 

Dutch Gap Canal. — Movement North of the James. — Expedition of the Fifth Corps 
to the Weldon Road. — Attack by Hill. — Severe Figliting near Reams's Station. — 
Losses. — Repulse of the Enemy. — Subsequent Repulse of Hancock. — Renewal of 
Movement North of the James and Capture of Fort Harrison. — Further Operations 
on the Weldon Railroad. 

Sheridak having, in the beginning of August, been detached from 
the Ai my of the Potomac and sent to supersede Hunter, Gregg assumed 
command of the cavalry. The monotony which had crept upon the 
operations of either army was varied on the 5th of August by the 
springing of a mine by the enemy in front of the Eighteenth Corps. 
This had been intended to countermine what was supposed to be a 
new work by the Federal troops. No charge followed, however. On 
the 9th an ordnance boat at City Point accidentally exploded, involv- 
ing great destruction of life and property. There were seventy killed 
and one hundred and thirty wounded. 

The James River a short distance below Fort Darling makes a great 
bend, forming a peninsula called Farrar's Island * the neck of which 
is only half a mile across, while the liver winds six miles around the 
bend. This part of the stream was tilled with torpetloes and swept 
by batteries. General Butler pioposed to cut a canal across this neck, 
and thus cauh^e the enemy to prolong his works, while it would bring 
the Federal troops in close proximity to Fort Darlmg. From the 
very outset the work upon the canal was obstructed by the fire of the 
enemy from Howlett House Battery, and, to relieve the working par- 
ties, it was determined to create a diversion. Accordingly, a fleet of 
transports was collected at City Point, and on August r2th the Sec- 
ond Corps was embarked upon them, apparently to go down the river. 
The Tenih Corps at the same time crossed the river on pontoons and 
joined Foster's Division on the right. On Saturday night, August 
13th, the Second Corps landed from the transports near Deej) Bottom, 
and moved into position along tlie Newmarket road on the east side 
of Four Mile Creek, while the Tenth Corps was on the Avest side of that 
Btream. The gunboats at the same time engaged the enemy's works. 
Early on Sunday, the 14th, Foster moved out upon Strawberry Plains 
and encountered the enemy's skirmishers, who fell back beyond his 
rifle-pits. The enemy bad, however, re-enforced from his right, and 
the Federal troops had before them D. H. Hill and Loiigstrcet's Corps. 
The cavalry of Gregg covered the right flank, where was the Second 
Corps, with its left on Four Mile Creek, while the Tenth Corps, rest- 
ing with its right on the other bank of the creek, had its left on the 
intrenched blufl' at Deep Bottom. These dispositions consumed most 
of the day, Generals Grant, Butler, Hancock, and Bimey being pres- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION". 555 

ent, and it was not until towards (Tvenini? that the whole line advanced. 
The Tenth Corps drove in the picket line of the enemy and captured 
four guns and a number of prisoners ; but the Second Corps, encoun- 
tering a very severe artillery fire, gained comparatively little ground. 

On Monday, August loth, amidst severe skirmishing, the line was 
extended to the right, and Malvern Hill threatened. As the right 
was extiMiderl, the enemy made corresponding movements, and the 
day was spent in manceuvring. On the 16th, the cavalr}' of Gregg 
moved on the Charles City road, where, being joined by Miles's Di- 
vision of the Second Corps, it encountered the enemy under Cliam- 
bliss, Avho, after a sharp fight, were routed, with the lo-s of their 
leader. The column then pushed on to White's Tavern, in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Richmond, but, finding the enemy in strong force, 
withdrew. Meanwhile, in the centie, the Tenth Corps carried a line 
of works and captured two hundred prisoners, but, everywhere en- 
countering strongly-manned works, it also withdrew, and the recon- 
noissanct; ended. The attack was not intended to be serious at this 
point, and it remained to be seen what elFect it would have on opera- 
tions on the left. 

At four o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, the Fifth 
Corps started from its camp, with four days' rations, for the Weldoa 
Railroad. The column marched towards Reams's Station, driving in 
easily the enemy's skirmishers, of whom a part were captured. The 
first division. Griffin's, reached the railroad, and began to destroy it 
five or six miles from Petersburg; while the second, Ayres's, the third, 
Crawford's, and the fourth. Culler's Marylanders, proceeded along the 
road towards Petersburg At Yellow Tavern they encountered the 
enemy's cavalry under Deanng, who fell back to Davis P'arm, two and 
a half miles from Petersburg. Here General A. P. Hill was encoun- 
tered, with the divisions of Mahone and Ileth, Mahone, with his own 
brigades and those of Clingman and Colquitt, being cast of the rail- 
road, and Hill, with the brigades of Davis, Walker, and Archer, west 
of it. The Federal line was halted in p.n open field. Crawford's Divi- 
sion, comprising the brigades of Lyle, Wheeler, and Hartshorn, were 
east of the railroad, confronting Mahone, and Ayres on the west of the 
road, opi>osite Heth, who came forward with great vehemence, driving 
back Ayres about one mile upon his intrenchments, the first line of 
which was lost, the enemy pouring in pell-mell with the retreating 
troops. These, supported by Cutler's Division, gained the main line, 
that had been greatly strengthened over night, and against which the 
advancing tide of rebels beat in vain. 

The Union troops, on Friday, August 19th, occupied an intrenched 
line, the left being on the Boydtown plankroad, while across the rail- 
road the right helft the Jerusalem road, which it was necessary to con- 
nect with the main line at Petersburg. The line was formed as fol- 
lows, from right to left: Wilcox's Division of the Ninth Corps, Craw- 
ford's, Ayres's, and Griffin's Divisions of the Fifth Corps. Between Ayres 
and Crawford ran the railroad, and between the right of the Fifth 
Corps and the Jerusalem rcjad was a dangerous gap. At four o'clock 
in the afternoon, in the midst of a heavy rain-storm, Hill buist upon 



556 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl?'. 

our lines with both divisions. Mahone attacked Bragg's Brigade of 
Crawford's Division, on our right, with great fury, overwhehiiing the 
Nineteenth Indiana, and pressing thi ough the gap like a torrent, thus 
separating Wilcox and Crawford. The latter was strongly intrenched 
in a thick wood opposite Davis Farm. Mahone, therefore, while fierce- 
ly engaging him in front with his own troops and the brigade of Cling- 
man, sent Colquitt's Georgians upon his flank, which was so eftectually 
turned that nearly a thousand of Crawford's Division were made pris- 
oners. Meanwhile, on the left, the impetuous advance of Ileth had 
carried the intrenchments erected since the morning, besides driving 
back the line, and enveloping the regular brigade of Hayes. But the 
First and Second Divisions of the Ninth Corps now arrived to re-en- 
force the Federals, after an exhausting forced march. They formed quick- 
ly, and charged, capturing several hundred prisoners. This charge 
enabled the hard-pressed troops of the Fifth Corps to rally; and the 
rebels, being in turn overlapped, were driven back with loss, and the 
disaster of the earlier part of the day retrieved. The approach of night 
stopped the conflict. The Federal loss was one thousand five hundred 
killed and wounded, and about two thousand prisoners. The loss of the 
enemy was probably equally severe in killed and wounded. The result 
of this fight was to give the enemy possession of the Weldon road as 
tar as Yellow Tavern, while our forces still held the position first taken 
by Warren. 

On Sunday, the 21st, the Federal line held nearly the same position, 
and at inne o'clock the enemy again attacked with'his usual impetuos- 
ity, and, after a conflict of two hours, was repulsed with the loss of over 
two thousand men, including Generals Saunders and Lamar killed, and 
Barton, Finuegan, and Andrews wounded. During the night of Sun- 
day the cannonade was heavy in front of the Fifth Corps. But on 
Monday it was discovered that the enemy had retired, and intrenched 
himself three miles from Petersburg. 

Whde these events took place, one division of the Second Corps had 
been withdrawn from Deep Bottom and hurried across to Petersburg in 
season to take possession of tlie intrenchments vacated by the Fifth 
Corps in their march to the Weldon Railroad. The other two divi- 
sions, Gregg's Cavalry and the Tenth Coi-ps, commenced a similar move- 
ment on Saturday night, and soon Foster remained, as before, in sole 
possession of Deep Bottom. In a single night, by a forced march, in 
which the infantry outmarched the cavalry, the Second Corps crossed 
the two rivers, and reached the lines of the Nintii Corps on Sunday 
morning. On Monday, Barlow's Division (temporarily under Miles) 
was occupied in tearing up the railroad track from the line of the Fifth 
Corps down towards Reams's Station, On Monday night. Gibbon's 
Division inarched towards Reams', and on TuesdaJ^continued the de- 
struction of the track in the region of that station. The weather con- 
tinue-l wet, and the roads very bad. 

On Tuesday, Warren again pushed his line towards Petersburg, and 
busily intrenched, skirmishing going on between the pickets as on Mon- 
day. The Second Corps was equally busy in tearing up the track in 
his rear. On Tuesday night and Wednesday night the heavy cannon- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 557 

ading was repeated by the enemy, the greater part being directed 
against the Eighteenth Corps. On Wednesday the destruction of the 
railroad was continued, so that by night it was complete from a point 
fonr miles from Petersburg down to two miles below Reams's, towards 
Weldon. Our line of battle in the Fifth Corps, meanwhile, extended 
clear across the Weldon road, and our skii'mishers lay near the Vaughan 
road, three and a half miles from Petersburg. 

On Thursday morning, the 25th, Gibbon's Division of the Second 
Corps moved down the raih'oad from Reams's Station, to prosecute the 
destruction of the road. When about a mile below the station, the cav- 
alry advance, which had been skirmishing all the morning, was sudden- 
ly checked and driven back by the enemy's picket line. The old in- 
trenchments erected by the Sixth Corps still surrounded the station in 
semicircular form, covering the railroad both above and below it. 
Miles (now in command of Barlow's Division) had posted his men as 
follows: Colonel Lynch's (First) Brigade on the right; next, the Sec- 
ond and Third Brigades, under Major Byron ; next, the Fourth Brigade, 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Brodie ; finally, on the left, Aleock's Fourth 
New York heavy artillery regiment. The enemy appeared, soon after 
noon, in front of Miles, and Hancock at once ordered Gibbon to fall 
back and form junction with Miles's left, to cover and protect that flank. 
The cavalry followed, and covered the left flank and rear. Gibbon dis- 
posed his troops so as to face down the railroad in a southerly and 
southeasterly direction, his right joining Miles's left at the railroad, and 
Miles facing west. Thus the line was somewhat in the form of a horse- 
shoe. In Gibbon's line, the Third Brigade was on the left, the First 
in the centre, and the Second on the right, joining Miles. About two 
o'clock the enemy's demonstrations culminated in a grand advance of 
his skirmish Hne. 

The rebel column of attack, under General A. P. Hill, was composed 
of three brigades, commanded by Heth and Connor, with Pegram's Artil- 
lery. At half-past three o'clock this column emerged from the woods 
with fixed bayonets, and advanced at a rapid pace with loud cheers. 
The column was smitten with a concentrated fire from four batteries and 
musketry, but penetrated to within twenty paces of the line, when it 
recoiled. The Federals had suflered severely from a musketry fire from 
the enemy's right to cover this charge. The charge was repeated an 
hour later, with similar results. The enemy then brought up his bat- 
teries, which soon opened a very severe concentric fire upon the circu- 
lar position of the Federals. The shot that passed the troops of Miles 
did considerable execution upon those of Gibbon. This was sustained 
for twenty minutes, when the fire suddenly ceased, and with loud yells 
the enemy sprang forward to a fourth assault, charging furiously with 
fixed bayonets, and without firing a shot. The distance he had to 
pass over from the woods to the line was not great, and the efficiency of 
our fire being destroyed by the previous cannonade, he gained the 
breastworks, and in a hand-to-hand fight broke the line, forcing Miles 
back, and capturing several guns. To stop this irruption a portion of 
Gibbon's men were hurried to support Miles across a distance of half 
a mile, exposed to heavy fire. This had the effect of checking the 



558 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

enemy for a short space, but the dismounted rebel cavalry, xmdep 
Wade Hampton, seized the moment to charge the defeated line of Gib- 
bon, and carried the Avorks, and once more Gibbon Avas hurried back 
to restore the flight in that direction ; but this time in vain. The ene- 
my crowded forward on all sides, inflicting severe losses on the over- 
powered Unionists. Some regiments were reduced to mere skeletons ; 
of the Massachusetts Twentieth, one of the best in the army, very few 
remained. As the night approached, Hancock withdrew his troops, 
leaving Reams's Station in possession of the enemy. The Federal loss 
was very heavy, including two thousand five hundred prisoners, one 
thousand killed and wounded, seven colors, and nine guns. That the 
enemy did not accomplish this feat without receiving severe punishment, 
is apparent from the following dispatches from General Meade : — 

"Second Corps— 12.30 p. m. — August 26, 1864» 
"A safeguard that was left on the battle-field remained there after daylight this morn- 
ing. 

" At that time the enemy had all disappeared, leaving their dead on the field unburied. 
This shows how severely they were punished, and, doubtless hearing of the arrival of 
re-enforcements, they feared the results to-day if they remained. 

(Signed) " G. G. Meade, Major- General." 

"Second Army Corps, August 2G, 1864 — 1 p. m. 
" To Lieutenant-General Grant : 

"Since sending my last dispatch, I have conversed with the safeguard referred to. 
He did not leave tVie field uutil after sunrise. At that time nearly all the enemy had 
left, moving towards Petersburg. He says they abandoned not only their dead, but 
their wounded also. He conversed with an officer, who said their losses were greater 
than ever before during the war. 

" The safeguard says he was over the field, and it was covered with the enemy'g 
dead and wounded. Ho has seen a great many battle-fields, but never such a sight. 
Nearly all the enemy's and all our wounded were brought off, but our dead were unburied. 
I have instructed General Gregg to make an effort to send a party to the field and 
bury our dead. G- G. Meade, Major- Geria-al." 

The results of this battle put the enemy in possession of the Weldon 
Railroad as far as Yellow Tavern. Reams is ten miles from Peters 
burg. The Federal troops still held thiee or four miles of railroad. 
On the same day, Butler's picket lines were driven in, with some loss, 
but were soon restored. 

The Army of the Potomac now maintained its position for several 
weeks without attempting any important enterprise, although each 
day was marked by some of those events which are unavoidable where 
two armies are in such close proximity to each other. A persistent 
shelling was kept up by General Grant. The operations in the valley 
continued to attract attention, but the movements of Sherman in 
Georgia were watched with the utmost anxiety. He had operated 
against Johnston and Hood with more or less success, until, on the 4th 
of September, the capture of Atlanta was announced to the Army of 
the Potomac, and a salute of one hmidred shotted guns was ordered, 
to which the enemy briskly responded. On the 14th of September a 
remarkable raid was successfully performed by the enemy. A herd of 
two thousand five hundred head of cattle, destined for the consumption 
of the Army of the Potomac, was grazing near Coggin's Point, on the 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLIOIS". 559 

James River, guarded by two regiments of Kautis's Cavalry. Wade 
Hampton, with W. F. H. Lee's Cavulry Division and Rosser's and 
Dearing's Brigades, moved from Reams's Station entirely around our 
extreme left, l)roke Kautz's picket line, overpowered the Union Caval- 
ry, and captured and carried off a number of prisoners and the whole 
of the cattle. Gregg's and Kautz's Cavalry Divisions pursued, but 
"without eflect. 

In the last week of September preparations were made by General 
Grant to renew the attack upon Richmond, and he seems to have 
drawn inspiration from the success of Sherman, in obtaining possession 
of Atlanta by strategy, where force was unavailing. To tliis end, a 
simultaneous attack at both extremities of the line was organized. 
Tliat on the right, by the Eighteenth and Tenth Corps, with the cavalry 
of Kautz, was undertaken in the hope of compelling the enemy to send 
his troops from the defence of Petersburg to his left. The idea of 
compelling the enemy to weaken one point for the defence of another, 
seems, however, not to have been fruitful of success. The celerity 
with whicli troops appeared at the assailed points indicated great facil- 
ities for their transportation and rare energy in their movements. 

On the night of Wednesday, September 28th, the two corps of But- 
ler passed the James on nmffled pontoons, the Tenth to Deep Bottom, 
four miles from Dutch Gap, and the Eighteenth to Aiken's Landing, 
which is half-way between Dutch Gap and Deep Bottom. The 
Eighteenth Corps, General Ord, at daylight of tlie 29th, proceeded by 
the Varina road towards its junction with the Newmarket road, 
driving in the enemy's skirmishers, as it advanced towards Chapin's 
Farm, where a long line of intrenchments runs in a westerly direction 
to the river, terminating m a strong work known as Battery Harrison. 
These works did not form part of the defences proper of Richmond, 
but were covered by the fire from works on the other side of the river, 
and by that of the enemy's gunboats. The line of advance was formed 
left to right of the brigades of Stannard, Burnham, Roberts, and 
Heckman. The line advanced under a terrible fire of artillery, and the 
enemy precipitately fled to other works in the rear. The result was 
the capture of sixteen gmis and one hundred and fifty prisoners ; but 
the fire from the enemy's guns was so intense that it was found im- 
possible to hold the works ; and General Weitzel abandoned them, con- 
centrating his troops on the left. 

Meanwhile the Tenth Corps, now commanded by Birney, proceeded 
from Deep Bottom towards Newmarket, encountering the skirmishers 
of the enemy, but no serious opposition until it reached the point where 
the Kingsland road crosses the Newmarket road. Here a small force 
held Newmarket Heights, which were readily carried, though with 
some loss. The enemy, with the loss of some five hundred, then re- 
tired upon Laurel Hill, six miles from Richmond, at the junction of 
the Varina and Newmarket roads, where was a line of strong earth- 
works, with a wide and deep ditch in front. Tlie place was at once 
assaulted, but proved too powerful to be carried with the limited force 
at Birney's disposal, and at night he withdrew his troops to the in- 
trenchments in his rear, where he remained until two o'clock on the 



560 HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIf. 

30th. The Union line was now formed of the Eighteenth and Tenth 
Corps, and the enemy, having been re-enforced from Richmond under 
Hoke, fell with great fury on the division of Stannard. Deploying in 
three strong lines at the edge of the wood, he charged with great 
promptitude, under cover of a hot shelling from his iron-clads in the 
river, and an annoying enfilading fire from the batteries on the bank. 
A well-directed, rolling musketry fire sent the rebels reeling back to 
the wood, before they could reach the intrenchments. Again and still 
a third time they rallied, were re-formed, and made the charge. But, 
though they got near the works, it was only to be repulsed with great 
slaughter. Our men had been instructed to lower their pieces, and the 
musketry fire was at once incessant and murderous. On the breaking 
of the enemy. General Weitzel succeeded in cutting ofiT over two hun- 
dred prisoners, including twenty ofiicers. The enemy's total loss was 
probably a thousand men, and ours probably less than five hundred. 
Among the wounded ofiicers was General Stannard, who lost an arm. 

After this movement, little of importance took place until Friday, 
October 7th. The Federal line was formed of the Eighteenth Corps, 
on the left, the Tenth on the centre and right, and the cavalry on the 
extreme right, on the Darbytown road. The left was intrenched at 
Battery Harrison, about ten miles from Richmond, and the right about 
five miles from Richmond, in an ah' line on the Charles City road. 
At early dawn on the 7th, Anderson, with Hoke's and Field's Divi- 
sions, advanced down the Darbytown and Charles City roads, and 
attacked Kautz's Division with such suddenness and fury, that the 
whole broke and fled. This disaster gave the enemy possession of the 
Darbytown road^ and pressing on in pursuit, they soon encountered 
our right centre, the right of the Tenth Corps. Meanwhile, the cavalry 
had gained in their flight Signal Hill and Newmarket Heights. Bir^ 
ney held a strongly intrenched line, with the right flank refused. On 
the right was Terry's First Division, lying along the refused flank, and 
covering the Newmarket road. His troops were in rifle-pits, in heavy 
woods. The ground on the left of the line was open, and here the 
artillery was posted — four six-gun batteries — which swept not only 
its o^v^l front, but shelled the ground by which the right could be 
reached. Proper and skilful dispositions were briskly made on the stam- 
pede of the cavalry, and, before the enemy was on him, Terry was ready. 

As the enemy approached, he was greeted with a heavy cross-fire of 
artillery from our left, in answer to which he got two batteries into 
position. These, however, were soon overmatched. Meanwhile, 
Field's Division moved up in excellent order to the assault, dashing 
over the open at double-quick, and succeeded in gaining the woods on 
our right. Not only, however, was the open made dangerous by artil- 
lery, but the partially felled woods were difficult of penetration. Our 
infantry remained quiet imtil the enemy was very close, when nil four 
brigades, rising from their half-ambush, poured into him a sudden and 
destructive fii-e. 

After a protracted engagement, the enemy, finding his efforts vain, 
withdrew in great confusion along the central road, followed closely 
by Terry. He finally retired upon the Charles City road, thus leaving 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIO]Sr. 561 

the central road again in our possession. The troops enjoyed an inter- 
val of repose until the 13th, when General Terry, temporarily in conr- 
mand of the Tenth Corps, moved out before dawn upon the Darby town 
road to the scene of Kautz's defeat on the 7th. The enemy had, in 
the interval, constructed many new woi'ks, one of wliich was ineffec- 
tually assaulted by Pond's Brigade. The enemy in turn made a charge 
upon our lines. This was succeeded by the return of the Federal 
troops to their intrenchmeuts. 



CHAPTER LYin. 

Operations in Tennessee. — Sherman's Raid through Mississippi. — Faikire of Smith's 
Co-operative Movement. — Invasion of Western Tennessee and Kentucky by For- 
rest. — Massacre at Fort Pillow. 

LoNGSTREET, after his retreat upon Rogersville, continued to remain 
some time iti Eastern Tennessee, apparently threatening Knoxville. 
His communications with Lee, temporarily interrupted by Averill, ii; 
a daring raid into Southwestern Virginijx^ were soon restored, and 
Lee had abundant o])portunity, during the inactivity of the Army of 
the Potomac in the winter of 1 803-4, to re-enforce him, of which, how- 
ever, he did not take advantage. Longstreet accordingly contented 
himself with merely threatening Knoxville, while Johnston, who had 
succeeded Bragg, occupied Dalton, thirty-eight miles south of Chatta- 
nooga. Longstreet ultimately returned to the rebel army in Virginia, 
and upon his departure the Ninth Corps was sent to re-enfoi'ce the Army 
of the Potomac. During January, 1864, the enemy sent several expe- 
ditions into Tennessee. Johnson's Brigade, of Rhoddy's command, 
crossed the Tennessee River at Bninbridge, three miles 'below Flor- 
ence, and at Newport Ferry, six miles from the same point, intending 
to make a junction with a brigade of infantry which was expected to 
cross the river at Lamb's and Brown's Ferry, and thence proceed to 
Alton's, to capture the Union force there. They were engaged, fifteen 
of them killed, and quite a number wounded and taken prisoners. Our 
loss was ten wounded. The operations of the rebel General Forrest 
were in no degree more successful. At the close of January, General 
Rosccrans was assigned to the Department of Missouri, and General 
Schofield resumed commandof the Twenty-third Corps, constituting the 
Army ot the Ohio, and, with it, of the Department of Ohio. 

A combined movement was now formed against the enemy in the 
Southwest. General Sherman was to march east from Vicksburg on 
the 3d of February into the interior of the Gulf States, and, in co-opera- 
tion with hira. Generals Smith and Grierson, at the liead of a cavalry 
fore?, were to move south from Memphis. In aid of these operations, 
Schofield was directed to threaten Longstreet in the neighborhood of 
Knoxville, and Thomas to press Johnston, while the navy attacked 
Mobile, and General Banks was to operate against Shreveport, and 
Kilpatrick conduct a raid on Richmond. In accordance with this plan, 
36 



562 HISTOUY OF TnE GEEAT EEBELLIOif. 

on February 3d, a strong column, composed of the Sixtecnih and 
Seventeenth Army Corps, under command of Sherman, took up an 
easterly line of march from Vieksburu", i'ollowing the line of the South- 
ern Mississippi Railroad. By following the proloiigatioii of this line, 
the column would strike Meridian (one hundied and forty miles), 
Selma (two hundred and fifty miles), Montgomery (three hun- 
dred miles), and double railroad and double river communica- 
tions would be opened up with the Gulf. The Pearl, the Tom- 
bigbee, and the Alabama — rivers leading into the heart of Mississippi 
and Alabama — would thus be thrown open to our gunboats. In a 
word, the great centre of productive forces would be seized. At tl'.c 
same time that Sherman's force was pursuing the line indicated, another 
very powerful cavalry column, twelve thousand strong, under Generals 
Snuth andGricrson, Avas to set out from Corinth and Holly Springs, to 
folloAV the Mobile and Ohio Railroad southward. On February 5th, 
the two corps, under Generals McPherson and Ilurlbut, were across 
the Big Black River, and advanced, driving the rebel Gcnernl Polk 
before them, and inflicting immense dnmnge upon tlie enemy. At 
Meridian, the great railway centre of the Southwest, which Sherman 
reached about the middle of the month, he destroyed the arsenal filled 
with valuable stores and machineiw, burned a large number of Govern- 
ment warehouses filled with military stores and ammunition, and ren- 
dered useless a number of mills. At Meridian he also made, in his 
own words, "the most complete destruction of railroads ever beheld." 
Sixty miles of track, besides depots, bi'idges, and rolling stock, Avere 
thoroughly destroyed, and several towns burned or desolated. Hav- 
ing waited at Meridian a week without news of Smith, he reti-aced his 
steps to the JMississippi, carrying with him over eight thousand liber- 
ated slaves, and an immense amount of spoils. The resistance oftcred 
by the enemy was so trifling that the total Union loss was less than 
two hundred. 

Meantime weeks had been spent in gathering together and properly 
organizing all the available cavalry in Western Tennessee and Northein 
Mississippi. To supply troops for these movements, Corinth, and the 
line of the Memphis and Charleston road as far east as General Logan's 
outposts, had been abandoned, the fortifications blown up, and the 
public property removed. Common report put the aggregate finally 
collected at ten thousand horsemen. The number was so large that 
General Smith felt warranted in writing as folIoAvs, to a friend in Buf- 
falo, under date of Colliersville, February 9lh : " I expect to start 

to-morrow or next day with thousand cavalry, for the bowels of 

Dixie. The rebels have about thousand in Mississippi, A\-hich 

they can, if they like, concentrate to oppose me." The ibrce, it is sale 
to say, was larger and better equipped than any before collected du- 
ring this war to execute a similar mission. As it Avas essential to the 
complete achievement of General Sherman's plan of cam})aign that 
this cavalry column should move forward promptly, every ])recaution 
was taken to make it irresistible ; and to i-ender assurance doubly sure, 
General Smith, General Grant's chief of cavalry, was detailed to super- 
vise operations. All these precautions, however, failed to accomplish 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 563 

the flesired end. The column, ■^hicli was to Imve left Colliersville 
February 3d — the same day that Sherman got away from VicksljtirLt — 
was detained until February 11th, in order to enable General Waring 
to biiiig up his brigade. This delay seems to have been sufficient to 
enable Forrest, Rhoddy, and Chambers to concentrate their forces 
against him ; it gave General Sherman a whole week the start, and 
made a junction proportionately more difficult. After the expedition 
had finally started, various circumstances conspired to delay ancl oppose 
its progress. It Avas only after the force had been in the saddle seven 
days that it reached Okalona, one hundred and thirty miles southeast of 
Memphis, an average of but little more than fifteen miles per day from 
Colliersville, the point of departure. On the 19th it marched to 
Egypt, a station about seven miles south of Okalona. Here they de- 
stroyed a large quantity of rebel stores. The expedition was then 
divided, one column, under Grierson, going through Aberdeen on the 
east side of the railroad, the other on the west side, the two concen- 
trating at Prairie Station, about seventeen miles south of Okalona, 
where large quantities of rebel storess were destroyed. Grierson met 
with considerable opposition near Aberdeen. On the 20th, Forrest 
was reported in force at West Point, and on the 21st our forces en- 
countered him at that place. Smith found Forrest, Lee, rilioildy, and 
Chambers combined against him, and after a heavy fight he was com- 
pelled to fall back, leaving three field-pieces, four-pounder steel gun^, 
on the field. They were spiked. All the ammunition was saved. In 
his retreat Smith burnt every trestle on the Memphis and Ohio Rail- 
road, and destroyed miles of the track and lai-ge quantities of corn. 
There was heavy fighting in the rear throughout the 22d. The rebels 
moved on each flank with the evident design of reaching the Talla- 
hatchie in advance of our force, and forming a junction to prevent our 
crossing, and capture the whole command ; but by forced marching 
Smith passed both flanking columns, and, marching all night, crossed 
safely at New Albany. Skirmishing was kept up all through the 23d 
and the 24th. Oil the 25 ih the expedition arrived at Colliersville, 
about twenty-five miles east of Memphis, where the greater portion of 
the men remained. 

The enemy were now becoming more active. Forrest, having suc- 
ceeded in defeating the expedition of Grierson and Smith, recruited 
his forces in Mississippi, and appeared suddenly, on March 22d, at 
Bolivar, Tennessee, with a force between six and seven thousand 
strong. Pie advanced rapidly against Union City, which was gar- 
risoned by about four hundred men, under command of Colonel Ilar- 
kins. The enemy made several inefiectual charges against the slight 
earthworks which surrounded the town ; but, finding it impossible to 
carry them by assault, Forrest demanded the surrender of the garrison, 
threatening to bombard the town xmless the demand was complied 
with, Harkins, it is said, against the wishes of the garriscm, surren- 
dered on the 24th, just in time to anticipate the Arrival of a large 
Union force from Cairo, under command of General Mason Brayman, 
who was marching to his relief. 

From Union City, Forrest marched northward across Kentucky, and 



564 HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLION. 

on the afternoon of March 25th mude an attack on Paducah, hnA'ing 
first sent to demand tlie surrender of the fort. This was refused by Colo- 
nel Hicks, Avlio was in command, and the attack was immediately 
commenced. It lasted during the whole afternoon, the enemy raaking 
four assaults, in each of which they were repulsed Avith considerable 
loss. After the first assault had been foiled, Forrest again demanded 
the surrender of the fort, troops, and public stores, promising that if 
the demand were complied with, the troops should be treated as pris- 
oners of Avar, but if he wei-e compelled to storm the fort they might 
expect no quarters. Hicks declined, and the battle continued. Early 
in the evening the rebels retired from the toAvn, but reappeared the 
next morning, when Forrest sent in a request for an exchange of pris- 
oners. This Hicks declined, and the rebels, without making any fur- 
ther demonstrations, retired in the direction of Columbus. Their loss 
•was three hundred killed and one thousand wounded. The latter 
were taken to Mayfield by rail, and the former Avere left unburied 
around the fort. The rebel Brigadier-General A. P. Thompson Avas 
among the slain. The rebel General Buford appeared before Colum- 
bus early in April, and demanded the surrender of the place, but, upon 
receiving a peremptory refusal, moved oli" Avithout attempting an 
attack. 

At thisHime occurred an event, unparalleled in the previous or sub- 
sequent history of the Avar, and which caused an almost unanimous 
outbreak of horror and indignation throughout the loyal States. 
Threats of raising the " black flag," of carrying on a Avar of exteimi- 
nation, of giving no quarter in case of lefusal to surrender, had fre- 
quently been made by rebel commanders, but it Avas reserved for For- 
rest, a man of unquestioned bravery and skill, but of relentless cruelty, 
to show that such threats had a deeper significance than the angry, 
thoughtless words of heated and exasperated combatants. Bad as the 
rebel cause had before seemed to loyal men, it grew immeasurably 
worse from the crime noAV associated Avith it, and which, like the re- 
bellion itself, had its origin in the demoralizing influences floAving from 
the institution of slavery. 

On the 12th of April, Forrest appeared before Fort Pillow, on the 
Mississippi River, a Avork of moderate size, mounting six guns, and 
garrisoned by about five hundred and fifty men, of Avhom tAVO hun- 
dred and sixty Averc colored troops, the Avhole being commanded by 
Major Bradford, of the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. The fort Avas 
situated on a high bluff Avhich descended precipitately to the river's 
edge, the ridge of the bluff on the river side being coA^ered with trees, 
bushes, and falling timber. Extending back from the river on either 
side of the fort was a ravine or hollow, the one beloAV the fort con- 
taining several private stores and some dwellings, and some Govern- 
ment buildings, containing commissary stores. The ravine aboA'e the 
fort forward was knoAvn as Cold Bank Ravine, the ridge being covered 
Avith trees and bushes. To the right or beloAV and a little to the front 
of the fort Avas a level piece of ground, not quite so elevated as the 
fort itself, on Avhich had been erected some log huts or shanties, Avhich 
were occupied by the Avhite troops, and also used for hospital and other 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 565 

purposes. "Within the fort tents had been erected with board floors 
for the use of the colored troops. At sunrise the Union pickets uere 
driven in, and from that time until two or three o'clock in the after- 
noon tlie rebels vainly endeavored to dislodge the garrison, who made 
a gallant defence, in which they M'ere aided by the giniboat New Era, 
which, from her position in the river, shelled the enemy vigorously. 

The rebels, having thus far failed in their attack, now resorted to 
their customary flags of truce. The first flag of truce conveyed a 
demand from Forrest for the unconditional surrender of the fort. To 
this Major Bradford replied, asking to be allowed one hour with his 
ofiicers and the officers of the gunboat. In a short time the second 
flag of truce appeared, with a communication from Forrest' that he 
would allow Major Bradford twenty minutes in which to move his 
troops out of the fort, and if it v.'as not done in that time an assault 
would be ordered. To this Major Bradford replied th.at lie would not 
surrender. During the time occupied by the communication between 
the fort and the attacking party, and while the flag of truce was flying, 
the rebels, with a bad faith characteristic of their conduct on several 
previous occasions during the same campaign, gradually crept up to a 
position from which tliey could overwhelm the garrison by a sudden 
assault. Captain Marshall, of the gunboat, saw them a<lvancing into 
the ravine above the fort, and could easily have checked their progress, 
but refrained from firing, from a desire not to aflbrd an excuse for 
subsequent atrocities, should the fort be captured by the enemy. 
"What followed is best told in the report of the Congressional Com- 
mittee on the Conduct of the War, two of the members of which visited 
Fort Pillow and took testimony regarding the circumstances of its 
capture. Their account is as follows : — 

" Immediately after the second flag of truce retired, tlie rebels made a rush from 
the positious they had so treacherously gained, and obtained possession of the fort, 
raising the cry of ' No quarter.' But little opportunity was allowed for resistance. 
Our troops, black and white, threw down their arms and sought to escape by running 
down the steep bluff near the fort, and secreting themselves behind trees and logs iu 
the bushes and under tlie brush; some even jtunping into the river, leaving only tlieir 
heads above the water as they crouched down under the bank. TLien followed a seeno 
of cruelty and murder without parallel in civilized warfare, which needed but the toma- 
hawk and .scalping-knife to exceed the worst atrocities ever committed by savages. 
The rebels commenced an indiscriminate slaughter, sparing neither age nor sex, white 
nor black, soldier nor civilian. The ofiicers and men seemed to vie witli each otiier in 
the devilish work. Men, women, and their children, wherever found, were deliberately 
shot 'down, beaten, and hacked with sabres. Some of tlie cliildren, not more than ten 
years old, were forced to stand up and face their murderers while being shot. The sick 
and wounded were butchered without mercy, the rebels even entering the hospital 
buildings and dragging them out to be shot, or killing them as they lay there unable 
to offer the least resistance. All over the hillside the work of murder was going on. 
Numbers of our men were collected together in lines or groups and deliberately shot. 
Some were shot while in the river, while others on the bank were sliot and tlieir bodies 
kicked into the water ; many of them still living, but unable to make e.xertions to save 
themselves from drowning. Some of the rebels stood upon the top of the hill or a 
short distance from its side and called out to our soldiers to come up to them, and aa 
they approached, shot them down in cold blood, and if tlieir" guns or pistols missed fire, 
forcing them to stand there until they were again prepared to fire. 

"All around were heard the cries of 'No quarter I' 'No quarter!' 'KiU the damned 
niggers!' 'Shoot them dowul' All who asked for mercy were answered by the most 



566 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK". 

cruel taunts and sneers. Sorao were spared for a time, only to be murdered under cir- 
cumslances of greater cruelty. No cruelly which the most fiendish malignity could 
devise was omitted by these murderers. One wiiite soldier, who was wounded in the 
leg so as to be unable to walk, was made to stand up while his tormentors shot him. 
Others, who were wounded and unable to stand up, were lield up and again shot. One 
negro, who had been ordered by a rebel officer to hold his horse, was killed by him 
when he remonstrated. Another, a mere child, whom an officer had taken up behind 
him on his horse, was seen l^y Clialmers, who at once ordered him to put him down 
and shoot him, which was done. Tlic huts and tents in which many of the wounded 
had sought .shelter were set on fire, both that nigiit and the next morning, while the 
Wounded were still in them, those only escaping who were able to get themselves out, 
or who could prevail on others less injured to help them out, and even some of tliese 
thus seeking to escape the flames were met by these ruffians and beastly shot down, 
or had their brains beaten out. One man was deliberately fastened down to the floor 
of a tent, face upward, by means of nails driven through his clothing and into the 
boards under him, so that lie could not possibly escape, and then the tent was set on 
fire. Anotiier was nailed to tlie side of a building outside of tlio fort, and then the 
building was set on fire and burned. The charred remains of five or six bodies were 
afterwards found, all but one so much disfigured and consumed by the flames that they 
could not be identified, and the identification of that one is not absohitely certain, 
although there can hardly bo a doubt it was the body of Lieutenant Albertson, quarter- 
master of tlie Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and a native of Tennessee. Several wit- 
nesses who saw the remains, and who were personally acquainted with him while 
living hero, testified that it is their firm belief that it was his body that was thus 
treated. 

''These deeds of murder and cruelty closed when night came on, only to be renewed 
the ne.^t morning, when the demons carefully sought among the dead lying about in 
all directions for any other wounded yet alive, and those they found were deliberately 
shot. Scores of the dead and wounded were found there the day of the massacre by 
the moa from some of our guuboats, who were permitted to go on shore and collect the 
wounded and bury the dead. The rebels themselves had made a pretence of burying a 
great number of their victims, butthey had merely thrown them, withoutthe least regard 
to care or deeene\-, into the trenches and ditches about the fort, or the little hollows 
and raviuiis on the hillside, covering them but partially with earth. Portions of heads 
and faces, hands and feet wero. found protruding through the earth in every direction, 
and even v/hen your committee visited the spot, two weeks afterwards, although par- 
ties of men had been sent on there from time to time to bury the bodies unburied and 
rebury tiie others, and were even then engaged in the same work, we found the evi- 
dences of this murder and cruelty still most painfully apparent. 

'• We saw bodies still unburied at some distance from the fort, of some sick men who 
had been met fleeing from the liospital, and beaten down and brutally murdered, and 
their bodies left where they had fallen. We could see the faces and hands and feet 
of men, white and black, protruding out of the ground, whose graves had not been 
reached by those engaged in reinterring the victims of the massacre, and although a great 
deal of rain had fallen within the preceding two weeks, the ground, more especially on 
the side and at tlie foot of tlie bhuT, where the most of tlie murders had been committed, 
was still discolored b}* the blood of our brave but unfortunate men ; and the logs and 
trees showed but too plainly the evidences of the atrocities perpetrated there. 

" Many other instances of equally atrocious cruelty miglit be enumerated. But your 
committee feel compelled to refrain from giving here more of the heart-sickening details, 
and refer to the statements contained in the voluminous testimony herewitli submitted. 
Those statements were obtained by them fron> eye-witnesses and sufferers. Many of 
them, as they were examined by your committee, were lying upon beds of pain and suf- 
fering, some so feeble that tlieir lips could with ditiiculty frame the words by which 
they endeavored to convey some idea of the cruelties which had been inflicted on them 
and wliich they had seen inflicted on others. 

" In reference to the fate of Major Bradford, who was in command of the fort when it 
"was captured, and who had up to that time received no injury, there seems to be no 
doubt. The sjeneral understanding everywhere seemed to be that he had been brutally 
murdered the day after lie was taken prisoner. 

'•Itow many of our troops thus fell victims to the ma'.ignity and barbarity of Forrest 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOlSr. 567 

and his followers cannot be definitely ascertained. Two officers belonging to the gar- 
rison were absent at the time of the capture and massacre of the remaining officers ; but 
two are Icnown to be living, and they are wounded and now in the hosijital at Mound 
City. One of them, Captain Porter, may even now be dead, as the surgeons, when 
your committee M'ere tliere, expressed no hope of his recovery. Of tlie men, from three 
hundred to four hundred are Ivnowu to liavo been killed at Fort Pillow, of whom at 
least throe hundred were murdered in cold blood after the fort was in i^ossession 
of the rebels and our men had thrown down their arms and ceased to offer resistance. 
Of the survivmg, except tlie wounded in the hospital at Mound City, and the few who 
succeeded in making their escape unhurt, nothing definite is known, and it is to be 
feared that many have been murdered after being taken away from the fort. When 
your committee arrived at Memphis, Tennessee, they found and examined a man, Mr. 
McLagan, who had been conscripted by some of Forrest's forces, but who, with other 
conscripts, had succeeded in making liis escape. He testifies that while two companies 
of rebel troops, with Major Bradford and many other prisoners, were on their march 
from Brownsville to Jackson, Tennessee, Major Bradford was taken by five rebels, one 
an officer, led about filty yards from the line of march, and deliberately murdered in 
view of all those assembled. He fell instantly killed by three musket-balls, even while 
asking that his hfe might be spared, as he liad fought them manfully and was deserving 
of a better fate. The motive for the murder of Major Bradford seems to have been 
the simple fact that, although a native of the South, he remained loyal to his Govern- 
ment." 

The rebels a<lmitted the wholesale slaughter at Fort Pillow, and, if 
ashamed to justity it, at least excuse the occurrence by quoting his- 
torical instances where garrisons have been put to the sword ; forget- 
ting that such massacres have been committed, among civilized nations 
at least, only where the besiegers have suffered heavy losses during a 
long and trying investment, and are in consequence incited to an extraor- 
dinary degree of exasperation against the garrison. No such circum- 
stances attended the present case. Fortunately for the reputation of 
the country and of American civilization, no similar massacre is to be 
recorded in the subsequent history of the war. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

Co-operative Movement on Atlanta. — Size and Organization of the Union and Rebel 
Armies. — Commencement of the Campaign by Sherman. — Evacuation of Dalton by 
Johnston. — Battle of Resaea and Retreat of the Rebels. — Operations at Dallas and 
Kenesaw. — Rebels Flanked and driven across the Chattahoochie. 

In the middle of JMarch, 1804, Grant, then recently appointed lieu- 
tenant-general and commander-in-chief, turned over to Shennan the 
command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, comprising the 
Departments of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Ohio. The 
latter general was succeeded by General McPherson in the command 
of the Deportment of the Tennessee. The grand concerted plan of 
the spring campaign, was then matured, the part assigned to Siierman 
being to push the enemy steadily back upon Atlanta, and if possible 
sever his communications between the Atlantic and Gulf States, while 
all the available strength in the East was to be brought to bear against 
the main rebc-1 army in Virginia, under Lee. All other movements 
of the Union forces were to be held subsidiary to these. Sherman at 



668 HISTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOlSr. 

once bent every energy to the perfecting and enlargement of the 
communications between Nashville and Cliattanooga, his primary and 
secondary bases, and to the accumulation in the latter place of such 
an amount of subsistence and military stores as would render him 
independent of Nashville, should the railroad connectic^ns between the 
two points be temporarily severed by rebel raiding forces. By the 
end of April this work was successfully accomplished, and the great 
Army of the West was prepared to move from Chattanooga at the 
precise hour, if necessary, that the Array of the Potomac should cross 
the Rapidan on its march towards Riclimond. On April 27th, Grant 
notified Sherman to be ready to move about May 5th. 

The total force under General Sherman's command, for offensive 
purposes, was as follows : — 
* 

ARMY OP THE CUMBERLAND, MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS COMMANDINa. 

Infantrj' 54,568 

Artillery ; 2,377 

. Cavalry 3,828 

Total 60,773 

,^ Guns 130 

ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE, MAJOR-GENERAL M'PHERSON COMMANDING. 

Infantry 22, 137 

Artillery 1,404 

Cavalry 624 

Total 24,465 

Guns 96 

ARMY OF THE OHIO, MAJOR-GENERAL SCUOFIELD COMMANDING. 

Infantry 11,183 

Artillery 679 

Cavalry 1,679 

Total 1 3, 541 

Guns 28 

Making a grand aggregate of eighty-eight thousand one hundred and 
eighty'eight infantry, four thousand four hundred and sixty artillery, 
and six thousand one hundred and forty-nine cavalry, or ninety-eight 
thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven men, and two hundred and 
fifty-four gnns. The Army of the Cumberland comprised the Fourth 
Corps, General Howard, the Fourteenth Corps, General Palmer, and 
the Twentieth Corps, General Hooker; the Army of the Tennessee, 
the Fifteenth Corps, General Logan, the Sixteenth Corps, General 
Dodge, and, later in the campaign, the Seventeenth Corps, General 
Blair ; and the Army of the Ohio, the Twenty-third Corps, General 
Schofield. These several armies in the beginning of May lay a few 
miles south of Chattanooga, in supporting distance of each oiher. 

The rebel army, comprising the corps of Hardee, Polk, and Hood, 
and the cavalry division of Wheeler, was under the command of 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 569 

Lieutenant-General J. E. Johnston, whose reputation as a commander 
in the Confederacy was second only to that of Lee. It numbered 
about fifty thousand infantry and artillery, and ten thousand cavalry, 
of whom much the greater part were veteran troops, and lay in and 
about Dalton, on the railroad connecting Chattanooga with Atlanta, 
the advance being at Tunnel Hill, a station thirty miles south of 
Chattanooga. Directly south of Tunnel Hill is a level valley, three 
miles in length and about three-quarters of a mile wide, bounded at 
its southern extremity by a rugged mountain i-ange, known as Rocky 
Faced Ridge, which dominates the valley, and is succeeded by a 
narrow defile called Buzzard's Roost, still farther to the south, through 
which passes the railroad. Immediately south of Buzzard's Roost 
is Dalton. This defile had been rendered nearly imjiregnable to an 
army advancing directly upon Dalton from the north, and the moim- 
taius so enveloped the latter place that to attack an enemy posted 
there in any other direction than from the front, a wide detour was 
nece>sary. A brief reconnoissance satisfied Sherman that Johnston 
could only be dislodged by a flanking movement to the right. Thomas 
was therefoie directed to amuse the enemy in front of Buzzard's 
Roost, while McPherson, with the Army of the Teryiessee, moved 
rapidly south through Snake Creek Gap and seized Resaca, a station 
on the railroad, eighteen miles below Dalton. Should this manceuvre 
be successfully executed, the rebel army would be attacked in flank 
and rear, and its retreat upon its base, Atlanta, eflectually cut ofi". 
The superior strength of Sherman gave him opportunities for move- 
ments of this nature, of which we shall see that he frequently availed 
himself. 

On the 7th of May, Thomas occupied Tunnel Hill with little re- 
sistance, pushing the enemy's cavalry well into the defile below, and 
on the succeeding day, demonstrated with great activity against John- 
ston's po-ition, while McPherson, on the 8th, surprised ,the enemy at 
Snake Creek Gap. On the 9th, Thomas renewed his demonstration 
on Buzzard's Roost, and a portion of the Fourth Corps, Howard's, 
carried Rocky Faced Ridge. These movements, though unavailable 
to force the strong position of the enemy, occupied him in front and 
enabled McPherson to march within a mile of Resaca, which he found 
too strong to be carried by assault. Accordingly he fell back upon 
Snake Creek Gap to await the arrival of the main army. On the 10th, 
Thomas was ordered to ^end Hooker's Corps to Snake Creek Gap in 
support of McPherson, and to follow with another corps, the Four- 
teenth, Palmer's, leaving Howard with the Fourth Corps to continue 
to threaten Dalton m front, while the rest of the army moved rapidly 
through Snake Creek Gap. On the same day, Schotield was ordered 
to foUovf by the same route, and on the 11th ihe whole army, except- 
ing Howard's Corps, and some cavalry left to watch Dalton, was in 
motion on the west side of Rocky Faced Ridge for Snake Creek Gap 
and Resaca. The next day the army moved against Resaca, McPher- 
son on the direct road, preceded by Kilpatrick's Cavalry; Thomas to 
come up on his left, and Schofield on his. Kilpatrick, while moving 
in the advance, was disabled by a wound received in a cavalry skir- 



570 HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOTT. 

mish. McPherson drove in tlie enemy's pickets near Resaca on the 
13tb, ami occupied a range of hills in front of the town, with his right 
on the Oostananla River. Thomas on his left faced Camp Creek, a 
small affluent of the Oostananla, and Schofield took a position on 
Thomas's left. The enemy, under Johnston, rjieantime fell back from 
Dallon, Howard pressing his rear, to a strong position behind Camp 
Creek, and, on May 14th, occupied the defensive works at Resaca, 
with his right on some high chestnut hills to the north of the town. 

The enemy lay here behind a line of rifle-pits and earthworks, 
which they had thrown across the peninsula formed by the Coosa- 
waltie and Conasauga Rivers, v/hich unite near Resaca to form the Oos- 
tananla. Ilardoe held their riglit, Polk the left, and Hood the centre. 
On the 14th of May, Sherman vainly operated to tnrn the flank of the 
enemy in or^ier to prevent their retreat. A vigorous attempt by Palmer 
on the left centre to carry tlie position in his front resulted in a repulse, 
wit*h the loss of seven hundred and fifty-five men. A similar attack 
on the left by a column composed of Judah's Division of Schofield'a 
Corps and Newton's Division of Howard's Corps, assisted finally by 
Cox's Dis'ision of Schofield's Corps, resulted in driving the enemy from 
an outer line of lifle-pits. The fire was kept \\p until the clo^e of day, 
when the enem}^, having massed a strong column, fell suddenly upon 
Stanley's Division of the Fourth Corps, driving it in confusion from 
the hiUjWhere it had been ])Osted. The division was saved from rout 
by the arrival of Hooker's Corps, which had been ordered round from 
the right centre to support the left wing. Meanwhile, McPherson 
on the right, taking advantage of the enemy's occupation with this 
movement, sent Logan's Cor|)S across Camp Creek, where it carried 
a line of rifle-pits in a position which afforded an enfilading fire upon 
the rebel works. The approaching night put a stop to active opera- 
tions, and both parties proceeded to strengthen their positions. 

On the morning of May loth, heavy skirmishing began on our 
centre an<;l left centi-e, under cover of which our troops were formed 
on the left fur an attack upon the extreme right of the enemy's line, 
where an attempt was to be made to secure possession of two fortified 
hills which co;iimanded each other, compelling a simultaneous attack 
on both. Hooker directed Buttertield's Division to assault, supported 
by the divisions of Geary and Williams. Forming imder cover of a 
ravine in the forest, our troops advanced, covered by heavy skii-mish- 
ing along the whole line of the army, and a heavy artillery fire, taking 
the enemy at first by surprise, and carrying every thing before them, 
until, with the help of their supports, they secured a lodgment in 
front of one of the enemy's strongest positions. Here they found 
shelter from fire, while the light and left flanks of the work were 
raked by our fire and their guns silenced. At about four p. M. an as- 
sault was made on our new position by Hood's Corps, which was 
repulsed with heavy slaughter, and night closed with Hooker still in 
possession of the heights he had carried. On the night of the 15th, 
the enemy quietly abandoned his works and retreated towards Cal- 
houn, destroying the bridge across the Oostananla. Our total loss 
in this series of engagements M'as about eight hundred killed, and 





/rvT'lcasrait 












Ulij ay 




572 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

something over four thousand -woundetl, of whom some two tlioiisfind 
were so slightly injured that they were fit for duty in two or three 
"weeks. Our captures amounted to one thousand. Besides these, 
eight guns were captured, four of them fine twelve-pounders. The 
rebel loss was about two thousand five hundred. 

The army followed in pursuit, on the morning of the IGth, Tiiomas 
by the direct road, McPherson by Lay's Ferry, and Schofield to the 
left. The cavalry, under McCook and Stoneman, starteil in advance of 
tlie infantry. Hooker crossed the river on pontoons near liesaci'i, and 
Schofield in tlie same way near Pelton, farther to the left. The re- 
mainder of our army was afterwards thrown across, and on Wednesday, 
the 18th, Sherman reached Kingston, twenty-five miles by rail beyond 
Resaca. IMeanwhile, Rome was occupied by Davis's Division of the 
Fourteenth Corps. A large amount of provisions and seven fine iron 
works and machine-shops Avere secured at Rome, where every thing 
appears to have been left undisturbed by the rebels. On Monday 
evening, the J 0th, there Avas some slight skirmishing Avith tlie rebel 
rear-guard. On TuesJay, the 17th, our centre reached and passed 
Calhoun — the capital of Gordon County, eighty miles nortliAVcst of 
Atlanta, and sixty miles beyond Chattanooga. Three miles beyond 
here, a brisk little fight occurred, the rebels having occupied Avith their 
sharpshooters an octagon cement building, called the " Graves House." 
After a fight of two hours, the skirmishers of Newton's Division of 
HoAvard's Corps (Fourth), aided by artillery, succeeded in dislodging 
the enemy. Early Wednesday morning (I8th), the army Avas again 
upon the nuirch, the Fourth Corps leading the Avay, and before night 
our troops occupied Kingston. The Twentieth and TAVcnty-third 
Army Corps advanced on the left by Avay of Crossville, skirmishing 
heavily by the Avay. The army here had a fcAV days' rest, Avhile sup- 
plies Avere accumulating for a new forward movement. The enemy, 
meanAvhile, on the 19th, crossed the EtoAvah, burning the road and 
railroad bridges near Cartersville, and fell back upon Allatoona Pass, 
in the EtoAvah ^Mountains, a position of vast natural strength, and almost 
impregnable against a direct advance on Atlanta by railroad. 

Sherman, who had previously ordered away the newsi)aper reporters, 
noAV issued the following circular, Avhich explains its own object, and 
also the evil Avhich the previous order had been intended to remedy : — 

" Head-Quarters Military Division of the Mississippi, ) 
" Kingston', Ga., Maij "JO, 1SG4. f 

"Inasmuch as an impression is afloat that the Commaudiiij,' General has prohibited 
the mails to ami from tlie army, lie takes this method of assuring all officers and men 
that, on the contrary, he encourages them, by all his iufluenco and authority, to keep 
up the most unreserved correspondence -vvilh their families and friends. Wherever 
they may be, army corps and division commanders should perfect tlie arrangements to 
receiA'O and transmit maUs ; and all chaplains, stafl" olficers, and captains of companies 
should assist the soldiers in communicating with their families. 

'• What the Commanding General docs discourage, is the existence of that class of 
men who will not lake a musket and light, but who tbllow an aimy to pick up news for 
sale, speculating on a species of information which is dangerous to the army and to our 
cause, and wlio are more used to bolster up idle and wortlilcss officers than to notice 
tlie hard-working and meritorious, whose modesty is generally equal to their courage, 
and who scorn to seek the llattery of the press. 

"W. T. SuERiiAN, Major- General." 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOlSr. 573 

Anticipating that the enemy would make a stand at Allatonna Pass 
with every chance of success, Sherman resolved to turn it, and for that 
purpose made full pre])arations for a flank movement to the right. 
Accordingly, on May 23d, the army was put in motion in a direction 
almost due south, Allatoona being more to the east. McPherson 
crossed the Etowah at the mouth of Conasene Creek, near Kingston, 
and moved for his position to the south of Dallas via Van Wert. 
Davis's Division moved directly from Rome for Dallas by Van Wert. 
Thomas took the road via Euharlee and Burnt Hickory, while Schofield 
moved by other roads more to the east, aiming to come up on General 
Thomas's left. Thomas's head of column skirmished with the enemy's 
cavalry about Burnt Hickory, and captured a courier with a letter 
written by Johnston, showing he had detected the move and was pre- 
paring to meet Sherman about Dallas. 

On the 25th May, Thomas was moving from Burnt Hickory for 
Dallas, his troops on three roads. Hooker having the advance. AVhen 
he approached the Pumpkin Vine Creek, on the main Dallas road, he 
encountered the enemy's cavalry at a bridge to his left. He rapidly 
pushed them across the creek, saving the bridge, and followed out 
eastward about two miles, where he encountered the enemy's line of 
battle, and his leading division, Geary's, had a severe combat. It was 
near 4 o'clock p. m. before Hooker got his whole corps well in hand, 
when he made a bold push to secure possession of a point known as 
the "New Hope" Church, where three roads meet from Acworth, 
Marietta, and Dallas, Here he suffered a repulse, Avith a total loss of 
six hundred. On the 20th the enemy was discovered well intrenched 
in front of the road leading from Dallas to Marietta. Accordingly, 
McPherson was moved up to Dallas, Thomas was deployed against 
New Ho])e Church, and Schofield was directed towards our left, so as 
to strike and turn the enemy's right. Garrard's CaA'alry operated with 
McPherson, and Stoneman Avith Schofield. McCook looked to our 
rear. In consequence of the difficult^nature of the groiind, these move- 
ments required several days. On the 28th, the enemy, taking advan- 
tage of McPherson's closing on Thomas to his left, assaulted him with 
great vigor, but the Federal troops, being behind breastworks, repulsed 
hira A\ ith ease and with comparatively httle loss. That of the rebels 
exceeded two thousand. 

Johnston hail selected a position of great natural strength near his 
base of supplies — with a rail and three excellent wagon-roads for his 
lines of supply — had recruited his army by all the available troops in 
his department, and was evidently anxious that Slierman would risk a 
general engagement, and in his present position he would have received 
battle if it^'had been oflered. A battle would have involved the whole 
of both armies. It might have been successful on our part; but the 
cost of life and limb would have been immense. Slierman might have 
achieved a victory ; but he must in all probability have come out of 
the conflict with a' shattered, crip])led, weakened army. He might be 
unable for weeks to resume oflfensive operations. Then, again, the de- 
fensive line extending from Dallas northeast to Lost Mountain was not 
only the best, but almost the only militai-y position of any great natural 



574 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

strengtli north of the Chattahoocliee River. If dislodged from that, 
Jolinston would be compelled to fall back of that I'ivor, or fight upon 
more equal ground. Such being the situation, General Sherman deter- 
mined not to attack Johnston in his intrebchments, and to force him 
to abandon tliem. 

It being determined to change position so as to force Johnston into 
the field, after a i'ew days' delay, Sherman renewed orders to McPher- 
son to move to his left about five miles and occupy Thomas's .position 
in front of New Hope Church, and Tliomas and Schofield were ordered 
to move a corresponding distance to their left. This move was effected 
with ease and safety on the 1st of June, and by pusliing the left well 
around, Slierman occupied all the roads leading back to AUatoona and 
Acworth, after which he pushed Stoneman's Cavalry rapidly isito AUa- 
toona, at the east end of the Pass, and Garrard's Cavalry around by 
the rear to the west end of the Pass. Both of these commands reached 
the points designated without trouble, and we thereby accomplished 
the real purpose of turning the AUatoona Pass. Our line was about 
seven miles in length. The extreme right, held by the Army of the 
Tennessee, was the longest relatively, and the weakest. 

Contemporaneous with the withdrawal of the right wing, or imme- 
diately after its discovery, the rebels changed the position of their left, 
Hardee's Corps being moved to the centre. About midnight of .Tune 
4th, General Logan received information that the enemy in his fi'ont 
"were evacuating their works and moving in some direction. The night 
w^as rainy and very dark. Logan gave orders to advance his skirmish- 
ers so soon as it should be light enough to move. The line- moved 
about four, and found the works in the front of his corps entirely aban- 
doned and his whole force withdrawn, save a few pickets, who were 
captured. Johnston was too shrewd to be cut off from his base, and 
on the 4th, discovering the Union troops moving round his right flank, 
he abandoned his position, and moved eastward to the railroad, to 
cover Marietta. , 

On the 6th the Army of the Tennessee marched at daylight to Ac- 
W'orth, on the railroad, some fifteen or sixteen miles northwest of 
Marietta by rail, and two-thirds that distance on a straight line. Thus 
Johnston was again obliged by General Sherman's strategy to abandon 
a strong-position, and move out of his carefully and thoi'oughly prepared 
fortifications. Sherman, having examined AUatoona Pass, resolved to 
make it a secondary base. 

Here, on the 7th, was Sherman, in sight of the enemy's signal stations 
at Lost Mountain — on the direct road from Dallas to Marietta, seven 
miles from the latter place — and Kenesaw Mountain, ten miles from 
Lost Mountain, a little east of north fi'oni it, on the railroad. These 
two points were the right and left of the enemy's position, their army 
stretching along the hills between the two. They are detached peaks, 
overlooking the plain beyond, and connected by a ridge, or series of 
low hills. Kenesaw Mountain, the Luger of the two, rises to an eleva- 
tion of one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight feet above the 
sea-level, extending some nine hundred yards on its summit from north- 
east to southv/est. It is situated two and one-half miles northwest of 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



575 



Marietta, and directly upon the line of the railroad, which here makes 
a bead to the east, to escape the mountain. Lost Mountain, Avhose 
isolated situation explains its name, lies some miles west of soutliwest 
of Marietta, directly north of the raih'oad running from that place to 
Dallas. Between Kenesaw and Lost Mountain, and half a mile to the 
north, is Pine ]Mou;itain, a lesser elevation, constituting- the apex of a 
triangle, of Vvdiicli the other two may be said to ibrm the base. The 
three hills and their connecting ridges w-ere fortiiied, and afforded an 
admirable defensive position against an attacking army. 

On the 9th of June the arniy was once more put in motion for At- 
lanta. By means of the railroad, which was kept in good running 
order from Chattanooga to the front, supplies of all kinds had come 
forward in abimdance, and on the 8th the Seventeenth Army Corps, 
General Blair, reached Acworth, and was incorporated with the Army 
of the Tennessee. It compensated for Union losses in battle and for 
garrisons left at Rome, Kingston, and elsewhere, and Sherman was 
enabled to renew the attack upon his wary adversary with as strong a 
foi'ce as at the commencement of the campaign. The order of advance 
was now somewhat ditferent from that previously observed during the 
campaign, McPherson being shifted to the left wing and Schotield to 
the right, while Thomas still held the centre. McPherson was ordered 
to move towards Marietta, his right on the railroad, Thomas on Kene- 
saw and Pine Mountains, and Schofield off towards Lost Mountain ; 
Garrard's Cavalry being on the left, Stoneman's on the right, while 
McCook looked to our rear and communications. Our depot was at 
Big Shanty. 

By the 11th of June our lines were close up, and dispositions were 
made to break the line between Kenesaw and Pine Mountains. Hooker 
Avas on its right and front, Howard on its left and front, and Palmer be- 
tween it and the railroad. During a sharp cannonading from Howard's 
right or Hooker's left, the rebel general Polk* w^as killed on the 14th, 
and on the morning of the 15th Pine Mountain was found abandoned by 
the enemy. Thomas and Schofield advanced, and found him again 
strongly intrenched along the line of rugged hills connecting Kenesaw 
and Lost Motmtain, At the same time McPherson advanced his line, 
gaining substantial advantages on the left. Pushing our operations on 
the centre as vigorously as the nature of the ground would permit, an 
assault was ordered on the centre. On the 17th, tlie enemy abandoned 
Lost Mountain and the long line of admirable breastworks connecting it 



* Lennidas Pulk was burn in Ealcipli. North 
Carolina, in 1&06, and graduated at West Point in 
1S2T, hat resigned his coniuiission in the artnj- in 
the same year, in order to study for the ministry. 
In 1S30 he vas ordained .1 deacon of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church; in ISoS ho was consecrated 
Missionary Bishop of Arkansas and the Indian 
Territory south of 36° 30', and in 1S41 he became 
Bishop of Louifiana. lie embraced with ardor 
the doctrines of secession, was commissioned a 
major-general in the rebel army, and until the 
spring of 1S6'2 held command in Tennessee and 
Kentucky. He commanded a division at Shiloh, 
and, during the siege of Corinth, participated in 
Bracg's invasion of Kentucky in tlie autumn of 
1862, and distinguished himself at the hard-fought 



battle of Murfreesboro'. For alleged disobedience 
of orders at the battle of Chiekamauga, wliereby, 
according to General lir:vj:'. the Uni<in army was 
alone saved from annihilation, he was placed 
under temporary arrest. In the early part of 
lS(i4 he regained liis jirestiife by skilful disiiosi- 
tions to prevent the junction of Shi-rman and 
Smith in Mississippi, and in consequence wa3 
appointed to command a corps iu Johnston's 
army. lie was killed by a cannon-shot while 
reconnoitring on Pine Mountain. At the time 
of bis death he held the rank of lieutenant-gen- 
eral in the rebel service. He never resigned his 
diocese, and intended, at the close of the war, to 
resume his episcopal functions. 



576 HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

■with Kcnesaw, to prevent being flanked by Scliofield, who had wheeled 
around Pine Knob, and wa<^ pressing along the Dallas and Marietta road. 
An additional motive for this movement was found in the fact that while 
our forces had been so successfully at work upon their centre and left, 
McPherson on our left had put them in a dangerous position on their 
right, pressing it on that flank beyond Big Shanty an(i Brush Moun- 
tain. Sherman continued to press at all points, skirmishing in dense 
forests of timber and across most difficult ravines, until the enemy 
was found again strongly posted and intrenched, with Kenesaw as his 
salient, his right wing thrown back to cover Marietta, and his left behind 
Nose's Creek, covering his railroad back to the Chattahoochee. This 
enabled him to contract his lines and strengthen them accordingly. 

Our right, meanwhile, forced its way across and two miles beyond 
Nose's Creek, on the Dalton and Marietta road. This creek it had 
been found impossible to cross before, because of the swollen condition 
of the stream. The stream was to be crossed by a bridge, close beyond 
which the rebels liad a heavy line of skirmishers to repel any attempt 
to cross. In the face of a raking fire of musketry, four regiments 
charged over the bridge at a double-quick, driving the enemy before 
them, and making way for our advance forces. No serious opposition 
appears, however, to have been made to this advance, the rebel left 
being already refused. Their position in front of our right to the 
northeast remained at this time unchanged, their troops resting there 
behind strong works. Our centre had worked up the base of Kene- 
saw ]\Iountain, and had carried some knobs west of the mountain, thus 
securing a position for an annoying enfilading fire upon the mountain. 
These points, which had been lost by the enemy through negligence, 
were held by our troops so firmly that all efforts to dislodge them 
were in vain. 

Kenesaw Mountain is made up of two elevations, joined almost at 
their summits, one being about eight hundred feet high and the other 
about one hundred feet higher. Looking at them from the north 
side, they have the appearance of two immense mounds, surrounded 
at the base by gentle irregularities of surface adapted to eveiy depart- 
ment of agricultui-al labor. The outline of the mountain rises on the 
east side rather gradually, describing almost a half circle, thence fall- 
ing upon the west, about two hundred feet. The other portion joins 
the first and rises to a still greater height, and being a trifle more 
irregular. On the west side it then loses itself somewhat abruj)tly in 
a small valley beyond, by which the country is deprived of a moun- 
tainous character. The base of the Kenesaw is about four miles from 
east to west, drawing a straight line, and in breadth is about one mile. 
Its sides are covered with thick forests, brush, and rock and bowlders 
of various dimensions. It Avould be impossible to take it in front. 
The defences of the mountain consisted of a line of works on the 
summit, upon which were erected several batteries. Upon the sides, 
single guns Avere located at commanding points. The flanks of the 
mountain were held by heavy bodies of infantry and artillery, and its 
rear was protected in a similar manner. 

It was no longer possible for our wings to make a further advance 



niSTORT or TILE GEEAT KEBELLIOK. 577 

without cutting themselves loose from the centre, whose furtlicr prog- 
ress was staj-fd hy the formidable defences of Kenesasv Mountain, 
the enemy on which was watched by McPherson, working his left 
forward, while Thomas was swinging as it were on a grand left wheel, 
his left on Kenesaw, connecting witli General McPherson, and General 
Schofield'was all the time working to the south and east along the old 
Sandtowu road. 

On the 22d, as Hooker had advanced his line, with SchoSeld on his 
right, the enemy, Hood's Corps, with detachments from the others, 
suddenly sallied and attacked. The blow fell mostly on "Wilhams's 
Division of Hooker's Corps, and a brigade of Hascall's Division of 
Schofield's army. The enemy was badly repulsed. This was the 
affair of " Kulp's house." It was now that Sherman, smarting under 
the imputation that he would not attack fortified lines, but depended 
upon overwhelming numbers to outflank, determined to risk an attack. 
Accordingly, on June 24th, he issued orders for an attack to take 
place June 27th. The general point selected Avas the left centre; 
because, if a strong column could be pushed through at that point 
boldly and rapidly two and one-half miles, it would reach the raih-oad 
below Marietta, cut off the enemy's right and centre from its line of 
retreat, and then either part could be overwhelmed and destroyed. 

Accordingly at the appointed time the Seventeenth Corps (Blair's) 
circled the eastern point of the mountaiu and threatened the enemy's 
right. The Sixteenth Corps (Dodge's), next on the right, assaulted 
the heights on the northern slo])e of the mountain ; the Fifteenth 
(Logan's) the western slope of the mountain. On the centre, Davis's 
Division of the Fourteenth Corps and Newton's of the Fourth consti- 
tuted the assaulting column, supported on the right by Geary and But- 
terfield of Hooker's Corps. On the extreme right of our line was 
stationed Schofield, who moved forward his whole force, driving the 
enemy from a line of light works. The position to be attempted 
offered but a desperate chance of success. On the summit of the 
rugged mountain peak, covered Avith a dense growth of underbrush, 
the enemy had stationed a battery of twelve guns, from which they 
maintained a withering cross-fire on our ti'oops engaged in forcing a 
passage up the steep sides of the mountain, and over the abatis and 
rifle-pits behind which the enemy lay sheltered. The utmost efforts 
of the men could not avoid a repulse. * The Union loss, as reported by 
Logan, was three tliousand five hundred and twenty-one. Generals 
Harker and McCook were among the slain. 

General Sherman did not rest long under this failure, and Schofield 
was ordered to press strongly on the left, while, on July 1st, McPher- 
son, being relieved by Garrard's Cavalry in front of Kenesaw, moved 
with his whole army by the right, threatening Nickajack Creek and 
Turner's Ferry on the Chattahoochee. Stoneman was sent to the river 
below Turner's. The result was ihe rctieat of the enemy on the night 
of July 2d. At half-past eight a. m., July 3il, Sherman entered Mari- 
etta. Logan's Corps of General McPherson's army, which had not 
moved far, was oi'dered back into Marietta by the main road, and Mc- 
Pherson and Schofield were instructed to cross Nickajack and attack 
37 



578 HISTOKY OF TIIE GKEAT EECELLIOX. 

the cnciiiT in flank and roar, and, if possible, to catch l)ini in the con- 
fiision of crossing the Chattahoochee; bnt Johnston had foreseen and 
provided against all tliis, and had covered his movement well. He 
had intrenclied a strong tCfe de 2>ont at the Chattahoochee, with an 
advanced intrenched line across the road at Smyrna canip-meetiiig 
ground, five miles from ]\tarietta. 

^ Here Tlionias fonnd him, his front covered by a good parapet, and 
his flank behind the Xickajack and Rotten wood Creeks. Ordering a 
garrison for Marietta, and Logan to join his own army near the mouth 
of Xickajack, Sherman overtook Thomas at Smyrna. On the 4th of 
July he pnslied a strong skirmish line down the main ro.ad, capturing 
the entire line of the enemy's pits, and made strong demonstrations 
along Xickajack Creek and about Turner's Ferry. This bad the de- 
sired ell'ect, and the next morning the enemy was gone, and the army 
moved to the Cliattahooehee. Thomas's left llank restiiii; on it near 
Paice's Ferry, ]\IcPherson's right at the mouth of Xiekajack, and Scho- 
field in reserve. The enemy lay behind a line of mnisnal strength, cov- 
ering the i-ailroad and pontoon bridges, and beyond the Chattahoo- 
chee. 

The operations of Gencr.al Sherman liad boon greatly harassed by 
the ntovements of guerrillas, an<l on his arrival in the neighborhood 
of Marietta he issued the folloA\'ing letter to the people of Tennessee and 
Georgia, living within the linjits of the Department of tlie Cumber- 
land, for their hiformation, as expressing the sentiments of the depart- 
ment commander : — 

" HE-vn-QrARTKiis Mu-itary Division" of the 
" Mississtrn, in the Fieij), 1>ig Shaxi 
••Geokgia, June 21, ISQi. 
"General PrKBRlDGE. Commanding: Division of Keutncky: 

"General: — The recent raid of Morgan, ami tlie concurrent acts of men gtyling 
themselves Confederate partisans or guerrillas, calls for determined action on our part. 

'• Even on the Southern ' State Rights ' theory, Kentucky lias not seceded. Her 
people, by their vote and their actions, have adhered to their allogimce to the National 
Government^ and the South would now coerce her oi:t of the Union and into theirs bj 
tho very dogma of 'coercion' upon which so much stress was laid at the outset of 
the war, and which carried into rebellion the people of tho Middle or Border Slave 
States. 

" But politics aside, these acts of the so-called partisans or guerrillas are nothing but 
simple murder, horse-stealing, arson, and other well-delined crimes, whicli do not 
sound a.s well under their true names as more agreeable ones of warlike meaning. 

" Now, before starting on this campaign. I torcsaw it, and you remember, tliat this 
very ca^^e would arise, and I asked Governor Bramlette to at onoo organize in each 
county a small, trustworthy band, under the sheriQ". and at one dasli arrest every mau 
in the community who was dangerous to it ; and also every follow hanging about tlie 
towns, villages, and cross-roads who had no honest calling, the material out of which 
guerrillas are made up ; but this sweeping exhibition of power doubtless seemed to 
the Governor rather arbitrary. 

" The fact is. in our country personal Uberty has been so well secured that public safetij 
is lost sight of in our laws and institutions, and the fact is, we are thrown back one 
hundred years in civilization, law. and every thing else, and will go right straight to 
anarchy .ind the dovii if somebody don't arrest our downwarxi progress. 

" We, the military, must do it, and we have right and law on our side. All govern- 
ments and communities have a right to guard against real and even supposed danger. 
The whole people of Kentucky must not be kept in a state of suspense and real dan- 
ger, lest a few innocent men should be wrongfully accused. 



' THE ) 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 579 

^. 

"1. Yon may order all your post and district commanders that guerrillas are not 
Boldiers, but wild beasts, unknown to the usages of war. To be recognized as sol- 
diers, they must be enHsted, enrolled, officered, uniformed, armed, and equipped, by 
recognized belligerent power, and must, if detailed from a main army, be of sufficient 
strength, with written orders from some army commander to do some military thing. 
Of course we have recognized tho Confederate Government as a belligerent power, but 
deny their right to our lands, territories, rivers, coasts, and nationality — admitting the 
right to rebel and move to some other country, whore laws and customs are more in 
accordance with their own ideas and prejudices. 

"2. The civil power being insuEQcient to protect life and property, exmcesslMcrei, to 
prevent anarchy, ' which nature abhors,' the military steps in, and is rightful, consti- 
tutional, and lawful. Under this law everybody can be made to ' stay at home and 
mind his and her own business,' and, if they won't do that, can be sent away, where 
they must keep their honest neighbors in fear of danger, robbery, and insult. 

" Your military commanders, provost-mar.shals, and otiier agents may arrest all males 
and females who have encouraged or harbored guerrillas and robbers, and you may 
cause them to be collected in Louisville, and when you have enough — say three or four 
hundred — I will cause them to be sent down the Mississippi through their guerrilla 
gauntlet, and by a sailing-ship send tiiem to a land where they may take their negroes 
and make a colony, with laws and a future ol their own. If they won't live in peace 
in such a garden as Kentucky, why, we will send them to another if not a better land, 
and surely tlus would be a kindness to them, and a God's blessing to Kentucky. 

" I wish you to be careful that no personalities are mixed up in this, nor does a full 
and generous 'love of country,' 'of the South,' of their State or country, form a 
cause of banishment, but that devilish spirit which wUl not be satisfied, and that 
makes war the pretext of murder, arson, theft in all its grades, perjury and all the 
crimes of human nature. 

" My own preference was, and is, tliat the civil authorities in Kentucky would and 
could do tills in that State; but, if they will not, or cannot, then we must, for it must 
be done. There must bo an 'end to strife,' and the honest, industrious people of 
Kentucky, and the whole world, will be benefited and rejoiced at the conclusion, how- 
«ver arrived at. 

"I use no concealment in saymg that I do not object to men or women having what 
they call 'Southern feeling,' if confined to love of country, and of peace, honor, and 
security, and even a little family pride, but these become 'crimes' when enlarged to 
mean love of murder, of war, desolation, famine, and all the horrid attendants of 
anarchy. I am, with respect, your friend, 

"W. T. Shekmax, Major- General." 



CHAPTER LX 

The }Tew Position of the Enemy. — Johnston again Turned and Pushed Back upon 
Atlanta. — Rousseau's Raid. — Hood Succeeds .lolmston. — Investment of Atlanta. — 
Battles of July 20th and 22i — Death of McPherson. — Cavalry Raids of Stone- 
man and McCook. — Defeat and Capture of Stoneman. — Battle of July 28th. — Pro- 
longation of the Union Right Wing. — Changes of Commanders in Sherman's Army. 

The oft-recurring difficulty again presented itself to General Sher- 
man of the enemy holding a position too strong to be carried by 
assault, even with the superior force that the Union general main- 
tained in spite of the continued waste by battle and disease. The 
position could only be turned by crossing the rapid and deep Chatta- 
hoochee on bridges. It was necessary to move promptly, and Scho- 
field was ordered to cross at Soap Creek, eight miles above the rail- 
road bridge. This movement was completed July 7th, and a gim and 
some prisoners were captured. At the same time Garrard moved 



580 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 



■with Ills cavalry upon Roswell, still farther up the river, destroying 
some cloth foctories that displayed the French flag. lie was ordered 
to hold the ford at RosAvell, but was soon relieved in that duty by a 
division of Thomas, until McPherson's Corps was transfened from 
the extreme right to the extreme left. By tlie 9th three good points 
of passage had been secured over the Chattahoochee, above the rail- 
road bridge. Johnston thereupon abandoned his tcte de jjoiit on the 
night of the 9th, leaving Sherman master of the country north and 
west of Atlanta, and eight miles distant from that place. The Fed- 
eral army had now been advanced from the line of tlie Tennessee to the 
line of the Chattahoochee, and in view of the long marching and hard 
fighting to which they had been subjected, the troops were permitted 
to enjoy a few days' repose. Meantime a cavalry force under Rous- 
seau had been sent to cut the railroad at Opelika, Alabama, lead- 
ing from Georgia to Alabama and Mississippi. lie started on the 10th 
of July from Decatur, Alabama, and reached Marietta on the 23d, 
having accomplished his mission with considerable success and trifling 
loss. 

Meantime, the long retreat of Johnston having brought him to the 
south side of the Chattahoochee, and within eight miles of Atlanta, 
vehement demands were made at the South that he should be relieved 
of his command. Accordingly, on July 17th, he was succeeded by 
General Hood.* The impatience of the Southern people demanded 
more vigorous operations than those which had been conducted by 
Johnston, who, with a force considerably less than that of Sherman, 
had opposed him step by step, as he advanced from Tunnel Hill to the 
Chattahoochee, inflicting much loss, without himself sustaining any se-. 
rious disaster. The arduous task imposed upon him was oveidooked, 
and the fact only was noticed that Sherman had been enabled to press 
steadily on, until Atlanta, under the flanking process, was in danger. 
A new ofiensive policy was to be adopted under General Hood, who, 
however, was provided with no additional means to carry it out. The 
fact that Johnston's army, after sixty days' retreat, was still considered 
available for the duty to be imposed upon it, is a sufiicient proof of the 
ability of that commander. 

On the iVth of July, Sherman, having rested and recruited his array, 
resumed his forward movement. Thomas was ordered to cross at 
Powers's and Paice's Ferry bridges, and to march by Buckhead. Scho- 



* John B. Hood was born in Bath County, Ken- 
tucky, in 1S31, and graduated at West Point in 
1358. After seein? considerable service in the 
West, he resigned his commission, in April, ISGI, 
and joined the rebel army. He was appointed 
colonel of a Te.xas regiment, in September, and in 
the succeeding spring a brigadier-general, and fir 
gallantry at the battle of Gaines's Mill was pro- 
moted to be a major-general. He couiiuanded a 
division in Longstrect's Corps in the second Bnll 
Kun campaign and in the succeeding battles of 
Antietam and Fredericksburg, and at the battle 
of Gettysburg was severely wounded in the arm. 
He accompanied Longstreet to the West, in the 
autumn of 1SG3, and lost a leg at the battle of 
Chickamauga. He was now commissioned a lieu- 
tenant-general, and appointed to command one of 



the three corps of Johnston's army in Georgia. 
In July, 1S64, he superseded that general, and on 
the 20th, 22d, and 2Sth of the month had sever* 
encoui\ters with Sherman in front of Atlanta, ia 
which he suffered prodigious losses. On Septem- 
ber 1st, being flanked by Sherman, he evacuated 
AUanta and retired ujwn MeDonough. In Octo- 
ber he moved ag.ainst Sherman's communications, 
and, passing through Northern Alabama, invaded 
Tennessee in the latter part of November. After 
the hard-fought battle of Franklin, he moved upon 
Nashvill ■, in front of which place he was disas- 
trously defeated, on December Ifith and 16th, by 
Thomas, in a series of battles, which broke the 
rebel strensth in the Soutlnvest. lie rrti-cated 
into Mississipjii with the remnant of his army, and 
ia January, 1S05, waa relieved of his command. 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK. 551 

field, already across at the mouth of Soap Creek, was ordered to march 
by Cross Keys, and McPherson was to direct his coui-se from Roswell 
straight against the Augusta road at some point east of Decatur, near 
Stone Mountain. Garrard's Cavalry acted with McPherson, and Stone- 
man and McCook watched the river and roads below the railroad. 0'-\ 
the 17th, the whole army advanced from their camps, and formed a gen- 
eral line along the Old Peach-tree road. McPherson reached the Au- 
gusta Railroad on the 18th. On Tuesday, July 19th, a reconnoissancc 
was pushed forward as far as Peach-tree Creek, an insignificant stream 
rising five or six miles northwest of Atlanta, and flowing southwest- 
erly to the Chattahoochee, near the railroad bridge northwest of At- 
lanta. Behind this streani the rebels lay sheltered and awaiting our 
approach. They sought by stratagem to take General Sherman at a, 
disadvantage. But a show of opposition was made to the passage of 
Peach-tree Creek, and our whole army were soon across and in line of 
battle, the Fourteenth Corps, Palmer's, and the Twentieth, Hooker'Sj 
on the right ; Newton's Division of the Fourth Corps, Ploward's, on the 
right centre ; the Twenty-third, Schofield's, on the centre ; the Six- 
teenth, Dodge's, on the left centre; and in reserve, the Fifteenth, Lo- 
gan's, and the Seventeenth, Blair's, on the right. Our right was car- 
ried by Garrard's Cavalry Division. 

On the 20th, all the armies had closed in, converging: towards At- 
lanta ; but as a gap existed between Schofield and Thomas, two divi- 
sions of Howard's Corps of Thomas's Army were moved to the left to 
connect with Schofield, leaving Newton's Division of the same corps 
on the Buckhead road. Meantime, the main body of the enemy lay 
concealed in the woods in front, prepared to agsiui our columns Avliile 
changing position and unprepared. They hoped by massing against 
our weakened centre to break through there, dividing our army m 
twain, and leaving both wings open to attack. It was a well-laid 
scheme, and one that seems to have failed as much from fortuitous 
circumstances as from preparation on our part. At four o'clock, their 
columns emerged from the concealment of the woods, advancing with- 
out skirmishers against our lines. 

The attack took Newton by surprise, but, being behind a line of 
hastily-erected rail-piles, his men were almost instantly rallied, and 
held the enemy in check, with the assistance of twelve guns which 
they were fortunately able to get into position on the left, where the 
rebels were pressing to cut ofiT their retreat. Four guns were also now 
in position on Newton's right, where they rendered imj^ortant service. 
Almost at the instant of the attack on Newton, the advance division 
of Hooker, under Geary, was struck by the advancing columns of the 
enemy and hurled back in confusion. But they, too, ultimately rallied 
and recovered their former position, closing up the gap through which 
the enemy had entered. On Newton's right, Ward was advancing 
with his division, when the enemy were discovered charging upon 
him. With promptitude the order was given to meet the charge with 
counter-charge, the two columns mingling in battle, and the enemy being 
finally driven back. Farther to the right, next to Geary, Williams's 
Division was engaged, and suffered more or less. By nine o'clock in 



582 HISTOKY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOH". 

the evening, the enemy, thoroughly repulsed in every attack, had fallen 
back to his intrenchments, leaving many of his dead and wounded 
and a thousand prisoners in our hands. His total loss was estimated 
by Sherman at five thousand. Our loss is summed up officially as fol- 
lows : Williams's Division, six hundred and twenty-seven ; Geary's 
Division, four hundred and fifty-one ; Ward's Division, five hundred 
and tweuty-seven — total, one thousand six hundred and five. Newton's 
Division (official), one hundred and two ; Fourteenth Corps, two hun- 
dred — total loss, one thousand nine hundred and seven. 

On the night of the 21st, the day succeeding the assault, the enemy's 
line on Peach-tree Creek was drawn in and shortened, their forces 
being massed for a second assault, this time on our left wing, our right 
having defied their stubborn attempt to turn it. Though the noise of 
their movement was heard in our lines, its full meaning was not dis- 
covered, the withdrawal of the enemy from their main line of fortifica- 
tions, one and a half miles nearer Atlanta, seeming to follow legiti- 
mately from the repulse they had received on our right. But it was 
soon evident that Hood, deteiTnined on another assault, had sought, 
by retiring, to drag us on farther, that he might again attack our lines 
before they had opportunity to re-form in their new position nearer 
Atlanta. 

The first impression of General Sherman, when the lines of the ene- 
my were found to be abandoned, on the morning of the 22d, was that 
it was no longer the intention of Hood to defend Atlanta. Accordingly, 
our advancing ranks swept across the strong and well-finished parajjet 
of the enemy, and closed in upon Atlanta, until they occupied a line in 
the form of a circle of about two miles radius, where the enemy was 
again found, occupying in force a line of finished redoubts, which had 
been prepared for more than a year, covering all the^ roads leading 
into Atlanta, and busy in connecting these redoubts with curtains 
strengthened by rifle-trenches, abatis, and chevaux-de-frise. McPher- 
son, who had advanced from Decatur, continued to follow substantially 
the railroad, with the Fifteenth Corps, Logan, the Seventeenth, Blair, 
on its left, and the Sixteenth, Dodge, on its right ; but as the general 
advance of all the armies contracted the circle, the Sixteenth Corps 
was thrown out of line by the Fifteenth connecting on the right with 
Schofield, who held the centre. Meantime, McPherson, on the night of 
the 21st, had gained a high hill to the south and east of the railroad, 
whence the Seventeenth Corps had, after a severe fight, driven the 
enemy, which gave him a commanding position within easy view of 
the very heart of the city. He had thi-own out working parties to it, 
and was making preparations to occupy it in strength with batteries. 
The Sixteenth Corps, on the morning of the 22d, was ordered from 
right to left to occupy this position and make it a strong general left 
flank, and Dodge moved his men by a diagonal path or wagon track 
leading from tlie Decatur road in the direction of Blair's left flank. 

While tliis movement of Dodge was going on, the enemy, undei' 
Hardee, had issued out of Atlanta, and, making a wide cu'cuit to the 
east, enveloped Blair's left flank, and struck Dodge's column in 
motion. Blair's line was substantially along the old line of rebel 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 



583 



trench, I)ut It was fashioned to fight outward. A space of wooded 
ground of near half a mile intervened between the head of Dodge's* 
colunm and Blair's line, thruugh which the enemy had poured, and to 
fill which Wangelin's Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps was by General 
McPherson ordered across from the railroad. It came across on the 
double-quick and checked the enemy, though not in time to prevent 
the capture of Murray's Battery of regular artillery, Avhich was moving 
past, unsuspicious of danger. While Hardee attacked in flank, Stew- 
art's Corps was to attack in front, directly out of the main works, 
but fortunately these two attacks were not simultaneous. Tiie enemy 
swept across the hill which our men were then fortifying, and caj>tured 
the pioneer company, its tools, and almost the entire woiking party, 
and bore down on our left until he encountered Giles A. Smitli's Di- 
vision of the Seventeenth Corps, who was somewhat " hi air," and forced 
to fight first from one side of the o],d ntle parapet, and then from the 
other, gradually withdrawing, reginaent by i-egiment, so as to form a 
flank to General Leggett's Division, which held the ai)ex: of the hill, 
which was the only part that was deemed essential to hold. Tiie line, 
thus formed by the connection of Smith by his right "with Lcggett, was 
enabled for four hours to meet and repulse all the enemy's attacks, 
which were numerous and persistent. The obstinacy with which the 
grotmd was held discouraged ths enemy, and at four o'clock he gave 
up the attempt. In the mean time, Wheeler's Cavalry fell upon Gen- 
eral Sprague at Decatur, where the trains of the Army of the Tennes- 
see were parked. Sprague succeeded in bringing them ofl', however, 
with the exception of threa wagons. 

Meantime, McPherson,* who at ten o'clock in the morning was in 
consultation with General Sherman at head-quarters, rode to the front 
on hearing the firing, and having sent ofi'his stafi'with various orders, 



*. James B. MePhorson was horn in Sanduskv 
County, Ohio, in November, 1S2S, and gnuluateil 
ftt West Point in 18o3, joining the Engineer Corps 
as brevet seeo <l lieutenant. Until September, 
1S54, he was assistant instructor of practical en- 
gineering at the Military Academy. From that 
time till August, ISOl, he was engaged, first on 
the defences of New York nirh(n-, next in facili- 
tating the navigation of the Hudson, next in con- 
structing Fort Delaware, and finally in fortifying 
Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay. He be- 
came full second lieutenant in December. 1S54, 
and first lieutenant in December, ISoS. In August, 
ISGl, he was ordered from California to attend to 
the defences of Boston Harbor. Soon after, lie 
got his captaincy, dating from August, ISGl. la 
November, ISGl, he became aide-de-camp to Gen- 
eral Halleek, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, 
and was chief engineer of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee, under Grant, in ihe reduction of Forts 
Henry and Donelson, receiving for his service a 
nomination as brevet major of engineers, to date 
February IGth, lS6i. He was a Shiloh, and for 
services there renilered was nominated for a 
brevet colonelcy of engineers, to date April 7th, 
1302. He had. as colonel on Halleck's staff, the 
chief engineering charge of the approaches to 
Corinth, which ended in its evacuation. On tho 
15th of May, ISfri. he became brigadier-general of 
volunteers, and, the next month, superinten<led 
■with great skill all the military railroads in Gen- 
eral Grant's department, Ue was at luka, and 



again at Corinth in October. 1SC2, acting with so 
much gallantry as to be promoted to a major- 
peneralcy, to date from October 8d. From that 
time till the close of the siege of Vicksburg, when 
his engineering powers came into full |)lay, his 
career was a course of triumph. At the recom- 
mendation of General Grant, he was made a briga- 
dier-general of tha regular army, with rank dating 
from August l.n. 1S<V2. Two months later ho 
conducted a colunm into Mississippi, and repulsed 
the enemy at Canton. In February, 1SG4, he was 
second in command to Sherman, in the latter's 
famous niovalile column, which marched from 
Vicksburg to Meridian. Finally, in the first At- 
lanta campaicrn, hiscomm ■ nd was the Department 
of tlie Tennessee, ineluditig the Fifteenth, Six- 
teenth, and Seventeenth Corps, constituting the 
flanking force which, moving rapidly on one or 
the other wing, Vas employed to Ibrce the enemy- 
back to Atlanta. In some respects, the burden 
of the campaign, next under Sherman, fell on him. 
He fought at Kesaca, and the battle near Dallas 
was wh^olly his. At Allatoona and Culp Farm h« 
was again distinguished, was actively though not 
hotly engaged at Kenesaw, and on the ITth h« 
cut the line between Lee an(l Johnston by occupy- 
ing Decatur on the Augusta Railroad. Three days 
iater he fought a severe battle, from which ha 
came out only to fall, shot through the lungs, 
early in the day of Friday, July 22d, at the early- 
age of thirty- six years. 



584 HISTORY OF the great rebellion. 

the last of wliich was that to "Wangclin, to fill the gap between Dodge 
and Blair's line, turned into a narrow cross-road leading to the rear of 
Smith's Division. He had not gone fnr when a volley from the enemy, 
whose skirmish line had crept up to this road, struck him from his 
horse. He was shot through the lungs, and fell dead. General John 
A. Logan, commanding the Fifteenth Corps, then temporarily assumed 
command of the Army of the Tennessee, 

At four r. :^r., a pnuse oc(nirred in the battle, occasioned by Hood's 
massing trooj)S for an assault on the Fifteenth Corps, which held the 
right of the Army of the Tennessee behind substantial breastworks. 
At four r, :>r., while a feigned attack was maintained against tlie Union 
left, a heavy force suddenly appeared in front of the left of the Fif- 
teenth Corps, driving before it a couple of regiments of skirmishers, 
and capturing two guns. Pushing rapidly on, it forced Lightburn, 
who held this part of the line, back in disorder, taking from him a 
twenty-pounder Parrott and four guns, .and separated Wood's and 
Harrow's Divisions of the Fifteenth Corps. Sherman, being present, 
ordered some batteries of Scliofield to a position that commanded a 
flank fiie upon the enemy. The Fifteenth Corps was then ordered to 
regain the lost ground at any cost. This, .afier a desperate struggle, 
was successful, and the enemy retired with heavy loss, carrying off 
only the tvro guns originally captured. The battle terminated with a 
Federal loss of three thousand seven lumdred ami twenty-two, killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, and ten guns. The enemy's loss equalled, 
ifitdidnot exceed, twelve thousand, including over three thousand 
killed and three thousand prisoners. They also lost eighteen stands of 
colors and five thousand stands of arms. 

On the 23d, Garrard, who had been dispatched to Covington, on the 
Augusta road, forty-two miles cast of Atlanta, returneil, having suC' 
ceeded in destroying the bridges at Uleofouhatchee and Yellow Rivers, 
besides burning a train of cars, a large quantity of cotton (two thou- 
sand bales), and the depots of stores at Covington and Conycr's Station, 

Sherman nov/ addressed himself to the task of reaching the Macon 
road, over which of necessity came the stores and ammmiition that alone 
maintained the Confederate army in Atlanta. For this purpose a new 
movement by the Army of the Tennessee was ordered. It was to pro- 
ceed by the right towards East Point, a station on the Atlanta and 
IMaeou Railroad, southwest of Atlanta, while simultaneously the whole 
of the cavalry was to strike a blow at the INIacon road. The leaders 
of this raid were Stoneman and McCook, of Avhom the f:)rmer had a 
force of five thousand men, comprising his own division and that of 
Garrard, and the latter a force of four thousand, comprising his own 
troopers and the cavalry of Rousseau, just returned from Ojjelika. Stone- 
man was to move by the left around Atlanta to McDonough, and 
McCook by the right on FayettcA-ille, and both were to meet on the 
night of July 28th, on the ^laeon road, near Lovcjoy's. It was sup- 
posed that this joint force would be equal to any thing that Wheeler 
could bring against it. 

Previous to starting, Stoneman asked permission to extend his raid 
to Macon and Anderson ville, with a view of releasing the ITnioa pris- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 585 

onevs confined there. After some hesitation, Sherman consented, on 
the condition that Wheeler's Cavalry should first be put Jt,ors de combat^ 
and the railroad effectually destroyed. On the 27th the two expedi- 
tions started forth, but Stoneman almost immediately pushed for the 
neighborhood of Macon, ninety miles distant, where he arrived on the 
30th ; Garrard remaining at Flat Rock to coA-er the movement. The 
enemy appear, however, to have been fully apprised of his design, and 
had sent all the prisoners from Macon to Charleston. Meanwhile, the 
rebel General Iverson, Avho had been on Stoueman's track since the 
27th, overtook him on the 28th, at the junction of South and Yellow 
Rivers, some sixty miles northwest of Macon. A spirited fight ensued. 
Kelley's andHame's rebel cavalry fought the command that Stoneman 
detached for the purpose of delaying pursuit. Iverson suspected the 
mancBUvre, and left Kelley and Hume to finish the fight, while he passed 
around the party and continued the pursuit. Stoneman, wlien he 
neared M.icon, detached a party to operate on Milledgeviile and Ea^ 
tonton. The country around was very unfavorable for cavaliy opera- 
tions, and it was soon discovered that a brigade of rebel infantry had 
wheeled from our flank and had taken up position along the main loute, 
thus heading off Stoneman. The rebel Armstrong's Brigade of cavalry, 
comprising the First and Second Kentucky, had come down on Stone- 
man's left flank at the same time, thus, with the troops in his rear, com- 
pletely surrounding him. Here it happened, by a strange coincidence, 
that the First and Second Kentucky of Adams's Brigade were pitted 
against their rebel namesakes. 

Stonemam now discovered Iverson's command above Clinton, dis- 
puting his return. He qiuckly decided that lie could not escape on 
either flank, and determined to fight through the centre. His com- 
mand numbered nearly twenty-five hundred men, a portion of Vvhom 
were dismounted, and sent forward as skirmishers. The enemy con- 
tinued to press him more closely, and, after various fruitless attempts 
to make head against them, orders were given to the commanders of 
regiments to break through the opposing lines and escape in the 
readiest manner possible. Stoneman himself, with several hundred 
men and a section of artillery, ren^ained to occupy the attention of the 
enemy, but was finally overpowered and obliged to surrender. Of his 
three brigades, one returned uninjured, one was somewhat scattered, 
but eventually found its way back to the Union lines, and the third 
was captured with him. Garrard's Division proceeded farther than 
Covington on the Augusta Railroad. Stoneman's total loss probably 
exceeded a thousand men, with three guns. 

IMeantime, McCook with his force reached tl.e rendezvous at the ap- 
pointed time, after having burned five hundred wagons and gathered 
up several hundred prisoners. The enemy collecting aroimd him, how- 
ever, he moved to Newman upon the Atlanta and West Point road. 
He;e he v.'as hemmed in, and was obliged to drop his captures and cut 
his way out, with the loss of five hundred men. The whole exjiedition 
must be considered a costly failure, as the enemy's communications were 
only temporarily interrupted. 



586 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 



On the 26th of July, General Howard * assumed command of the Army 
of the Tennessee by order of the President, "svhile General Logan re- 
turned to his own corps, the Fifteenth. About the same time Hooker 
and Palmer were relieved, at their own request, of their commands, and 
were succeeded, the former by General Slocum and the lattyer by Gen- 
eral Jefferson C. Davis. As Slocum was then in Vicksburg, his place 
was temporarily filled by General H. S. Williams. General D. S. Stan- 
ley also succeeded Howard in command of the Fourth Corps. 

Meanwhile the army had been making a movement en echelon frova. 
left to right, by which tlje line was prolonged due south, facing east. 
The right was now held by the Army of the Tennessee, Thomas being 
in the centre and Schofield on the left. To protect the Army of the Ten- 
nessee from any sudden attack in flank while this movement was in 
progress, Davis's Division of the Fourteenth Corps was posted so as to 
be within easy supporting distance of Howard. The enemy, observing 
the movement, and perceiving that it was Sherman's intent to swing 
around so as to hold the Macon Railroad, massed his troops on the 28th 
in the same direction. A])Out noon Stewart's Corps attacked Logan, 
who had just got into position on the riglit, his corps having be€u the 
first detached from its former position on the left. At first the enemy 
was successful in his onset, his cavalry turning our flank and inflicting 
considerable loss. But, by the middle of the afternoon, the fortune of 
battle had changed, and our men, aided by hastily-built intrench- 
ments, repulsed every charge of the enemy. An advance was then 
ordered, and the enemy was forced back to his own works, leaving the 
field in our possession. The fighting was very severe till nightfill, al- 
though there was little artillery firing. Our loss was about six hun- 
dred, and the enemy's nearly five thousand. Had Davis's Division come 
up on the Bell's Ferry road, as had been looked for, at any time before 
four o'clock, what was simply a complete repulse would have been a 
disastrous rout to the enemy. 

Meanwhile there was a general advance along the line, but our 
forces were driven back, the enemy being strongly posted. The Fourth 
and Fourteenth Corps were hotly engaged, and there was heavy artil- 
lery firing in their front all day and night, and on the day succeeding. 
But night fell upon a divided field. Our right was at one time in dan- 
ger, but was handsomely rescued. 



* Olivci'Otis Howard was born in Leeds. Maine 
in 1S30, find graduated at Bowdoin College in ISSOi 
and at West Point in 1S5-1. lie, was ai>pointed in- 
structor of uiatheiiiatics at the Military Academy 
in 1S5T, but reslsrned liis commission in 1S61 to 
take coininand of a reciinent of Maine volunteers. 
He coiTiinaii(le<l a liriirude at Bull liun, and for gal- 
lant conduct in tlial battle was commissioned a 
brigadier-ireneral of volunteers. He fought at 
Williamsburg, lost an arm at Fair Oak."*, and .after 
the battle of Antietain took Sedgwi,ck"sDivision in 
Sumnor"s Corps. Karly in ISft? ho was assigned to 
the command of the KlCventh Corps, lie was pres 
ent at Chancellorsvillo and Gettysburg, and in the 
autumn accompanied bis corps to Chattanooga, 



particijiating in the vict(wy of November 25th In 
front of that place. Soon afterwards he received 
command of the Fourtli Corps, and made the cam- 
paign from Chattanooga to Atlanta. He succeeded 
McPherson as corauianiler of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee, and in the expedition from Atlanta to Sa- 
vannah hecomm.ande<l the right win , of Sherman's 
army. He also commanded a wing in tlie march 
northward from Savannah which terminated in the 
surrender of General Joseph K. Johnston and all 
the rebel forces under his command. Since tho 
eonchision of the war he lias held the office of 
Commissioner of Freedmen. He is a man of 
deep nligi')us princi[)le3, and lias been called the 
" Havclock of America," 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK". 587 



CHAPTER LXI. 

Siege of Atlanta. — Position of the City. — Topography. — Tlie Enemy's Strength. — Sher- 
man moves to the Right. — Wheeler's Raid. — Kilpatrick's Raid. — Grand Flank 
ilovement of the Army on the Macon Railroad. — Defeat of the Enemy at Jonesboro'. — 
Evacuation of Atlanta. — Congratulatory Order of General Sherman. — Truce. — De- 
population of Atlanta. — Correspondence between Sherman and Hood. — Results of 
the Campaign. 

With the affair wliich was described at the close of our last chapter, 
the enemy ceased liis efforts to prevent the extension of Sherman's right 
flank ; but every forward step of the latter was resisted with great force 
and skill. Sherman was now settled down to the siege of Atlanta, with 
little hope, however, of either taking it by assault or reducing it while 
its communications were intact. A description of the locality may not 
be here niis))laced : As seen from Stone Mountain, a vast elevation of 
granite sixteen miles northeast, Atlanta appears situated upon a large 
plain, but as the observer descends from this giddy height and travels 
in the direction of either point of the compass, his progress is obstructed 
by sharjj "pitches" and narrow "ravines," througli many of which 
flow small rivulets. To such an extent is this the cliai'acter of the sur- 
face, that scarcely an acre of level ground can be foxmd in the limits of 
the city. The soil, where there is any, is light and sandy, with a sul> 
stratum of red clay. Other portions are gravelly and sterile. The 
most of the country is still covered with a heavy growth of timber. 
This description holds good until within a few miles north of Marietta, 
twenty-one miles north of Atlanta, including Dallas, lying a little north- 
west of Marietta. 

The city is laid out in a circle, two miles in diameter, in the centre of 
which was the passenger de^jot, since destroyed by hre, from which ra- 
diate railroads to every quarter of the South. On the north side of the 
depot is a park. Opposite the three vacant sides were situated the 
three principal hotels, and in the business portion of the city were many 
fine blocks of buildings. Before the war these were mostly filled with 
consignments of goods from the large cities of the North and North- 
west for the supply of the cotton regions. But the city had become 
one vast Government storehouse, containing the machine-shops of tfee 
principal railroa<ls, the most extensive rolling mill in the South, foun- 
deries, ])istol and tent fiictories, &c., etc. In addition there Avere works 
for casting shot and shell, making gun-carriages, cartridges, caps, shoes, 
clothing, &c., &c. Encircling the city was a line of rifle-pits, nine 
miles in ^length and about thirty inches high, upon slight eminences. 
At neai'ly regular intervals there were planted twelve or fourteen bat- 
teries. The furtifications were constructed as a defence from raids, and 
for the year previous had been maimed with a small force. 

This line of works had now become very strong, and extended round 
the city, within the lines General Sherman had drawn about it. Be- 
tween the two armies stretched a narrow belt of wooded and hiUy 
ground, which was the scene of a constant series of skirmishes. The 



5SS mSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

enemy lin>l a doe'uloJ advnntago iu his fortifieations, and the greater 
faeilily ot" luovenu'iit affoidid by the interior [losiiiou. Tiie force at the 
disposal of General Hood was not, however, lari^e, and he was looking 
earnestly for re-enforeenients. The strengtli of his army was not known. 
Johnston's veterans, by his ofheial report, Jnne 'J5th, 18C-1, iiund)ered 
forty-six thousand six hundred aud twenty-eight etleetive men of all 
arms, Wheeler's Cavalry ineluded. Alter that time he received enough 
veteran troops and (leorgia militia to bring his force up to sixty-five or 
seventy thousand men, fiom which were to he deducted tlie losses in 
subsequent battles. Hood's line of battle extended from Decatur to below 
East Point, a distance of fifteen miles. General Sherman luul been re- 
enforced by eouvalcseents and some new troops, so that his preponder- 
ance remained about tlie same as at the commencement oi" the campaign. 

Sliermau now rcsoned to a further prolongation of his line to the 
southward, with a view c'f getting posses^ionof the ]Macon road. On the 
Isl of August, Schofield marched from the left, to a position below 
Utoy Creek, where he jouied on to Logan's right, and formed the right 
wing ot' tlie army. The enemy made corresponding movements. This 
process of extendhig by the right was continued from the 2d to the 5th, 
on which day Cox's Division of Schofield's Corps attacked the enemy's 
Ime a mile below Utoy, and was repulsed with the loss of four hundred 
men. On the next day Schofield advanced his whole line, in the hope 
of gaining a foothold on either the AVest Point or 31acon Ivailroad, 
but did not succeed. 

This movement convinced Slierman that the whole ami}' would re- 
quire to be moved to reach the ^lacon road. On the 10th he shelled the 
city with four-and-a-half-inch ritled guns as an experiment. On the 10th 
orders were issued for a grand tlank movement on the 18th to Fiirburn, 
on the West Point road, and thence across to the Macon road at Joncs- 
boro', twenty-two miles north of Atlanta. This marcli from Fair- 
burn to Jonesboro' would traverse tlie base of a triangle of which 
the east side is the ^lacon road and the west side the West Point Rail- 
road, both of which meet at East Point, whence they follow a common 
track six miles to Atlanta. This mananivre would cut the only two 
roails into Atlanta. The necessity of moving the whole army grew 
out of the su[)eriority of the enemy in cavalry, which was manifested 
in the failure of the Union cavalry raids. At this juncture, however. 
Hood detached Whcfler with a cavalry force to pi'oceed east and 
north and fall upon Thomas's counnunicationsat Dalton. Accordingly, 
on the 1-tth of August, Wheeler appeared before Dalton, demanding 
its surreudex", which was refused. Some damage was done to the lines, 
but sufficient protection had been provided to preserve tlieni from danger. 

Upon ascertaining this movement, Sherman supposed that the detach- 
ment of Wheeler would deplete the enemy in cavalry so far as to gire 
the Union army the preponderance. Hence he su.vpended the general 
movement he had contemplated, and ordered Kilpatrick, who had re- 
cently returned to duty, to proceed with live thousand cavalry on a raid 
against the two raih'oads. He was partially successfid, and returnedto 
camp on the '22(1. The damage he had done, howo\ er, was nearly all 
repaired by that time, and the original grand movement became ueces- 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOK 589 

Bary. Gcnernl SIieiTnan therefore renewed the or'ler for a general move- 
ment on his right on the night of the 25th, wficn, all things behig ready, 
the Fourth C'orps, Stanley, drew out of its lines on the rxfrenic left, 
and marched to a position below Proctor's Creek. The Twentieth 
Corps, Williams, moved hack to the ('hattahoochee. During tlie night 
of the 2Gth the Army of the Tennessee continued drawing out and mov- 
ing rapidly hy a ciicuit well towards Sandtown and across Camp Creek, 
the Army of the (^utnherhmd helow Utoy C^reok, Schofield remaining 
in position. The third move brought the Army of the Tennessee on the 
West l*oint Railro;id, above Fairhurn, the Army of the Cumberland 
about lied 0:ik, while Schofield closed in near Digs and Mims. 
Twelve and one-half miles of railroad were here destroyed, the tie.s 
burned, and the iron rails twisted. The whole army moved, the 29th, 
eastward by several roads : Howard on the right, towards Jonesboro' ; 
Thomas in the centre, by Shoal Creek ; Church 1 o Couch's, on the l^eeatur 
and Fayetteville road; and S<hofield on the left, about Morrow's Mills. 
The movement proceeded with signal success, and Howard, on the 
evening of the 30th, passed Flint liiver and halted within half a mile 
of Jonesboro'. Hood now began to understand the object of Sher- 
man's movement; but still ignorant, ajjparently, that nearly the whole 
Union army was moving upon his communications, he contented him- 
self with sending Hardee's and Lee's Corps to .Jonesboro', where they 
intrenche<], while he remained in Atlanta with Stewart's Corps and the 
militia. On the morning of August 31st, Howard finding himself in 
the presence of a heavy force of the enemy, he dejiloyed the Fifteenth 
Corps and disposed the Sixteentli and Seventeenth on its flanks. The 
men covered their front with the usual parapet, and were soon pre- 
pared to act offensively or defensively, as the ca-e called for. On the 
morning of the 31st, Kilpatrick took a strong position on a hill in front 
of the Fifteenth Corps, which the rebels hail occupied with a picket 
line and a few skirmisliers. During the forenoon Kilj)atrick ascertained 
that the enemy were massing infantry and cavalry in his front and on 
his left flank. To meet and check this movement, two regiments of 
'infantry were sent from Osterhaus's command. First Division, Fifteenth 
Corps, and three regiments of infantry from the Third Division, Seven- 
teenth Corps, as supports ; and at the same time a brigade from the 
Seventeenth Cor[)S was ordered to take a position in the rear of the 
Sixteenth Cor|js as resen-es, in case of an attack from the enemy. 
During the forenoon our artillery kept up a ceaseless cannonade upon 
the rebel. lines for the purpose of provoking an assault. The enemy's 
batteries responde<l, after a few hours' silence, most vigorously. At 
three o'clock on the afternoon of the 31st, S. D. Lee's Corps assaulted 
the Fifteenth Corps and a portion of the Sixteenth Corps, advancing 
boldly up to our works in three columns, with colors flying. The fir.st 
line approached within twenty or thirty yards of Hazen's Second 
Division, Fifteenth Corps ; but the deadly fire from our breastworks 
cau>ed it to waver badly, and in fifteen minutes it was broken and irrev- 
ocably lost for that moment. The second line of rebels came to the 
rescue, and with yells dashed on to de.'itruction, for tliey, too, were 
swept away before they reached the impenetrable abatis and deadly 



590 mSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

palisades that strengthened our works and rendered a successful charge 
an utter impossibility, unless attempted with vastly superior numbers. 
The officers endeavored to re-form their lines, with the shattered frag- 
ments of the first and second lines, and a final desperate attempt was 
made to oust the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps from their strong 
position, but the last assault was the most abortive of all, and the most 
disastrous. 

The enemy lost several general officers, including Major-General Ander- 
son, mortally wounded ; Colonel Williams and Major Barton, killed ; 
five colonels, majors, &c., wounded or taken prisoners, besides rank 
and file killed, wounded, and captured. Our loss was slight, as we 
fought behind our works. The brunt of the fight fell on Hazen's Di- 
vision, which captured two flags. 

? '- While this battle was in progress, orders were sent to push the other 
movements, and the success of Howard at Jonesboro' was simulta- 
neous with the occupation of the railroad below Rough and Ready by 
Schofield, and with the occupation of the road lower down by Stanley. 
The whole army was then ordered to close down upon Jonesboro' on 
September 1st. The Fourteenth Corps marched along the Macon line, 
destroyed the track for several miles, and about four o'clock took up 
position on the left of the Fourth Corps, which had now formed in line 
of battle. 

Orders having been given for the Fourteenth Corps to attack, the 
First Division, Carlin commanding, in advance, soon came upon the 
enemy's skirmishers, who were driven inside their main line of works. 
Carlin's Division formed the left of the Fourteenth Corps, supported 
by the Third Division, Baird's, while the Second Division, J. D. Mor- 
gan, also advanced across a small creek, a branch of Flint River. 
While this movement was in progress, the enemy evidently divined 
our intentions, and opened some twenty guns on Morgan's lines, scat- 
tering shells among his men at a terrible rate. Morgan now ordered 
np the Fifth Wisconsin Battery, and very soon quite an artillery duel 
was in progress, which lasted nearly half an hour ; tiie firing being 
greatly augmented in its destructiveness by the guns of an Illinois bat^ 
tery, which enfiladed almost the entire length of the rebel works. So 
hot was the fire from these two batteries that in less than thirty minutes 
the rebel artillerists, with their infantry support, were driven from their 
guns in haste, but not until a number of the officers were either Avounded 
or killed. In the mean time the whole of the Foxu-teenth Corps was 
posted in strong positions, with tho Second Division on the right, First 
Division on the lett, with the left resting on the JNIacon Railroad, and the 
Third Division in reserve. At half-past three o'clock r. M., Carlin at- 
tacked the enemy's works, situated on a rising knoll in the edge of a piece 
of dense, woods, but was repulsed. Major Edith, commanding a brigade 
of regulars, was next ordered to attack, sujDported by Carliu's Division. 
This brigade moved up to the rebel works in gallant style, eliciting 
commendation from all ; but the enemy suddenly hurled a superior force 
of fresh troops u{)on them, and they were obliged to retire or be cap- 
tured. At four o'clock the entire Fourteenth Corps attacked with great 
impetuosity the rebel works in two lines. One brigade of the Third 



HISTORY or THE GREA'i' llEHELLION. 501 

DIvItilon went into tlie fij^lit, wliilc tlic Ijiilaiicc of iIkj division HUpfKjrted 
the movement. Oarlin, with the FirHt DiviHion, and tlie 'J'hifd lirigadc 
of the Hecond Division, Htruck the enemy'rt worl<H lir«l, foUowed by 
Morjr.an'fi troops, and with Huch impetuosity was the attaek de- 
livered that a jjortion ol" tiio line wa,s carried, and two )>atterieH — 
one [jOomis'H ccjhdjrated battery, taken l)-om us at ('hickatnauga, of 
fiv(! {^miH, and anolh<!r of four j^umh — fell into our hands. Among the 
j)risoner8 captured was liri^adier-(jiener.d (iovan orChiburjic'K Divihion, 
with eight hundred and eighty conimiKsioned and non connniHKioned 
officers and j)rlvates. Ujion th(! approach ol* nighl, Jfardee gathered 
up the shattered rcrmnants of his «nvn an<l Lcfi's ('orps, and I'eii back 
B(!VOn miles to J.ovejoy's, where ha intr<'nehed and await<;d tlic; arrival 
of Hood, who, after the suc(!(!HS of Sherman's mov<iment was ascer- 
tained, could no longer hope to hold Alhinla. 

At the })reak of day on Sept(;mber 2d, Sliei man, finding the enemy 
had retr(;ated, put his whole army in motion and folh^wed in [jursuit, 
his object being to get between Jlood and Har<iee, and thus cut off 
either j<arty. ThomaH followed to the h;ft of the railroad, Howard on 
its riglit, and S(;hofield kept ofl* about two miles to the cast. The 
enemy was overtaken again near Lovejoy's Station, in a strong in- 
lreneli(!d position, with his flanks well protect(.'d behind a )>ranch of 
Walnut Creek to the right, and u conflu<;nt of ttie Flint liiver to his 
left. The j)Osif>ion appeared to Sherfnan too sti'ong to carry without 
immense loss, ami as the news now reached him tliat Hood had evac- 
uated Al.lanta on the 1st,, he desisted from further att.ack, and, on tho 
4th, moved the army by easy marches back to the ncjighborliood of its 
former cam jjing-grounds. The grand <,ibjeclive point of the campaign hav- 
ing been secured, he deternjined to give the troops a i'{:w weeks of rest. 

Hood, at Atlanta, be(;ame aware of tlie result of the battle at .Jone»- 
horo' early on the morning of the ] st instant, and at once gave tho order 
for evacuating the city, as his only remaining line of raili'oad comma- 
nication was severed, and he was in a pre<5urious condition. Mean- 
time, Slocum, with the Twentieth Corps, which had remained to 
guard the bridge ovo.v the Chattahoochee, seven miles distant, heard 
the explosion of ammunition in Atlanta, and rightly conceived the 
cause. H(; gave ordeis for recormoissances on the niorning of the 2d, 
and at live o'eloek the advance was made by deta<;hmet)ls from Ward's, 
Geary's, and Williams's Divisions. Th(;y advanecd to the city, which 
they found evacuated, and entered about eleven o'<dock on the morning 
of the 1st of S<;i)teml>er. They were at once met by a deputation, 
comprising the mayor, high hlK.riff, and citizens, wlio made a formal 
surrender of the town to General Ward, as follows: — 

" Capitci-ation ok Atlanta, Oeougia, S':j/kitJj<r 2, 18C4. 
•' Brigadier-General Ward, Tliird DiviHion, Tweiitit-t.)i Army (>jrp«: 

"8m:— 'J'liC fortune of war )ias placed the city <jf AtlanUi in your handn. As mayor 
of this city, I a«k protection for non-combatanlH and privaU; jMOperty. 

".Iamks M. Camioijn, Maijc/r oJ MbmUi." 

The required protection was freely granted. At the sarne time a 
detachment from Wilder's Division, the Eleventh P<mnsylvania and 
Sixtieth New York, of General Geary's Division, which had entered 



592 IIISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIS". 

the town simultaneously with "Ward's, hoisted the stars and stripes 
upon the court-house. General Slocum arrived soon after, and took 
formal possession of the town. Much rebel government property, in- 
cluding four engines, and fourteen pieces of artillery, chiefly sixty-four- 
pounders, which tlie enemy abandoned, was secured. 

The news of the capture of Atlanta caused universal rejoicing, and 
eliciteil from the President a special congratidatory order, and a recom- 
mendation that the 11th of September should be observed as a 
day of solenm thanksgiving for this signal success. The following is 
General Sherman's address to his troops on the termination of their 
arduous and bi'illiant campaign : — 



"Head-Quarters Military Division of Mississippi, 
"In tue Field, Atlanta, Ga., September 8, 1864, 

"special field orders, no. 68. 



■\ 



"The officers and soldiers of tlie Armies of the Cumberland, Ohio, and Tennessee 
have ah-eady received the thanks of the nation, througli its President and Commander- 
in-Chief, and it now remains only for him who has been with you from the beginning, 
and who intends to stay all the time, to tliauk the officers and meu for their iutelligenco, 
fidelity-, and courage displayed iu the campaign of Atlauta. 

"Oil the 1st of May our armies were Ij'ing in garrison, seemingly quiet, from 
Knoxville to Huutsville, and our enemy hiy behind his rocky-faced barrier at Dalton, 
proud, dcfiaut, and exulting. He had had time since Christmas to recover from his 
discomliture ou the Mission Ridge, with his ranks filled, and a new commander-in-chief, 
second to none iu tlie Coufedcracy in reputation for skill, sagacity, and extreme popu- 
larity. All at once our armies assumed life and action, and appeared before Dalton; 
threatening T\ocky Face, we threw ourselves upon Resaca, and the rebel army only 
escaped by the rapidity of its retreat, aided by the numerous roads Avith which he was 
familiar, and which were strange to us. Again he took position in Allatoona, but we 
gave him no rest, and by a circuit towards Dallas, and subsequent movement to Ao- 
worth, we gained the xVllatoona Pass. Then followed the eventful battles about Kene- 
saw, aud the escape of the enemy across Chattahoochee River. 

'•The crossing of the Chattalioochee and breaking of the Augusta road was most 
handsomely executed by us, and will be studied as an example in the art of war. At 
this stage of the game our enemies became dissatisfied with their old and skilful com- 
mander, and selected one more bold and rash. New tactics were adopted. Hood first 
boldly and rapidly, on the 20th of July, fell on our right at Peach-tree Creek, and lost. 
Again, on the -2d, he struck our extreme left, and was severely punished ; aud finally, 
again on the 28th, he repeated the attempt on our right, and that time must have been 
satisfied ; for since that date he has remained on the defensive. We slowlj^ and grad- 
ually drew our lines about Atlanta, feeling for the railroads which supplied the rebel 
army and made Atlanta a place of importance. We must concede to our enemy that 
he met these efforts patiently and skilfully, but at last he made the mist^ike we had 
waited for so long, and sent his cavalry to our rear, far beyond the reach of recall 
Instantly our cavalry was on his only remaining road, and we followed quickly with 
our principal army, and Atlanta fell into our possession as the fruit of well-concerted 
measures, backed by a brave and confident army. This completed the grand task 
■which had been assigned us by our Government, and your general again repeats his 
personal and official thanks to all the officers and men composing this army, for the in- 
domitable courage and perseverance which alone could give success. 

" We have beaten our enemy on every ground he has chosen, and have wrested 
from him his own Gate City, where were located his founderies, arsenals, and work- 
shops, deemed secure on account of their distance from our base, and the seemingly 
impregnable obstacles intervening. Nothing is impossible to an army like this, deter- 
mined to vindicate a Government which has rights wherever our flag has once floated, 
and is resolved to maintain them at any and all costs. 

'' In our campaign many, yea, very many of our noble and gallant comrades have 
preceded us to our commou destination, the grave ; but they have left the memory of 



IIISTOEY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLION. 593 

deeds on ■which a nation can build a proud history- McPherson, ITarker, McCook, and 
others dear to us ail, are now tlie binding linlis in our minds that should attach more 
closely together the living, who huvo to complete the task which still lays belbre us 
in the dim future. I ask all to continue, as they have so well begun, tlie cultivation of 
the soldierly virtues tliat have ennobled our own and other countries. Courage, patience, 
obedience to the laws and constituted authorities of our Government ; fidelity to our 
trusts and good feeling among each other, each trying to excel the other in the prac- 
tice of those high qualities, and it will tlien require no prophet to foretell that our 
country will in time emerge from this war purified by tlie fires of war and worthy its 
great founder — Washington. W. T. tJHERilAN, Major-Central Cominaadiiujy 

Upon establishing himsell in Atlanta, Sherman decided that the 
exigencies of the service would require the place to be held for the 
present exclusively as a military post, and orders were at once issued 
for the departure of all civilians except those in the employment of the 
Government. For the purpose of expediting the dei)opulation of the 
city, without needless inconvenience or suffering to the inhabitants, 
the nuinber of whom had greatly diminished during the progress of 
the siege, he proposed to Hood a truce of ten days. The reply of 
Hood was as follows : — 

"Head-Quarters Army of the Tennessee, ) 
''Office Chief of Staff, Sept. 9, 18G4. ) 
"Major-General Sherman, Commanding United States Forces in Georgia: 

"General: — Your letter of yesterday's date, borne by James W. Ball and Jamea 
R. Crew, citizens of Atlanta, is received. You say therein, 'I deem it t(j be to the 
interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove,' 
&c. I do not consider that I have any alternative in the matter. I therefore accept 
your proposition to declare a truce of ten daj'S, or such time as may be necessary to 
accomplish the purpose mentioned, and shall render all the assistance in my power to 
expedite the transportation of citizens in this direction. I suggest that a staff officer 
be appointed by you to superintend the removal from the city to Rough and Ready, 
while I appoint a like officer to control their removal farther south; that a guard of 
one hundred men be sent by eitlier party, as you propose, to maintain order at that place, 
and that the removal begin on Monday next. 

" And now, sir, permit me to say, that the unprecedented measure you propose tran- 
scends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention 
in the dark history of war. 

" In the name of God and humanity I protest, believing that you will find that you 
are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and children of a brave people. 

"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" J. B. IIooD, General." 

Accompanying this letter was the following from James M. Calhoun, 
mayor of Atlanta: — 

"Head-Quarters Arity op the Tennessee, September 9, 1864. 

"Hon. James M. Calhoun, Mayor: 

" Sir :— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter touching the 
removal of the citizens of Atlanta, as ordered by General Sherman. Please find en- 
closed mv reply to General Sherman's letter. I shall do all in my power to mitigate 
the terrible hardship and misery tliat must be brought upon your people by this ex- 
traordinary order o( tlie Federal commander. Transportation will be sent to Rough 
and Ready to carry the people and their effects farther south. 

" You have my deepest sympathy in this unlooked-for and unprecedented affliction. 

"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

' "J. B.Hood, General" 

The following is the characteristic reply of General Sherman : — 

33 



594 niSTOEY OF the GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 

"Head-Quarters Military Division of the Mississippi, } 
"And in the Field, Atlanta, Ga., September 10, 1864. f 
" General J. B. Hood, commanding Army of the Tennessee, Confederate Army : 

" General : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date 
at the hands of Messrs. Ball and Crew, consenting to the arrangements I had proposed 
to facilitate the removal south of the people of Atlanta who prefer to go in that direc- 
tion. I enclose you a copy of my orders, which will, I am satisfied, accomplish my 
purpose perfectly. You style the measures proposed 'unprecedented,' and appeal to 
the dark history of war for a parallel as an act of ' studied and ingenious cruelty.' It 
is not unprecedented, for General Johnston liimself very wisely and properly removed 
the families all the way from Dalton down, and I see no reason why Atlanta should be ex- 
cepted. Nor is it necessary to appeal to the dark history of war when recent and modern 
examples are so handy. You yourself burned dwelling-houses along your parapet, and 
I have seen to-day fifty houses that you have rendered uninhabitable because they 
stood in the way of your forts and men. You defended Atlanta on a line so close to 
the town that every cannon-shot and many musket-shots from our lino of investments 
that overshot their mark, went into the habitations of women and children. General 
Hardee did the same at Jonesboro', and General Johnston did the same last summer at 
Jackson, Miss. I have not accused you of heartless cruelty, but merely instance 
these cases of very recent occurrence, and could go on and enumerate hundreds of 
others, and challenge any fair man to judge which of us has the heart of pity for the 
families of a 'brave people.' I say it is a kindness to these families of Atlanta to re- 
move them now at once from scenes that women and children should not be exposed 
to ; and the brave people should scorn to commit their wives and children to the rude 
barbarians who thus, as jou say, violate the laws of Avar, as illustrated in the pages of 
its dark history. In the name of common sense, I ask you not to appeal to a just God 
in such a sacrilegious manner — you, who, in the midst of peace and prosperity, have 
plunged a nation into civil war, 'dark and cruel war;' who dared and badgered us to 
battle, insulted our flag, seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the honorable 
custody of a peaceful ordnance sergeant; seized and made prisoners of war the very 
garrisons sent to protect your people against negroes and Indians, long before any 
overt act was committed by the (to you) hateful Lincoln Government ; tried to force 
Kentucky and Missouri into the rebellion in spite of themselves ; falsified the vote of 
Louisiana, turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed sliips, expelled Union 
families by the tliousand, burned their houses, and declared by act of 3'our Congress 
the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods had and received. Talk thus 
to the marines, but not to me, who have seen these things, and who will this day 
make as much sacrifice for the peace and honor of the South as the best-born South- 
erner among you. If we must be enemies, let us be men, and fight it out as we pro- 
pose to-day, and not deal in such hypocritical appeals to God and humanity. God will 
judge us in due time, and He will pronounce whether it be more humane to fight with 
a town full of women and the families of a 'brave jjeople' at our back, or to remove 
them in time to places of safety among their own friends and people. 
" I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) "W. T. Sherman, Major- General Commanding. 

"■ Official copy : Signed, L. M. Dayton, A. D. C." 

The campaign of Sherman against Atlanta liad a result different 
from that of Rosecrans against Chattanooga. But tlie relative condi- 
tions of the two armies Avere also entirely different. Bragg had been 
promptly re-enforced, ajid when Rosecrans threatened to Hank his 
position at Chattanooga, he retired with his whole army concentrated. 
Subsequently, when joined by Longstreet, he was much stronger than 
Rosecrans, who had not been supplied with either men or material in 
proportion to his wants. He was therefore exposed to the blows of a 
superior enemy, and his defeat was only rendered nugatory through 
the inaction of Bragg. Sherman liad the benefit of the recent con- 
Bcription, made with much vigor by the Government, and under the 



HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 595 

orders of the Lieutenant-General, of whose combination his movement 
was a part. Johnston's army fell back before the weight of numbers, 
until Plood, succeeding to the command, w^asted his men in fruitless 
attacks, and then, from his weakened force, detached Wheeler to the 
North, where he was of no use wdiatever. Sherman was thus enabled 
to leave the Twentieth Corps before Atlanta, and move the remainder 
of his army, still superior to that of Hood, round to Jonesboro'. Here 
he did not meet, as did Kosecrans at Chickamauga, the entire force of 
a superior artny, but a portion of a divided inferior army, to which he 
delivered the final blow. 

The campaign of Sherman commenced in the first week of May, 
sinudtaneously with that of Grant. His force was, as we have seen, 
in round numbers, one hundred thousand men and two hundred and 
fifty-four guns. The system of Johnston was the same as that of Lee; 
with an inferior force he resisted the advance of his enemy at every 
point. Sherman reached the Chattahoochee on the 2Sth July. The 
country through which he marched was much more open tlian the 
scene of war in Virginia. Of this, and his great superiority in infan- 
try and artillery, Sherman most skilfully availed himself. He diii not 
make a flank march of his whole force, nor extend one end of his line 
round Johnston's wing, as ordinary precedent would have bade ; but, 
holding his enemy in check with a part of his army, detached one or 
two of his corps by a distant line to seize and intrench themselves on 
some point which should threaten the Confederate communications. 
Not all Johnston's energy nor the exertions of Wheeler (whose 
cavalry outnumbered that of the invaders) could prevent this maiuru- 
vre being repeated again and again. The Federal generals carried out 
fiiithfuUy their commander's orders to keep to the use of field-works 
and guns wherever practicable ; and Johnston continually found him- 
self with separate armies established in front and tiank, and was thus 
forced to a new retreat. As Sherman advanced the railroad was com- 
pletely repaired, and. its use for the future systematically secured. 
Intrenchments were thrown up at every station or bridge, and a small 
garrison left with provisions, ammunition, and the means of repairing 
any sudden damage to the adjacent parts of the line, while almost 
equal care %vas used to cover the trains w^hich supplied the flanks. 
Such an elaborate system involved much delay ; and Johnston was 
enabled to detain the Federals seventy days on their approach to 
Atlanta. 

The advance was none the less unbroken; and when Sherman was 
preparing elaborately for his passage of the Chattahoochee, he was re- 
lieved of great part of his difficulties by the removal of the formidable 
opponent whose personal ability he fully appreciated- Jefl'erson Davis, 
who had shice the days of Vicksburg been on but indifferent terms 
with Johiislon, had yielded to the clamor raised against the latter for 
so repeatedly giving ground, and now superseded him in favor of 
Hood, known hitherto as a gallant soldier and bold general of division, 
but in noway marked for the higher qualities of command. This 
Btep, so Altai to the Confederate interests in that quarter, was the more 
inexcusable, in that Johnston's policy of retreating when liable to be 



696 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOJS". 

thoroughly outflanked was just what Lee had used in Virginia, with 
out a word of blame from any quarter. 



CHAPTER LXII. 

The Gulf Department. — Sabine Pass Expedition. — McPlierson moves from Vicksburg. 
— Expedition to the Rio Grande, and Occupation of Brownsville. — Banks's Red 
River Expedition. — Capture of Fort DeRussey. — Occupation of Alexandria. — Battle 
of Mansfield. — Retreat of the Army. — Repulse of the Enemy at Pleasant Hill.— ~ 
Operations of the Meet. — The Dam at Alexandria. — Arrival of the Army and Fleet 
in the Mississippi. — Co-operative Movement of Steele in Arkansas. — Causes of ita 
Failure. 

The Department of the Gulf remained for some time quiet after 
the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, in the sumiuer of 1863, which 
events left the Mississippi River nominally in the hands of the Federal 
troops. General Banks returned to New Orleans, and the large army 
with Avhich General Gi'ant operated in the rear of Vicksburg was dis- 
persed to various points. The Thirteenth and Eighteenth Corps, under 
Generals Herron and Ord, went to New Orleans ; Ransom's command 
occupied Natchez ; the force which Bumside sent out to aid Grant 
mainly returned to him, and other smaller bodies were located at 
various points engaged in keeping down guerrillas. The Mississippi 
being now in possession of the Union forces, it was divided into dis- 
tricts, each under command of a division officer, with orders to prevent 
the passage of the enemy's troops across the river. 

Early in September, 1863, the troops that had concentrated at New 
Orleans were formed into an expedition of four thousand men, under 
Major-General Franklin, to effect a landing at Sabine Pass for railitai-y 
occupation, with the co-operation of the navy. Commodore Bell 
assigned the command of the naval force to Lieutenant Crocker, com- 
manding the steamer Clifton, accompanied by the steamers Sachem, 
Arizona, and Granite City. The defences at the Pass, it was estimated, 
consisted of two thirty-two-pounders en barbette, and a battery of field- 
pieces, and two bay boats converted into rams. It was concerted 
with General Franklin that the squadron of four gunboats should make 
the attack alone, assisted by aljout one hundred and eighty sharp- 
shooters from the army, divided among his vessels ; and after driving 
the enemy from his defences and destroying or driving off the rams, 
the transports were to advance and land their troops. The attack was 
made on the 8th of September, at six a, m., when the Clifton stood in 
the bay and opened fire on the fort, to which no reply was made. At 
nine a. m. the Sachem, Arizona, and Granite City, followed by the 
transports, stood over the bar, and with mucli difiiculty (owing to the 
shallowness of the water) reached anchorage two miles from the fort 
at eleven a. m., tlie gunboats covering the transports. 

At three-thirty p. m., the Sachem, followed by the Arizona, advanced 
up the eastern channel to draw the fire of the forts, while the Clifton 
advanced up the western channel ; the Granite City to cover the land- 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 597 ' 

ing of a division of troops under General Weitzel ; no reply to the 
fire of the gunboats being made until they were abreast of the forts, 
when they opened with eiglit guns, three of which were rifled. Almost 
at the same moment the Clifton and Sachem were struck in their 
boilers, enveloping the vessels in steam. There not being room to pa?s 
the Sachem, the Arizona was backed down the channel. Soon after, the 
latter grounded by the stern ; the ebb-tide caught her bows and swung 
her across the channel ; she was, with much difficulty, extricated from 
this position — owing to the engine becoming heated by the collection 
of mud in tlie boilers. The flags of the Clifton and Sachem were now 
Yiin down, and white flags were flpng at the fore. As all the trans- 
ports M'ere now moving out of the bay, the Arizona remained cover- 
ing their movements, until she grounded and remained until midnight, 
Avhen she was kedged oft', as no assistance could be liad from any of 
the tugs of the expedition. The expedition therefore returned to 
Brashear City. General Franklin held his head-quarters at New Iberia, 
which was made tlie base of operations, being at the head of naviga- 
tion for ordinary steamers and fifty-two miles from Brashear City. Tlie 
Nineteenth Army Corps, i;nder the immediate command of General 
Weitzel, had crossed and camped at Bewick. The Thirteenth Army 
Corps followed, leaving sufticient force to hold the base at Brashear. 

General McPherson, with the Seventeenth Corps, remained at Vicks- 
burg, and nothing of general interest occurred until early in October, 
when a rebel force, consisting of about two thousand five hundred 
mounted men, appeared on the east side of the Black River, at times 
approaching quite near the Federal lines, and keeping up a continued 
series of feints and demonstrations along our front. McFherson came 
to the conclusion that they had been thrown forward as a curtain to 
hide movements and operations going on farther back in the country. 
He therefore organized a force composed of Logan's and Tuttle's 
Divisions, with other detached portions of the Seventeenth Corps, 
which, leaving Vicksburg early on the morning of the 14th October, 
marched sixteen miles and leudezvoused at Big Black River, where it 
encamped for the night. By daylight on the 15th, the cavalry advance 
crossed the river at Messenger's Ferry, closely followed by Logan, 
with Tuttle bringing up the rear, tlie crossing being effected on a 
double truss bridge built by Sherman during his Jackson campaign. 
At three p. m. they reached Brownsville, the place having been occu- 
pied by our advance cavalry at noon, and on the following day the 
adv^ance of Logan's Division met a portion of Wirt Adams's rebel 
cavalry, supported by a battery of artillery, well posted in a piece of 
timber to the right of the road. McPherson immediately sent forward 
a portion of Logan's Division, consisting of Maltby's Brigade and two 
pieces of artillery, to dislodge them, our cavalry having dismounted 
and advanced through the woods, deployed as skirmishers. No sooner 
did our battery open than they were replied to by the rebel artillery 
with excellent effect. 

While this was going on the remainder of Logan's Division advanced 
by the Canton road, where they met another portion of the enemy, 
consisting of Whitfield's Brigade of cavalry and artillery, composed 



598 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIf. 

principally of Texans, occupying a strong position on the crest of a 
hill completely commanding the road. The artilleiy was sent forward, 
and amused them until Ford's Brigade came up, and formed in line of 
battle on either side of the road, with two regiments in advance 
deployed as skirmishers ; darkness coming on, the men rested in 
their positions. Shortly after daylight the enemy again opened 
on us with artillery, having been re-enforced during the night. The 
force then returned to Vicksburg, where they arrived on the 20th. 

There was little activity at New Orleans after the failure of the 
Sabine Pass expedition. The expiration of the term of the nine- 
months men produced some changes, and until new troops arrived 
but little was done. There was, however, an immense contraband 
trade between the Southern States and Mexico. The sealing up of 
Charleston and the stricter watch at Wilmington — before the two 
chief inlets of trade — caused Matamoras to become the great entrepot 
of contraband commerce. Not less than twenty-five or thirty blockade- 
runners were sometimes there at one time. General Banks devised au 
expedition to break up this trade. The enemy had then only a few 
troops under Magruder scattered betAveen Galveston and Sabine Pass. 
The expedition was fitted out at New Orleans, under the command of 
Major-General Dana, General Banks and stalf accompanying it. After 
a stormy passage, the troops were on the 4th of November safely 
transferred from the transports, and landed on the Texan shore of the 
Rio Grande. Upon seeing our troops landing, the enemy destioyed 
the Government works at Fort Brown, and the town of Brownsville 
Avas set on fire by their cavalry. The Union men in the town resisted 
them, and a bloody street fight ensued between the two factions, while 
the houses were burning around them. The Fifteenth Marine regiment 
was ordered up to Brownsville to support the Unionists, and the 
rebels were routed. The place Avas then occupied by the Federal 
troops. Subsequently Corpus Christi and the coast of Texas to within 
one hundred miles of Galveston were occupied 

But little else was done in this depai-tment until the commencement 
of 1864, Avhen a new expedition was organized by General Banks, hav- 
ing for its object the possession of Western Louisiana and the capture 
of cotton. The enemy at this time had various forces in the field. Gren- 
eral Dick Taylor commanded in Louisiana, witli about twenty thousand 
men ; Magruder in Texas ; and Price resumed the command in Arkan- 
sas. It Avas proposed by Banks to ascend the lied River to Shreve- 
port, aided by the fleet of Admiral Porter, while a force under Gen- 
eral Steele should descend from Little Rock, Arkansas, to fonn a junc- 
tion Avith the troops on the Red River. At the same time a demon- 
stration Avas to be made by the Federal force from BroAvnsville, on the 
Rio Grande. 

The expedition embarked at Vicksburg on the 10th of March, and 
proceeded down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Red River, which 
it ascended as far as the Old River, at Avhich point it turned into the 
Atchafalaya, which flows southward into Lake Chetimaches. On the 
13th a landing Avas eftected at Simmsport, whence our forces marched 
to Bayou Glace, Avhere a rebel force, estimated at about two thousand, 



HISTORY OF TIIE GllEAT EEBELLIOI?'. 



599 



had been encamped in a strongly fortified position. On reaching this point 
it was found deserted by the enemy, who had set fire to the bridge lead- 
ing across the river at that point. The earthworks, still incomplete, 
were laid out on an extensive plan, and indicated an intention on the 
part of the rebels to use the Atchafalaya as their principal line of 
defence, depending on the shallowness of the river during most of the 
year to protect them against the attack of our gunboats. The unex- 
pected appearance of our formidable fleet, consisting of three monitors, 
seven iron-clads, three rams and four lighter gunboats, caused them to 
abandon the strong but unfinished works, and to hasten to the defence 
of Fort De Russey. 

Fort De Russey was a formidable quadrangular work, Avith bastions 
and bomb-proofs, covered with railroad iron. Connected with the fort 
was a strong water-battery, the casemates of which appeared to be 
capable of resisting the iieaviest shot and shell. The guns were admi- 
rably placed to command the river for a considerable distance up and 
down. General Dick Taylor occupied it with a large force. General 
Franklin* 1 mded fvmn. transports early in March, a few miles below this 
fort, to co-operate with the gunboats in an attack upon it. Taylor deter- 
mined to attack hira before the rest of the Union force should come 
up, and marched out of his works for that purpose. But he committed 
the flital mistake of attacking his foe in the rear. Franklin, quick to 
avail himself of his enemy's blunder, abandoned his communications, 
refused battle, and marclied straight for the now vacant fort. Taylor 
f-aw his error too late to retrieve it, and hastened after his antagonist 
in vain. The Union army entered the fort, three hours in advance of 
the rebels, unopposed, capturing, without a battle, three hundred and 
twenty-five prisoners, ten guns, a lot of small-arms, and large stores of 
ammunition. Thus, by a military blunder, the rebels lost the entire 
advantage of their year's engineering labor. The fleet passed up the 
river without opposition, and occupied Alexandria on the 15th of 
March, the army entering it the day following. The rebel army fell 
back farther up the river, and was soon increased by timely re-enforce- 
ments. Magruder joine-d it with two thousand five hundred Texans, 
and Price with seven thousand infantry from Missouri and Arkansas. 
The entire force was commanded by General Kirby Smith. 

Alexandria, which is about one hundred and fifty miles above Fort 



* William liuell Franklin was born in York, 
Penn., in IS'j:?, and graduaU'il at West Point in 
1S43, first in his class. He was appointed to the 
Topograpliieal Engineers, served in the Mexican 
war as aide to General Taylor, was assistant pro- 
fessor of natural and experimental philosophy at 
West Point, lb4S-i)2, and until the outbrealc of 
the rebellion was actively employed by the Gov- 
ernment in military engineering, the coast survey, 
the inspection of light-houses, the construction of 
public buildings, and similar duties. In May, 
1S62, he was commissioned cidonel of the Twelfth 
Peginient of regular infantry, and soon after brig- 
adier-gener.al of volunteer,". He commande<l a 
brigade at Bull Run. was subsequently aippointed 
to a division of the Army of the Potomac, and in 
the Peninsular campaign commanded the Sixth 
Pnivisional Army Corps, with the rank of major- 
g<)QcraL lie jjarticipated with credit ia the eevea 



days' fighting before Richmond, defeated tho 
enemy at Crampton's Gaj), in South Mountain, 
and sustained the advance of the Union right 
wing at the succeeding battle of Antietam. In 
November, 1S02. lie was" placed in command of the 
loft grand division of the Array of the Potomac, 
and in tlio succeeding January was relieved from 
duty. In the summer of 18l>3 he assumed com- 
mand of the Nineteenth Corps, and subsequently 
t<iok part in the Sabine Pass expedition, and in 
the lied Kiver expedition of 1864. After the ter- 
mination of the latter he "vas relieved of his com- 
man<l and returned to thfl North. On July 11 th, 
while travelling in a railroad train between Phil- 
adelphia and Baltimore, he was captured by a 
rebel cavalry force, but a day or two afterwards 
etfected his escape. He subsequently officiated as 
President of the Military Retiring Board. 



600 IIISTOEY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION". 

I)e liusscy, Imviutj surrendoretl, tlio army was ])uslicil forward, over- 
laiul, an'aiust iShievejJort, where the rebels, uiich-r conimand of (Jeiieral 
Taylor, were concentrating. Several rebel j^unboats, which had been 
stationed at Alexandria, bad steamed up the river to assist in the 
defence of the former place;. Shreveport is near the southwest boun- 
dary of Jjouislana, and as the enemy inferri'd that it was tlu! objective of 
JJanks's campait;ii, strouL;' fortitications had been erccrted, lbrnii(hd)le 
obstructions placi-d in the river, and ])rovisi()n suilicient I'or a six 
nu)ntlis' sieg-e accumulated. After a delay of ten <lays at Alexandria, 
in order to concentrate his forces and oi-t;^;in'.;(( further uu>vements, 
r>anks resumed his march. About thirty mile:; above Ak^vandria the 
Kedcral advancti nu^t the rebels strongly jtosti'd at Cane Kiver. Their 
force was considerable, and their position a(lvauta<;eoiis ; but after a 
short enucajj^ement Avith artillery and skirmishers, a ijeneral eharj^e was 
ordered, and the rebels beat a hasty retreat, with tlie loss of two hun- 
dred and titty killed aiul Avounded, atul five bundled to six hundred 
prisoners. This was on the 28th of JMarch. The Union army pressed 
rapidly forwaril. The rebels as rapidly retreated. CJrand Kcore was 
passed. Natchitoches, capital of the parish of that name, was occupied 
Avithout opposition ; ami on the tUh of Ai»ril the army continued ita 
advance tt)\vards Shreveport. At Graiul Kcore tlie road leaves tho 
river bank, and, passinjj:; through Natchitoches, four miles from (Iraiul 
Ecore, enters lu'avy pine woods. A single road conducts through this 
inu'leari'd forest, atlordiug excellent o|)portimities for and)uscade. 

The Union army no longer enjoyed the formidable pr(.)((u'tion of the 
gunboats. The cavalry, five thousand strong, constituted tlie advance, 
commanded by Gineral Lee. They Aveie followed by their wagon 
train. St'veral miles in the rear was the neaii'st inf;intry force. 'fhiB 
Avas the Thirteenth Army Corps. The Nineteenth Avas still farther in 
the rear. On the 1th the cavalry found its progress somewhat re- 
sisted by the increased strength of the enemy's skirmishers in fronts. 
The enemy had skdfuUy drawn on General Jianks, Avho, Avith fjdse 
conlldenee, advanced Avith cavalry and artillery, Avithout adequate in- 
fantry support, some eight miU'S. On the Hth of April he si-nt Avord 
to hurry forward the infantry, and CJeneral Itansom, Avith two divisions, 
Avas <lirected to go to his assistance. Notliiug like a general engage-, 
ment Avas expected or })repared for. IJansom, indeed, urged awaitin<^ 
the arrival of the rest of the army, but he Avas overruled. 

An order to charge upon the enemy Avas given, and the issue proved 
the great m>ss of the mistake. The enemy, under covivr of the trees, 
Iwul formed an ambuscade in the shape of an enornious V. The 
devoted soldiers, entering the open Avedge at its b.sse, charged \ipon 
the apex. The Avings then closed upon them. Tliey Avere mowed 
down by a territic iire both from front ai\d either tlaiik. The cavalry 
Avas thrown into disorder, and began to retreat dt)wn the road tilled 
Avith infantry. The A\Hmnded and dying Avero trodden under the 
horses' feet. The infantry, surprist'd by the murderous lire from acon-i 
oealed foe, Avei-e thrown into confusion by the retreating cavalry, Avho 
cantered in tlisorder through their lines. An attempt Avas made to 
Avitlulraw and meet re-euforcenicnts frou\ the Nineteenth Gorps, f u'ther 



IIISTOKY OF TIIK GREAT REBELLION. 



601 



bade ; but the single narrow road was cffiictually Llockjulcid by the cav- 
alry wagon train. An orderly retreat was iinpoK.sible, Soon all was 
in the utmost confufiion. "Let every man take care of himself !" be- 
came the universal cry. li.ansom made the most heroic ed'urtH to rally 
hifi men, but in vain. 

The wagon train Avas abandoned to th<i enemy, and twenty guns 
fell into the rebels' hands. Among these ciptures was the (yhicago 
Mercantile 15:ittery. The army was saved from demolition by the 
timely arrival of re-enforcements from the Ninetctenlh (Jorps an<l the 
darkness of approacliing night. This eng:igement is knowji Ijy tho 
name of the l>attle of M.-msfield. J5anks's loss was estimated at two 
thousand out of eight thousand men on th<i field, lie was largely 
outnMnd)ered }>y the enemy. The army retreatcil during the iiight, 
and at dawn of the 9th succ(;edcd in gaining Pleasant Hill, where it 
was cone ritrated. General A. J. Smith, with the Sixteenth Army 
Corps, held the I'ight ; Franklin, with the Nineteenth Corps, held the 
left. The Thirteenth (/orjts, exhausted and almost destroyed by the pre- 
vious day's lighting, was unable to participate in the anticipatc^d battle. 

At four I'. M. in the aft(!rnoon of the 9th, the enemy arrived in pur- 
suit, and immediately a<lvanced in overwhelming nund)ers ngainst tho 
division of General Emory of the Ninete(!nth (Jorfis, wliich, after an 
obstinate resistance, retreated slowly up a hill, on the slo|)es of which 
it had been formed, liehind the crest of this hill the Sixteenth (Jor[)S 
lay in reserve, and as the rebels rushed on with every ex)*ectaiion of 
an easy victory, they were met ]>y a withering fire of artillery atid 
musketry, from which they recoiled in confusion. At this moment the 
Sixteenth Corps charged with lixdl bayonets, driving the eneiny in 
utter rout into the neighl^oring Avoods, and reca])tnrii)g eight of the 
gims lost on the previous day, besides live hundred prisoiKjis. Kai'ly on 
the 10th, Banks, leaving his dead unburied, continued liis retreat to 
Grand Ecore. By tliis timely victory the enemy suffered severely, and 
■were compelled to abate K(/mewhat the ardor of their pursuit. 

Meantime, the fleet under Porter,* comprising theCrieket, Eastport, 
Mound City, ChilHcothe, Caroixlelet, Pittsburg, Ozark, Neosho, Osage, 
Lexington, Fort Ilindman, and Louisville, and a fleet of thirty trans- 
ports, ascended the river to (irand J^core. On the Vth of April, tho 
river rising very slowly, the .admiral sent up the ('ricket. Fort llind- 
man, Lexington, Osage, Neosho, and ChilHcothe, with the hojje of 
getting the rest of the vessels along when the usual rise came. Twenty 
transporls were sent along filled with army stores, and with a portion 
of General A. J. Smith's Division on board. It was intended that the 
fleet should reach Springfield Landing on the third day, and then corei- 



* David I). Porter was born In Plilln.iclphla 
about Ihl'i. ]f<! is tlu;y«uiiKeiit8onofCoinnio<lor<j 
Duvlil I'ortiT, <listiii^iilslie(i as a naval olli<;i'r In 
tlie l!i»t war wiUi Knjriand. ami was appointi-d u 
liildslilpinan in 182!). In lS(il he was profnoU'<l lo 
be a coniniandi'r. and put in <'OiMiriand of tin' sti-am 
BJoop I'owhattiin.one ofilK'Oiilf IJIdckadintrSqiiu/l- 
roii. In Uu: Kjirinsr of IKC/v i,,, rccidvcd (•ornrriaiid 
of the mortar flolilla, which co-ojicraffd in tli« 
reduction of th« forts on thfi Lower MisRls»l|ij»i and 
tbe capture of Kmv Orkaus. lie subsccjucutl/ 



repaired with Ids fleet to the Jatnes Piiver, and In 
OcUiber, IH&i, was placed in coinniund of tiie Mis- 
sissippi (.'iinhojU flotilla, whieli he retained for two 
years, partieipatini; in the most Important opera- 
tion occurring diirliiKlhat Interval on the Western 
waters. In October. 1^(34, havinj? been previously 
promoted lo he a full rear-admiral, he was ap- 
[loinied to command llie North Atlantic Sfpiadron, 
in which capaeity he conducted the two rnemo- 
rable bombardments of Fort Fisher, N. C, In 
DcccuibcT, IbGl, and January, 1SC5. 



602 HISTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOK 

municate with the army, a portion of which expected to he at Spring- 
fiekl at that time. 

At Springfiehl, serious obstacles were encountered in the river ; hut 
before they couki be removed, news came to Porter that Banks was 
defeated, and the army falhng back to Pleasant Hill, sixty miles in the 
rear of the. fleet. The prompt return of the fleet was imperative, as the 
high banks of the river swarmed with enemies, who could not be 
reached by the guns of the fleet. On the 12th, a portion of the enemy 
who had defeated Banks opened fire from the right bank on the Osage, 
Lieutenant-Commander F. O. Selfridge (iron-clad), she being hard 
aground at the time, with a transport (the Black IlaAvk) alongside of 
her, towing her off! The rebels opened with two thousand muskets, 
and soon drove every one out of the Black Hawk to the safe casemates 
of the monitor. Lieutenant Bache had just come from his vessel (the 
Lexington), and fortunately was enabled to pull up to her again, keep- 
ing close under the bank, while the Osage opened a destructive fire on 
the enemy, whose efforts were vain against an iron vessel. Meantime, 
some troops were sent up from Grand Ecore to clear the river from 
guerrillas. The river now began to fall rapidly, and above the bar at 
Alexandria the fleet was caught by the low water, and for a time con- 
siderably imperilled. It w^as rescued from this position by a series of 
dams across the rocks at the falls, which raised the water high enough 
to let the vessels pass over. These were designed and superintended 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, acting engineer of the Nineteenth 
Army Corps. 

The work was commenced on May 1st by running out from the lefb 
bank of the iver a tree dam, made of the bodies of veiy large trees, 
brush, brick, and stone, cross-tied with other heavy timljer, and 
strengthened in every way which ingenuity could devise. This was 
run out about three hundred feet into the river; four large coal-barges 
were tlieu filled with brick and sunk at the end of it. From the right 
bank of the river cribs filled with stone were built out to meet the 
barges. xVll of w^hich was successfully acconii)lished, notwithstanding 
there was a current running of nine miles an hour, which threatened to 
sweep every thing before it. The dam had nearly reached completion 
in eight days' working time, and the water had risen sufficiently on the 
upper falls to allow the Fort Hindmnn, Osage, and Neosho to get down 
and be ready to pass the dam. Unfortunately, on the morning of the 
9th, the pressure of water became so great that it swept aw.ay two 
of the stone barges, which swung in below the dam on one side. 

The Lexington, however, succeeded in getting over the upper falls 
just in time — the water rapidly falling as she was passing over. She 
then steered directly for the opening in the d:nn, through which the 
water was rushing so furiously that it seemed as if nothing but de- 
struction awaited her. Thousands of beating hearts looked on anxious 
for the result. The silence was so great as the Lexington ap})roached 
the dam that a pin might almost be heard to fidl. She entered the gap 
with a full head of steam on, pitched down the roaring torrent, made 
two or three spasmodic rolls, hung for a moment on the rocks below, 
•was then swept into deep water by the current, and rounded to safely 



HISTOKY or THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



603 



into the bank. Thirty thousand voices rose in one deafening cheer, 
and universal joy seemed to pervade the face of every man present. 
The Neosho followed next, all lier hatches battened down, and every 
precaution taken against accident. She did not fare as well as the 
Lexington, her pilot having become frightened as he approached t^e 
abyss, and stopped her engine ; the result was that for a moment her 
hull disappeared from sight under the water. Every one thought she 
was lost. She rose, however, swept along over the rocks with the 
current, and fortunately escaped with only one hole in her bottom, 
which was stopped in the course of an hour. The Hindman and Osage 
both came through beautifully, without touching a thing. 

The damage done the dam was repaired, and the whole fleet brought 
oft'. On the 14th of May the army retreated from Alexandria under 
protection of the gunboats, and the city was consumed by fire. On 
the IGth, the enemy, who escorted the ai'my a long way, and harassed 
its rear, attacked in force at Avoyelles Prairie, but, after a severe light, 
were driven oft'. On the 18th, under Polignac, they attacked again at 
Yellow Bayou, but were repulsed with a loss of three hundred prison- 
ers, besides as many killed and wounded. This final check was admin- 
istered by General Mower, under the command of General A. J. Smith. 
Yellow Bayou unites with the Bayou de la Glaise, and empties into 
the Atchafalaya a short distance above Semmesj^ort. On the 19th, 
the anny reached and pontooned the Atchafalaya. On the 20th, it 
crossed at Semmesport, and moved towards the Mississippi. The next 
evening it reached Morganzia. 

While these operations were going on upon the Red River, a strong 
auxiliary expedition, under General Steele, had set out from Little 
Rock, Arkansas, with the design of uniting with Banks's column at 
Shreveport. On approaching Camden, the enemy was encountered 
behind a series of breastworks to dispute the passage of Tate's Ferry. 
General Steele, however, moved his column forward, as if designing to 
strike directly for Washington, and leave Camden on his left." Arriv- 
ing within ten miles of the ferry, still keeping the mihtary road, he con- 
tinued a small body of troops on that road, while a detachment of 
cavalry was hastened forward to seize and secure Elkin's Ferry, and 
headed the main column to the southward, breaking oft' almost at right 
angles with the former course. 

This detachment encountered Marmaduke and Shelby in force, and 
the latter attacked the rear of the army, under Brigadier-General Rice, 
who repulsed him. On the 3d of April both banks of the Little Mis- 
souri were in our possession, and the army crossed at Elkin's Ferry, 
McLean's Brigade in advance On the 4th, Marmaduke and Cabell, 
with between four and five thousand men, made an attack upon 
our column, but were repulsed after some further skirmishes. Steele's 
army entered Camden on the 15th of April. The enemy, largely re- 
enforced by Kirby Smith,* now began to swarm upon Steele, and on 



* Eftmiind Kirby Smith was born in Floriiifi, of 
Connecticut iiarentaire. iibo\it 1S24, and graduated 
at West Point in 1S45. Ho was brevetted tirst 
iieutenant and captain for gallantry in the Mexi- 



can war, was subsequently assistant professor of 
niatheinatics at West Point, and saw active ser- 
vice in the Indian wars in the West. lie resigned 
his commission at the cummoncement of the re- 



604 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



the 18th a Union forage train was captured. On the 20th a supply 
train arrived from Pine Bluflf, and on the 22d the empty train was sent 
back, escorted by a brigade of infantry, four pieces of artillery, and a 
proper proportion of cavalry. On the 25th news was receiveil that the 
train had been captured, and Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, of the Thirty- 
sixth Iowa, who was in command, mortally wounded. The loss was 
nearly two thousand prisoners, four guns, and two hundred and forty 
wagons. 

The defeat of Banks enabled the enemy to strongly re-enforce Kirby 
Smith. Information reached Steele that Kirby Smith in person, with 
eight thousand re-enforcements, had made a junction with Piice, and 
that the combined armies were advancing to attack him. Hence retreat 
was imperative. He, therefore, moved for Little Rock, his retreat 
being greatly harassed by the enemy, and his main column compelled 
to destroy trains and bridges. On the 30th of April, while crossing the 
Saline River, he Avas attacked by a body of the enemy under General 
Fagan ; but the assault was repulsed. A portion of the enemy's cav- 
alry, however, crossed the river above, and hurried on towards Little 
Rock, hoping to take it by surprise while the Union forces were at a 
distance ; the movement was, however, unsuccessful. 



CHAPTER LXIIL 



War in Missouri. — Execution of Guerrillas. — Marmaduke's Movements. — Helena. — 
Successful Campaign of General Steele in Arkansas. — Capture of Little Rock. — 
General Gantt. — Sacking of Lawrence by QuantreU. — Price's Last Invasion of Mis- 
souri. — His Disastrous Defeat and Retreat into Arkansas. 

After the withdrawal of General Ilalleck from command in Missouri 
in 1862, many operations of minor character took place, and the State 
was greatly disturbed by guerrillas imder QuantreU, Poindexter, Por- 
ter, Cobb, and other partisan leaders, aided l)y more regular o:ganiza- 
tions. In September, 1862, the States of Missouri, Kansas, and Ar- 
kansas were erected into a military district under the command of 
General Curtis, and General Schofield* assumed the command of the 



bellion, and was commissionefl a colonel in the 
rebel army. He was wounded at Bull Run, where 
his timely arrival turned the scale against the 
national troops, and soon afterwards was appointed 
a briiradier-generul. In February, 1S62, he was 
promoted to be a major-ijeiieral, and sent to take 
command in East Tennessee. He p.articipated 
in Bragg's invasion of KentueUy in the same year, 
fought at Murfreesboro', and "early in 1803 was 
appointed to command the Department west of 
the Mississippi, which he ret.iined until the close 
of the war. He conducted the military operations 
in Louisiana in the camp.aigns of lS(i3 and 18G4, 
and had the credit of defeating Banks's costly and 
imfortiiniite Ked River Expedition. ]Ie was the 
last of the rebel generals holding important enm- 
mands to surremler to the United States author- 
ities. At that time he held the rank of lieutenant- 
general. 
•John McAllister SchoflelJ was born in Cha- 



tauqne County, New York, in 1S31, and graduated 
at AV'est Point in 1S53. He served for live years 
as instructor in natural philosophy at West Point, 
and atthe outbreak of the rebellion w.is filling tho 
chair of moral philosophy at Washiuirton t'niver- 
sity, St. Louis. He was employed in organizing 
troops in the West in the early part of 1861, was 
subsef|uently General Lyon's chief of sUilf. and in 
November, 1S61, was commissioned a briirudit.r- 
general of volunteers. In June, 1862, he was ap- 
]iointcd to the military district of -Missouri, and a 
few mouths Later received command of the- Army 
of tho Frontier, with which hedrovi- llie rebel in- 
vading force under Hindm.an into .\rkaiisas. He 
retained this command until the early part of 1S64, 
when he was sent to East 'i'ennessee to relieve 
General Foster. As commander of the Twenty- 
third Corp.s, constituting the ArmyoftlieOhio.be 
participated in Sherman's campaign from Chatta- 
nooga to Atl.anta, after ■which he was dispatched 



HISTOEY or THE GKEAT EEBELLIOX. 605 

" Army of the Frontier" in Southern Missouri. In September a party 
of guerrillas under Colonel Porter made a raid upon Palmyra, and cap- 
tured among other persons an old and respected citizen named Andrew 
Allsman, who had been of great service to scouting parties sent out to 
arrest disloyal persons. As he was not again heard of, the belief gained 
ground that he had been murdered, particularly as the guerrillas had 
been recently guilty of several similar acts. Accordingly, General 
McXeil gave public notice that, unless Allsman should be surrendered 
within a given time, ten rebel prisoners should be shot. The ten days 
having elapsed without tidings of Allsman, ten j^risoners were shot in 
literal conformity with McXeil's notice. 

Early in 18G3, the rebel General Marmaduke, with a force of six thou- 
sand men, proceeded down the Arkansas Piver to Spadry's Bluff, near 
Clarksville, Arkansas, and thence marched rapidly north towards Spring- 
field, Missouri, with the intention of seizing the large amount of Federal 
commissary stores accumulated there. The design of Marmaduke in pro- 
ceeding so far eastward before making a movement northward into 
Missouri was to avoid all chance of collision or interference \vith his 
plans by Generals Blunt and Herron. He hoped to reach Springfield 
and accomplish his purpose before they could obtain intelligence of his 
approach, and this once accomplished, these generals and their army, 
deprived of all supplies, would, almost of necessity, be com])elled 
either to surrender to General Hindinan or fly from KorihAvestern 
Arkansas. 

As Marmaduke approached Si)ringfield, Generals Brown and Holland, 
who were in command there, collected a force of about twelve hundred 
men, sent the stores north towards Bolivar, and succeeded in repulsing 
the enemy, who retreated with the loss of forty-one killed and one hun- 
dred and sixty wounded. Meanthne, General Porter, who had been 
detached by Marmaduke with three thousand men to cai*ture Harts- 
ville, reached that point on the Otli of January, 1863, and moved to- 
wards Marshfield. General Fitz-Henry "Warren, in command of that 
Federal military district, sent from Houston, on the 9th of January, 
Colonel Merrill, with eight hundred and fifty men, to Springfield, to re- 
enforce the Federal garrison there. They reached Ilartsville on Satur- 
day, the 10th, and learned that Porter had been there the day previous. 
Leaving Hartsvilie at three p. m., they marched to "Wood's Forks, on 
the road towards Springfield, by nightfall, and encamped in line of 
battle. The next morning (January 11th), at daybreak, they encoun- 
tered Maimailuke's forces raarehing from Springfield, and inflicted a 
defeat upon him. Marmaduke, however, formed a junction with Por- 
ter, and marched for Hartsvilie. Colonel Mei-rill reached the place in 
time to put himself in defence. The Confederate attack was repulsed, 
and the rebels fell back up(m Houston, and thence to Little Pock, 
where Marmaduke remained some two mouths. On the ITth of April, 

to Tennessee, under the orders of Thomas, to op- ' ]MJ5 he accompanied his corps to Xorth Carolina, 
pose the invasion of Hood, lie checked tlie ad- j aii<l co-operated with Sherman in the final over- 
vance of the latter at the hard-fought battle of j throw of Johnston. At the cloee of the war he 
Franklin, November 30ih. 1S&4, and' in the sue- received command of the Dei>artment of North 
ceeding month participated in the series of Carolina. 
brilliant Tictories in front of Naehville. Early in | 



606 inSTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLI0:N-. 

the Confetlcrato General Cabell left Ozarlc, Arkansas, with a force of 
two thousand men, to attack Fayetteville, Arkansas, then garrisoned 
by two regiments of Federal troops (the First Arkansas Infantry and 
the First "Arkansas Cavalry), under the command of Colonel M. La 
Rue Harrison, The attack was made on the 18th about sutu'ise, and 
resulted in the retreat of the enemy upon Ozark. 

In April, General Price, in connection with Marmaduke, collected a 
force, mostly Texans, with the view of capturing Genernl Grant's 
depot of stores at Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi. This force, 
numbering ten thousand men, under Marmaduke, left Little Rock about 
the middle of April, and on the 20th had crossed the State line, and 
following the course of the St. Francis River, reached Fredericktown, 
Missouri, about the 22d. From this point they marched upon Capo 
Girardeau, and came before the town on the 25th. The garrison there 
was under the connnand of General John McNeil, and consisted of one 
thousand seven hundred men, mostly militia. McNeil had reached 
Cape Girardeau on the night of the 23d, and had taken immediate 
measures for the removal of the Government stores into Illinois, and 
had sent to St. Louis for re-enforcements. The attack was made April 
26th and was repulsed, the enemy retreating into Arkansas on JMay 2d. 
Many minor engagements took place. In July, General Blunt crossed the 
Arkansas River lUiar Henry Springs, in that Territory, and after, on the 
16th, defeating a force of Confederates under General Cooper, descended 
the Arkansas lliver, and on the 1st of September occupied Fort Smith, 
Arkansas. The Army of the Frontier having been greatly depleted to 
furnish re-enforcements to Grant, while he was engnged in the siege 
of Yieksburg, Price and Marmaduke made an attempt on Helena, 
Arkansas, held by General Prentiss with four thousand troops. The 
rebels were disastrously defeated, with the loss of eleven hundred 
prisoners and many killed and wounded. 

After the fill of Yieksburg, the preparations for which had- drawn 
troops out of Arkansas, General Steele was sent, in August, to join 
General Davidson, wlio was moving south from Missouri, at Helena, 
with orders to diive the enemy south of Arkansas River. Having 
ctfected this junction and established his depot and hospitals at Duvall's 
BlulF, on the White River, Steele, on the 1st of August, advanced 
against the Confederate army, which fell back towards Little Rock. 
After several successful skirmishes, he reached the Arkansas River, 
and threw part of his force on the south side, to threaten the Confed- 
erate communications with Arkadelphia, their depot of supplies, and 
flank their position at Little Rock. Marmaduke was sent out with a 
cavalry force to beat the Federals back, but was completely routed. 
Seeing what nuist be the inevitable result of this movement of Steele, 
the Confederate General Holmes destroyed what property he could, 
and, after a slight resistance, retreated with liis army in great disorder, 
pursued by the Federal cavalry, and on the 10th of September, Steele 
entered the capital of Arkansas. His entire losses in killed, wounded, 
and missing, in this whole movement, did not exceed one hundred. 
He captured one thousand prisoners, and such public propei'ty as the 
Confederates had not time to destroy. The Federal cavalry continued 



IIISTOET OF TILE GEEAT REBELLION'. 607 

to press the retreating Confederates soutlnvartl ; but a small force, 
•\vhich had eluded pursuit, and moved eastward, attacked the Federal 
garrison at Pine Bluff', on the Arkansas, south of Little IJock, hoping to 
recapture it and thus cripple the Federals, by breaking theii- commu- 
nications. The attempt, which was made on the 28th of October, was 
repulsed with decided loss on the part of the Confederates. The same 
day the Federal cavalry occupied Arkadelphia, the Confederates retreat- 
ing towards the Red River. This operation completely restored Ar- 
kansas to tlie Federal authority, except a small district in the extreme 
southwest, and the region of Northwest Arkansas, over which the guer- 
rilla and other irregular troops of the Confederates continued to roam. 

At this time the rebel cause experienced the first defection of a 
prominent man, in the person of the Hon. E. W. Gantt, a well-known 
citizen of Arkansas, who had held positions of influence in the Con- 
federacy, having served with their armies in the field as a general and 
been twice taken jtrisoner by our forces. He issued an address to the 
people of his State, in which he presented with great force the reasons 
for his abandonment of his comrades. The chief of thes(i was the 
thorough conviction to which he had been brought by the stern logic 
of events that the rebels Avere fairly beaten and might as well end the 
contest at once. " Our armies," he said, " are melting, and ruin ap- 
proaches us. The last man is in the field, half our territory oveirun, our 
cities gone to wreck — peopled alone by the aged, the lame and halt, and 
■women and children ; while deserted towns, and smoking ruins, and 
plantations abandoned and laid waste, meet us on all sides, and anarchy 
and ruin, disappointment and discontent lower overall the land." He 
accordingly advised submission, on the ground that the sooner the 
South laid down their arms and (piitted the struggle, the sooner would 
the days of prosperity return. 

The most atrocious outrage of the war up to this time was the attack 
of the guerrilla chief Quantrell upon the town of Lawrence, Kansas, 
on August 21st. The citizens, taken wholly by surprise, were shot 
down in the streets in cold Idood, and even women were fired at. Two 
hundred and five persons were killed and many wounded. Numerous 
houses and chui-ches were burned, and property valued at two million 
dollars was destroyed. A hastily organized force follovv^ed in i)ursuit of 
the guerrillas, and succeeded in killing about forty of them, but the 
greater part of the band escaped with their booty. 

Late in Seittember, the Confederate General Cabell collected a force 
of some eight thousand men, crossed the Arkansas River east of Fort 
Smith, and on the 1st of October, a detachment of his troops, under 
Generel Shelby, joined Coftey at Crooked Prairie, Missouri,^ intending 
to make a raid into Southwestern Missouri. Tiiis combined force, num- 
bering two thousand or two thousand fiA^e hundred men, penetiated as 
far as the Missouri River, at Booneviile, where the Missoui'i State Militia 
and the Enrolled Missouri ^Vlilitia met him, October 12th, under the com- 
mand of General Brown. Shelby was here routed, his artillery taken 
from him, his fo»ces scattered. After Brown gave up the chase, it 
was taken up by General Ewing, the commanding general of the 
Missouri Border, who followed lum to the old battle-field of Pea Ridge, 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELL10:N-. 

where he abandoned the chase, and General John MclSTeil, commanding 
the District of SouthAVest Missom-i, took it up and ran him across the 
Boston Mountain in Arkansas. General Blunt, commandino; the Dis- 
trict of the Frontier, having been relieved by General McXeil, he at 
once started to assume the command of Blunt' s army. With these 
last convulsive throes, the active existence of the Confederate authority 
in Arkansas died out. On the 12th of November, a meeting was held 
at Little Rock, to consult on measures for the restoration of the State 
to the Union, and was succeeded by others in different parts of the 
State. 

General Rosecrans succeeded General SchoCeld in the command iu 
Missouri. Early in 1864, he found it prudent to concentrate his forces 
in the vicinity of St. Louis, and the country south of the Maramec 
River was a prey to anarch3^ The towns in that vicinity had suffered 
great injury, and some of them been burnt, the crops destroyed, and 
the inhabitants conscripted or driven from their homes. Small guerrilla 
forces, under Shelby and others, committed great dejjredations. In 
May, 1864, a company of Missouri cavalry, escorting a train, were de- 
feated and the train burned near Rolla, Vague rumors and threats of 
a new invasion of Missouri by Price began now to spread with grow- 
ing strength, and about the 21st of September information was re- 
ceived at head-quarters that Price, crossing the Arkansas with two 
divisions of cavalry and three batteries of artillery, had joined Shelby 
near Batesville, sixty miles south of the State line, to invade Missouri 
with about fovirteen thousand veteran mounted men. 

The Federal force there consisted of six thousand five hundred 
mounted men for field duty in the department, scattered over a country 
four hundred miles long and three hundred broad, which, with the par- 
tially organized nevv infantry regiments and dismounted men, constituted 
the entire force to cover our great depots at St. Loii,is, Jefferson City, St. 
Joseph, Macon, Springfield, Rolla, and Pilot Knob, guard railroad 
bridges against invasion, and protect, as far as possible, the lives and 
property of citizens from the guerrillas who swarmed over the whole 
country bordering on the Missouri River. 

After the defeat of Banks's expedition. General A. J. Smith, Avith 
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, reiiirned to Vicksburg, 
where they were destined to rejoin the Army of the Cumbei'land under 
Sherman, of which force they really constituted a part. Meantime, 
however, Marmaduke, with a force of aboiit six tliousand infantry and 
cavalry and three batteries, occupied Lake "N'illage, whence he inter- 
rupted the traffic of the Missouri River. General Smith therefore pro- 
ceeded in quest of Marmaduke. On the 5th of June, Smith's force, 
comprising General Mower's Division of tlie Sixteenth Cor|)S and one 
brigade of the Seventeenth Corps, disembarked at Sunny Side. After 
a march of thirty miles they encountered Marmadid^e, and defeated 
him. On the Vth, Smith's forces re-embarked for Memphis. 

No sooner had Pi-ice commenced his nuarch than Steele ibllowed, re- 
enforced by Mower's Infantry and VVinslow's CavalrjA, sent from Mem- 
phis, ami A. J. Smith's troops, passing Cairo towards Nashville, at the 
earnest solicitations of the general commanding, were ordered to halt 



IIISTOllT OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 609 

and return to opi)ose Price, who was aiming for Jefferson City, tlie 
State capital. Crossing the White River at Salinn, Arkansas, on the 
14th of September, with a force estimated at eight or ten thonsand, 
and several pieces of artillery. Price entered Missoiiri from tlie south- 
east. Oil the 2:3d, his advance, under Shelby, occupied Bloomfield, 
Stoddard County, which place was evacuated by our forces on the 
night of the 21st, On Monday, the 2Gth of September, Price ad- 
vanced against Pilot Knob, St. Francois Coimty, which had fortunately 
been occupied on Simday by Ewing, with a brigade of the Sixteenth 
Army Corps, General A. J. Smith. With this force, strengtiiened by the 
garrisons of Pilot Knob and outlying posts, Ewing was able to repulse 
the rebels, who, without delay, undertook to carry the place by assault. 
Our forces occupied a fort in the neighborhood of Ironton, wiiich was 
commanded, however, by adjacent hills. Confident of their ability to 
capture the place by a direct assault, the enemy advanced against it, 
but Avere driven back with severe loss by a well-directed tire of artillery 
and musketry at easy range. The fort was a strong one, mounting four 
Iwenty-four-pounders, four thirty-twos, and four six-pound Parrotts, 
besides two six-pound Parrotts mounted outside ; but the occupation 
by the enemy of Shepherd Mountain, a hill commanding the place, com- 
pelled Ewing to evacuate. After blowing up his magazine, he fell back 
to Harrison Station on the Southwest Branch Railroad, where he made 
a stand, behind breastworks left by a party of militia Avho had pre- 
viously occupied the town. The enemy followed him sharply, and cut 
the railroad on both sides of him, severing communication both with 
St. Louis and Rolhi. Ewing reached Rolla with the main body of his 
troops. 

IVIeantime, Springfield having been placed in a state of defence, 
General Sanboin moved with all his available cavalry to re-enforce 
General McNeil at Rolla ; while the infantry of Smith, aided by the 
militia and citizens, put St. Louis in a state of defence, where General 
Pleasonton had relieved General Frank Blair. The militia were 
placed by Rosecrans under the direction of Senator B. Gratz Brown. 

Brown concentrated at Jefferson City the troops of the Central 
District, and, re-enforced by General Fisk with all available troops 
north of the Missouri, prepared for the defence of the capital of the 
State, the citizens of which vied, with the military in their enthusiastic 
exertions to repel the invasion. The enemy, after awaiting at Rich- 
wood's for a day or two, and threatening St. Louis, started for the 
State cajntal. McNeil and Sanborn, moving with all their available 
cavalry, by forced marches reached the point of danger a few miles 
in advance of him, and, uniting with Fisk and Brown, saved Jefferson 
City. Price then retreated upon Booneville, and Pleasonton, having 
assumed command at Jefferson City, sent a mounted force, under San- 
born, in pursuit. This force, on the 19th of October, united Avith the 
brigade of Winslow, which had been dispatched by General INIower 
to follow the enemy from Arkansas. The united force, now six thou- 
sand five hundred strong, under Pleasonton, pursued the enemy to In- 
dependence, where the rebel rear-guard was overtaken and routed. 
Curtis, who held Westport, was driven out by Shelby, who in his turn 
39 



610 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT llEBELLIOT^. 

was defeated by Pleasonton. Tlic retreat and pursuit were kept up 
witli vigor, aud, Curtis having united with Pleasonton, tlie enemy wer« 
overtaken at Little Osage Crossing, where two advanced brigades, 
under Benteen and Phillips, charged two rebel divisions, routed them, 
ca])tured eight pieces of artillery, and near one thousand prisoners, in- 
cluding Generals Marmaduke and Cabell.^ Sanborn's Brigade again led 
in pursuit, overtook the rebels, and made two more brilliant charges, driv- 
ing every thing before them across the Marmiton, whence the enemy fled, 
under cover of night, towards the Arkansas. After thus marching two 
hundred and four miles in six days, and beating the enemy, his Hying 
columns were pursued towards the Arkansas by the Kansas troops 
and Bentoen's Jirigade, while Sanborn, following, marched one hun- 
dred and four miles in thirty-six hours, and on the 28th reached New- 
tonia, where the enemy made his last stand, in time to turn the tide 
of battle, which was going against General Blunt, again routing the 
enemy. The gains claimed by Price in this invasion were far more 
than neutralized by his losses. These amounted to ten pieces of artil- 
lery, a large number of small-arms, nearly all his trains and plunder, 
and, besides his killed, wounded, and deserters, upward of two thousand 
prisoners. The total Union loss was less than a thousand. With this 
abortive attempt to rival the early sftccesses of the rebellion in this 
quarter, ended the rebel attempts to conquer Missouii. Price retired 
with a depleted and demoralized army into Southern Arkansas, and 
thenceforth Missouri enjoyed a greater degree of tranquillity than she 
had known since the outbreak of the war. 



CHAPTER I.XIV. 

Mobile. — Its Defences. — Concentration of Troops. — Combined Operations. — Landing on 
Daiiphine Island. — Order of Battle. — Tecuinseli blown up. — Tennessee Attacks. — 
Desperate Battle. — Mode of Attack. — Fort Powell blown up. — Fort Gaines Surren- 
ders. — Siege of Fort Morgan. — Surrender. — Minor E.xpeditious. 

As a part of the concerted plan of campaign, an attack upon Mobile 
was projected by Grant, with the object of weakening Johnston in 
Georgia, by inducing him to send troops for the defence of that city. 
After the return of Banks's army from the Red River, and the ap- 
pointment of General Canby to the command of the West Mississippi 
Military Division, an expedition against Mobile began to be organized. 
The land defences of Mobile consisted of three lines of strong earth- 
Avorks, extending live or six miles to the rear of the city. Along the 
east coast of IMobile ]5ay were Piutow's Battery, Batteries Choctaw, 
Cedar l*lain. Grand Spell, and Light-house Battery, each of which con- 
sisted of thirty-two-pound rifled cannon mounted in earthworks. The 
land is, however, level and low, and presents no natural advantages 
for a defence. Iforts Morgan and (:iaines, commanding the entrance 
to Mobile Bay, are the flrst obstacles that a fleet encounters in attempt- 
ing to enter from the Gulf The former is situated on the southwest- 



HISTOilY OF THE GliEAT KEBELLION. 



611 



ern extremity of a long Bpur of land, that separates Bon Socour Bay 
from the Mexican Gulf, and commanded tlic two easierly clmnnels 
of entrance, while the western one, and Grant's Pass, are immediately 
under the guns of Fort Gaines, a casemated foi'tification. Between tiie 
forts and the city, tlie chantiels w«re obstructed ]>y lines of stout piles 
driven in the mud, and a slo^p loaded with stoue was stationed imme- 
diately in the centre of the channel that runs through Dog Bivor Bar, 
ready to be sunk on the passage of the forts. In the Mobile Biver, 
consideral^ly above the city, an iron-clad ram, the Tennessee, and i'our 
wooden gunboats, were afloat. The harbor of Mobile is generally 
shallow, and it was customary for heavy shipping to anchor just inside 
of Dauphine's Island, near the entrance to the bay, and some twenty- 
eight miles from the city. Steamers, however, being more easily 
managed, were admitted under the guidance of skilful pilots, and even 
sailing vessels of six or seven hundred tons could approach the city. 
Preparatory to an expedition for the capture of Mobile, the Federal 
troops in Louisiana were concentrated in New Orleans. 

In July, the ileet of Adinii-al Farragut, accompanied by a land force 
under Generals Canby and (Granger, arrived off Mobile Bay. A con- 
sultation was held between Generals Granger and Canby with the Ad- 
miral, on July 8th, when it was determined that Fort Gaines should 
be first invested. The fleet was to cover the landing of a force on 
Dauphine's Island for that purpose, and the 4th of August was, after 



r 



NOTE 

f. "i- JleljfZ Jintteriet &) 
Murlhworhi J 



Jtuatl \ \ 






'o J'vnsc/Lcoloy 



{ISPANISHFORT \ 



^ 



VartorsJ V7 




) I/' / / /',/"^>': ;,r <• • / 
r% / / W I'll' ~ 








.Ttf 



Ho^''^ "'■ ' "'; ,~A-'. ^<>S 



:>^ 






'^^ OvKtoJ- 

', ^1 //r/i 






612 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 

some nnavoiclablo delays, fixed upon as the time for landin;?. Mean- 
wliile, tlie enemy, under General Page, were busy tlwowinii; troops and 
supi)lies into Fort (^aines, which was commanded by Colonel Ander- 
son, of the Twenty-first Alabama. 

Early on the 4th of Augixst, the Federal fleet, twenty-six sail, in- 
cludinp; two double and one single turr<^ted monitor and an iron-clad 
double-ender, commenced closing in their line southeast of Fort Mor- 
gan, as with a view to concentrate their eftbrts on Fort Gaines, having 
during the preceding nights landed a force of from three to five thou- 
sand men under Generat Granger, on Dauphine Island. During the 
early part of the day they kept up an irregular and desultory fire on the 
fort* as if designuig to make against that point a combined attack by 
land and sea. 

The real intention of the admiral, however, was to eftect the pas- 
sage of the forts with his fleet, and the vessels outside the bar which 
were designed to particii)ate in the engagement were all under way 
by forty minutes past five in the morning of August 5th, in the follow- 
ing order, two abreast and lashed together : — 

"Brooklyn, Captain James Alden, with the Octovara, Lieutenant- 
Commander C. H. (Treen, on the port side ; Hartford, Captain Perci- 
val Drayton, with the Metacomet, Lieutenant-Con>mander J. E. Jouett; 
Kichmond, Captain T. A. Jenkins, with the Port Royal, Lieutenant- 
Commander B. Gherardi; Lackawanna, Captain J. B. Marchand, 
with the Seminole, Commander E.Donaldson; IMonongahela, Com- 
mander J. H. Strong, with the Kennebec, Lieutenant-Commander W. 
P. ^McCaim ; Ossipee, Commander W. E. Le Roy, with the Itasca, Lieu- 
tenant-Commander George Brown; Oneida, Commander J. R. M. 
IMuUanv, with the Galena^ Lieutenant-Commander C. H. Wells. 

The "iron-dads Tecumseh, Commander T. A. M. Craven, the Man- 
liattan. Commander J. W. A. Nicholson, the Winnebago, Commander 
T. II. Stevens, and the ChickasaAV, Lieutenant-Commander T. 11. Per- 
kins, were already ahead inside the bar, and had been ordered to take 
up their positions on the starboard side of the wooden ships, or between 
them and Fort Morgan, for the double purpose of keeping down the 
fire from the water-battery and the parapet guns of the fort, as well as 
to attack the ram Tennessee as soon as the fort was passed. 

The attacking fleet steamed steadily up the main ship channel, the 
Tecumseh firing the first shot at forty-seven minutes past six. At six 
minutes past seven the fort opened upon the fleet, and was replied to by 
a gun from the Brooklyn, and, immediately after, the action became gen- 
enil. The guns of the fort played with eftect upon the Brooklyn and 
Hartford, and soon after the firing became hot. The Tecumseh careened 
suddenly, and sank, destroyed by a torpedo, nearly all hands being 
lost. The Hartford, flag-ship, then took the lead, and the fleet, pushing 
steadily forward, and maintaining a constant fire, passed tlie foi"ts 
shortly before eight o'clock. As the Hartford passed up she was at- 
tacked by the Tennessee, but without effect. The rebel gunboats Mor- 
gan, Gaines, and Selma, which had kept up an annoying fire, were 
then attacked. The Selma was captured by the Metacomet, while the 
Morccan and Gaines drew off under the guns of Fort Morgan. The 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 613 

former escaped to Mobile, and the latter was run ashore and destroyed. 
The Tennessee then stood down for the flag-ship. The monitors were 
immediately ordered to attack her. The Monongahela, Commander 
Strong, was the first vessel that struck her, and in doing so carried 
away his own iron prow, together with the cut-water, without appar- 
ently doing his adversary much injury. The Lackawanna, Captain 
Marchand, was the next vessel to strike her, which she did at full 
speed ; but though her stern was cut and crushed to the plank ends for 
the distance of three feet above the water's edge to five feet below, the 
only, perceptible effect on the ram was to give her a heavy lift. The 
Hartford was the third vessel which struck her, but as the Tennessee 
quickly shifted her helm, the blow was a glancing one, and as she 
rasped along the side of the Hartford, that vessel ponred her whole port 
broadside of nine-inch solid shot within ten feet of her casemate. The 
monitors worked slowly, but delivered their fire as opportunity offered. 
The Chickasaw succeeded in getting nnder her stern, and a fifteen-inch 
shot from the Manhattan broke through her iron plating and heavy 
wooden backing, though the missile itself did not enter the vessel. 

The Hartford again bore down upon the ram at full speed, when, 
unfortunately, the Lackawanna ran into the Hartford just forward of 
the mizzenmast, cutting her down to within two feet of the water's 
edge. They soon got clear again, however, and again bore down for 
the enemy. The Tennessee was now in a desperate strait. The Chick- 
asaw was pounding away at her stern, the Ossipee Avas approaching 
her at full speed, and the Monongahela, Lackawanna, and Hartford 
were bearing down upon her, determined upon her destruction. Her 
smoke-stack had been shot away, her steering chains were gone, com- 
pelling a resort to her relieving tackles, and several of the port-shut- 
ters were jammed. Indeed, from the time the Hartford struck her until 
her surrender, she never fired a gun. As the Ossipee, Commander Le 
roy, was about to strike her, she hoisted the white flag, and that ves- 
sel immediately stopped her engine, thoiigh not in time to avoid a 
glancing blow. During the contest with the rebel gunboats and the 
ram Tennessee, and which terminated by her surrender at ten o'clock, 
the fleet lost many more men than from the fire of the batteries of 
Fort Morgan. Admiral Buchanan, commanding the Tennessee, was 
wounded in the leg, two or three of his men were killed, and five or 
six wounded. Commander Johnston, formerly of the United States 
Navy, came on board the flag-ship to surrender his sword and that 
of Admiral Buchanan. 

Thus ended one of the fiercest naval combats on record, in which 
the defence made by the Tennessee illustrated the power of that class 
of vessels. After all the terrible attacks to which she was exposed, 
her hull was but little injured. Her commander was in charge of the 
Merrimac during her famous attack upon the Federal fleet in Hnmp- 
ton Roads. It had been imagined that as the ship channel led so very 
close to the powerful Fort Morgan, no ships would dare attempt the 
passage ; or, if the attempt were made, none would succeed. But in 
Farragut's hands tliis peculiarity of the channel became an advantage 
to the attacking, and a weakness to the defending side. The novel 



614 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 

and ingenious expedient of lashing Lis vessels together, two and two, 
showed how thoronglily the rear-admiral had considered the dan- 
gers in his Avay, and how successfnlly he met them, 1st. If the ex- 
posed half of his fleet had been disabled, the other half would still 
have gone in, Avith but little injury. 2d. His battle line wfis not liable 
to disorganization, by any vessel dropping out, and perhaps fouling 
another ; the Oneida was disabled, but her consort pulled Jier through, 
and the Oneida's men did not even leave their gims. 3d. If any ves- 
sel had been sunk, her consort Avould have surely and quickly saved 
the crew. 4th. His battle line was shortened by half, and the passage 
of course robbed of half its risks to the fleet. These were the chief 
points gained by Farragut's admirable and novel disposition of his force. 

On the night of the 7th of August, Fort Powell having surren- 
dered, the commander of Fort Gaines, Colonel Anderson, intimated a 
desire to surrender ; and for that purpose went on board the fleet and 
made terms. General Page, having some intimation of what was 
going on, telegraphed repeatedly to Anderson to hold on to his post. 
The fort, however, was surrendered, and by this means the western 
channel was now under the control of the Federal fleet. The sur- 
render of Fort Morgan could not after this be long delayed. Ac- 
cordingly, after some days spent in preparations, on August 21st, Gen- 
eral Granger notified Admiral Farragut that he would be ready to 
open the siege next morning at daylight. That night the admiral 
with his fleet took position in line of battle, and Monday morning, the 
22d, at five o'clock, opened upon Morgan with thirty guns of various 
calibre, and sixteen eight and ten inch mortars. In a short time three 
monitors and several wooden vessels opened, the former with eleven 
and fifteen inch shells, and the latter with rifled thirty-tAvo pounders. 
The firing continued with great vigor and extraordinary accuracy 
until dark, when the fleet Avithdrew, and the firing was continued 
only at intervals by the shore batteries. During the shelling the cita- 
del of the fort took fire, and the enemy, after vain efforts to extin- 
guish the flames, flooded the magazine and threw a large quantity of 
powder into the wells. No sooner Avas this light discovered than 
General Bailey ordered all our batteries to commence* firing, in order 
to prevent the extinguishment of the flames. 

At twenty minutes to seven o'clock on Tuesday morning, the 
23d, Captain Taylor, bearing a white flag, and accompanied by 
about forty men, carrying a small sail-boat, marched out at the main 
sallyport, facing Fort Gaines, Avith the intention of pushing ofi^ to the 
flag-ship, three or four miles distant, Avith a note from General Page, 
proj)Osing to surrender the fort, and asking Avhat terms would be 
granted. General Granger now arrived at the wharf, in front of Fort 
Morgan, and the note of General Page Av\as handed to him. Gr.anger 
' replied that he Avould communicate the contents of the note to the 
admiral, and when his answer Avas received the terms of surrender 
would be dictated. In a short time thereafter Granger sent General 
Arnold, chief of artillery, Captain Drayton,' of the Hartford, and 
another oflicer, Avith a demand for the immediate and unconditional 
surrender of Fort Morgan, Avith its garrison and all public property, 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLIOT^. 615 

to the army and navy of the United States. With these terms Page 
was fain to comply, though he disgraced himself by destroying and 
iniuring the property surrendered after he had accepted the terms. 
With Forts Moi-gan and Gaines eighty-six gims and fifteen hundred 
men fell into the possession of the Union troops, and Mobile was per- 
manently sealed against blockade-runners. 

On the return of the troops to New Orleans, after leaving sufficient 
garrisons in the Mobile forts, a number of expeditions Avere under- 
taken by General Canby's troops, of which the most important was 
one into West Florida, under command of General Asboth,- which 
reached Marianna on the afternoon of the 2'7th of September, captur- 
ing that place after a stubborn resistance of several hours. The result 
was the capture of eighty-one prisoners of war (among them a briga- 
dier-general and a colonel), ninety-five stand of arms, and large quan- 
tities of quartermaster's and commissary stores. Our loss in killed 
and wounded amounted to thirty-two, mcluding General Asboth him- 
self, who had his left cheek-bone broken and his left arm fractured in 
two places. 

An expedition, sent by General Dana from Rodney, Mississippi, 
readied Fayette on the 2d of October, encountering no enemy. They 
capiuied some cattle, hoi'ses, mules, and several prisoners. Another 
expedition sent by General Dana attacked the enemy at Woodville at 
seven o'clock on October Vth, capturing three guns, one captain, one 
lieutenant, fifty-four enlisted men, and killing forty of the enemy. 

A cavalry expedition, under General A. L. Lee, reached Clinton 
October 7tli, at seven o'clock, capturing forty-seven prisoners, the 
mails, telegraph office, &c., and a considerable quantity of stores and 
ammunition. Among the prisoners captured was Lieutenant-Colonel 
Pinckney, provost-marshal-general of the district (installed in his office 
a few hours before the arrival of our troops), one captain and two 
lieutenants. From there the expedition moved to Greensburg, and, 
finding no enemy, destroyed a tannery and some stores, and returned 
with a number of blacks. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

Expedition to Florida. — Occupation of Jacksonville. — Advance of General Seymour. — 
Battle of Olustee, and Retreat of tiie Union Army. — Demonstration against New- 
bern. — Capture of Plymouth. — The Albemarle. — Her Fight with Union Gunboats. 
— Her Destruction. — Rebel Privateers. — Combat between the Kearsarge and Ala- 
bama. — Capture of the Florida and Georgia. 

The early part of 1864 witnessed a series of disasters to the Union 
arms along the Atlantic coast, which, though involving the loss of no 
essential points, and having no direct influence upon the issue of the 
war, weie yet, in the aggregate, so considerable as to cause a wide- 
spread uneasiness. The great aggressive campaigns of Grant and 
Sheiman had not then commenced, and these temporary successes of 
the rebels, taken in connection with the practical failure of the joint 



616 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOJS". 

expedition into Southern Mississippi, with the Fort Pillow massacre 
and the unfoitunate termination of the Red River expedition, perplexed 
and irritated the public mind, while they infused no little heart into 
the rebel cause. 

In December, 18G3, in accordance with his request, authority was 
given to General Gillmore, commanding the Department of the South, 
to undertake such operations, within his department, as he might deem 
best, on consultation with Admiral Dahlgren, then in command of the 
South Atlantic blockading squadron. He accordingly intimated to the 
War Department that in February, 1864, he proposed to occupy the 
west bank of the St. John's River, and establish small depots there, 
preparatory to an advance at an early day. Under date of June 13th, 
1864, the President wrote to Gillmore that, understanding that certain 
persons were endeavoring to construct a legal government in Florida, 
which formed part of the Department of the South, and tliat Gillmore 
might possibly be there in pej'son, he had dispatched Mr. Hay, one of 
his private secretaries, to aid in the proposed construction. " It is de- 
sirable," he said, " for all to co-operate ; but if ii'reconoilable difterences 
of opinion shall arise, you are master. I wish the thing done in the 
most speedy way possible, so that when done it be within the range 
of the late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will of course 
have to be done by others, but I shall be greatly obliged if you will 
give it such general supervision- as you can find consistent with your 
more strictly military duties." By the close of January, Gillmore's 
plans seem to have been perfected, and in a letter to General Halleck, 
the general-in-chief, he stated that the objects to be attamed by his 
proposed operations were : — 

1. To procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, timber, <fec. 

2. To cut off one of the enemy's sources of commissary supplies, 
&c. 

3. To obtain recruits for any colored regiment. 

4. To inaiigurate measures for the speedy restoration of Florida to 
her allegiance, in accordance with instructions received from the 
President by the hands of Major John H. Hay, assistant adjutant- 
general. 

Orders were issued by Gillmore to General Truman Seymour, on 
February 5th, to proceed with a force of six thousand men to Jackson- 
ville, and, after effecting a landing, to push on to Baldwin, twenty 
miles further, with his mounted troops. The command of Seymour, 
convoyed by the gunboat Norwich, Captain Merriam, ascended the St. 
John's River on the Yth, and landed at Jacksonville on the afternoon 
of the same day. The advance, under Colonel Guy V. Henry, pushed 
forward into the interior on the night of the 8th, passed by the enemy, 
drawn up in line of battle at Camp Vinegar, seven miles from Jackson- 
ville, surprised and captured a battery three miles in the rear of the 
camp about midnight, and reached Baldwin about sunrise. At the 
approach of the Union troops, the enemy fled, simk the steamer St. 
Mary's, and burned two hundred and seventy bales of cotton, a few 
miles above Jacksonville. Our forces captured, without the loss of a 
man, about one hundred prisoners, eight pieces of artillery in serviod- 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 617 

able condition, and a large amount of otlier valuable property. On 
the Oth, Gillmore reached Baldwin, At that time, the enemy had no 
force in East Florida, except the scattered frngraents of General Fin- 
negan's command; we had taken all his artillery. On the 10th, a por- 
tion of our force was sent towards Sanderson, and Gillmore returned 
to Jacksonville. Telegraphic communication was established between 
Baldwin and Jacksonville on the 11th, and Seymour was directed by 
Gillmore not to risk a repulse by advancing on Lake City, but to hold 
Sanderson, unless there were reasons for falling back ; and also, in case 
his advance met with any serious opposition, to concentrate at Sander- 
son and the south fork of the St. Mary's, and, if necessary, to bring 
back Colonel Henry to the latter place. Having subsequently directed 
Seymour to make no further advance, without instructions, but to put 
Jacksonville in a complete state of defence, Gillmore returned on the 
16th to Hilton Head. 

On Thursday, February 18th, Seymour left his camp at Jacksonville, 
with ten days' rations, for the purpose of destroying the railroad near 
the Suwannee River, one hundred miles distant from Jacksonville. He 
had received no directions from Gillmore to undertake this movement, 
and the latter immediately sent positive orders to him to remain where 
he was ; but these, unfortunately, arrived too late to avert the disaster 
which subsequently occurred. On the 19th, the column, numbering 
about five thousand men, reached Barber's Station, on the Florida 
Central Railroad, about thirty miles fiom Jacksonville. Here it was 
the intention of Seymour to remain several days ; but during the night 
of the 19th, he received information of the enemy's whereabouts and 
plans, wliich led him to believe that by pushing rapidly forward his 
column, he would be able to defeat the enemy's designs, and secure 
important military advantages. At seven a.m. on the 20th, the march 
was resumed along the line of the railroad, in the direction of Lake 
City, and at noon the troops passed through Sanderson. At this place 
they did not halt, but pushed forward towards Olustee, nine miles dis- 
tant, tlie point at which Seymour believed he should meet the enemy. 
But instead of coming in contact with the enemy at Olustee, the meet- 
ing took place three miles east of that place, and six miles west of 
Sanderson, so that the troops were not so well prepared for battle as 
they would have been if Olustee had been the battle-field. The column 
moved forward in regular order, the cavalry in the advance, and the 
artillery distributed along the line of infantry ; but with singular 
negligence, considering the march was through an enemy's country, 
no flanking parties had been thrown out. 

At two p. M., as the head of the column reached a point where a 
couuti'y road crosses the railroad, the enemy's skirmishers were en- 
countered. After some brisk firing, the rebels fell back on a second 
line of skirmisliers, and ultimately upon their main forces, which were 
strongly posted between swamps, about six miles beyond Sanderson. 
The rebel j)osition was admirably chosen. On the right, their line 
rested upon a low and rather slight earthwork, protected by rifle-pits, 
their centre was defended by an impassable swamp, while on the left 
their cavalry was drawn up on a small elevation behind the shelter of 



618 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

a grove of pines. Their camp was intersected by the railroad, on 
which was phiced a battery capable of operating against our left or 
our centre, while a rifled gun, mounted on a truck, commanded the 
road. In order to attack this strong position, our troops were com- 
pelled to take a stand between two swamps, one in the front, the other 
in the rear. The artillery was posted within one hundred yards of the 
enemy's line of battle, a position in which they were exposed to the 
deadly fire of the rebel sharpshooters. 

The Seventh New Hampshire Regiment, in connection with the Sev- 
enth Connecticut, was sent forward to the right, to break through the 
enemy's line. This movement brought on hot firing, and it was evi- 
dent that an engagement was near at hand. At this time, the Union 
force on the field consisted of the Seventh New Hampshire, the Sev- 
enth ConnecticTit, the Independent Battalion of Massachusetts Cavalry, 
the Fortietli Massachusetts Mounted Infantry, the Eighth United 
States Colored, Elder's Battery of four and Hamilton's of six pieces. 
The remainder of the column was halted on the road. While the 
movement on the right was in progress, Colonel Henry, in person, 
went over to the left to reconnoitre, and discovered that the enemy's 
right lapped on our left. This was reported to General Seymour, who 
immediately gave orders for the advance troops and batteries to come 
into position. The fact that the enemy had a force far supeiior in 
point of numbers to our OAvn was now beyond all dispute ; but to re- 
treat at that time was impossible, as the road was filled with troops 
coming up, and the woods on either side would not admit of passage 
on the flank. Soon Langdon, on the extreme left, and Hamilton on 
the right, succeeded in getting their batteries at work, but the guns 
being within one hundred yards of the enemy's front, the loss of life 
among the artillerists was too great to enal)le thera to maintain an 
efticient tire. In twenty minutes' time, Hamilton lost forty-four men 
and forty horses. The Eighth Colored Regiment, which formed his 
support, also sufiered considerably, and, after the death of the com- 
mander, Colonel Fribley, retired in disorder. Nevertheless, Hamilton 
kept his pieces at work until it was evident it would be sure loss to 
fire anotliLT round, and then gave orders to withdraw them. Horses 
were attached to only four pieces — the horses to the other two had been 
shot ; consequently two guns fell into possession of the enemy. On the 
right of Hamilton, the Seventh Connecticut and the Seventh New 
Hampshire were doing fearful execution. The Seventh Connecticut 
especially were standing their ground with marked valor, and every 
volley from their guns told on the rebel line. But the rebels outnum- 
bered them five to one, and, after losing one-fourth of their number, 
the two regiments were compelled to retire to the rear. At the same 
moment. Colonel Barton's Brigade, the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, 
and One Hundred and Fifteenth New York regiments, took the field, 
coming up in line en echelon. They fought with great resolution, but, 
like the other troops, could not make head against the overwhelming 
force opposed to them. 

The unequal contest was sustained until it became evident that tne 
numerical superiority of the enemy was too great to be successfully 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. G19 

opposed. Our line was gradually drawn back, leaving the dead and 
many of the seriously wounded in tliC Lands of the enemy. Thig 
movement was covered, by Colonel Montgomery's Brigade, tLe Fifly- 
fourlh Massachusetts and. tlie First North Carolina. When Barton's 
BiiL!a<le began to waver, in consequence of their ammunition running 
low, the First Xorth Carolina was sent into line in front, an<l succeeded. 
in holding the enetny in check. As our troops retired, the rebels at- 
tempted to Hank us on both sides, a movement which was checked by 
the judicious dispositions of Colonel Henry. The centre jjeld its 
ground under a heavy fire from front and flank, until the formation of 
a new po-ition about a hundred yards to the rear. Soon after the 
changes of line, the enemy made a desperate charge on the centre, but 
were driven back by Elder's Battery. 

At sunset the firing slackened on both sides, and the Union troops, 
though exhausted by a fatiguing march and three hours' severe figliting, 
retired, without confusion, from the held. iSeymour was by this time 
satisfied that the odds against him were too great to risk a repetition 
of the day's fighting. lie was moreover out of amtnuniiion, atid was 
fifty miles distant from his base. Every consideration prompted him 
to march his shattered force back to Jacksonville before the enemy 
should encompass it. The order to retreat was given, and, with hardly 
a pause, the troops commenced to retrace their weary route to Barber's. 
The retreat was conducted with perfect order, (.olonel Henry, with 
his cavah-y, bringing up tlie rear. At three o'clock, Sunday morning, 
the troops were at Barber's. The enemy followed closely, but did not 
press. A few of their cavalry only kept well up to the rear of Henry's 
column. At Barber's, the column rested until nine A. jw., and then 
took up the line of retreat, reaching Baldwin at aV>out three p. m. 
They haltx'd here a short time, and then went on towards .Jacksonville, 
arriving at the camping-ground, six miles out, JNIonday afternoon, 
the 22d. 

The Utiion loss in this battle was not far from twelve hundred, or 
about a fourth part of the force engaged. Five guns were aho aban- 
doned upon the field, two of Ifamilton's and three of Bangdon's Jiattery, 
from want of horses to drag them away. The enemy's lo^s must have 
beeti quite as severe, as he was inferior in artillery, and the Union bat- 
teries were for the most part fired at very short range. "J'hat he was 
considerably crippled was evident from the fact that he made no effort 
at vigorous pursuit. When finally he approached the neighborhood 
of Jackson, he found the Union army protected by strong works, 
with gunboats to support it iti case of need. No further attempt was 
made to penetrate into Flori<la, and no movement was initiated for re- 
organizing the State. The troops on both sides were a few months 
later called away for more important woik in Virginia. 

For two years subsequent to the landing of Burnside on the North 
Carolina coast, the Union troops had retaine<i uninterrupted possession 
of those places on the inland waters which were then occupied and 
fortified, and of which the most impoitant were Plymouth, on the south 
bank of the Roanoke River, near its entrance into Albemarle Sound; 
Washington, on the Pamlico liiver, and Newbern, on the Neuse. 



620 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIf. 

Rebel demonstrations against these towns in the spring of 1863 had 
proved abortive, and public interest was soon absorbed by the great 
campaigns in Virginia and the Valley of tlie Mississippi. But previous 
to the renewal of active operations between the main contending 
armies, the rebel authorities determined, in the early part of 1864, to 
make another attempt to expel the Union troops from North Carolina. 
To harass the Federal Government, and to divert its attention from 
more important objects, was undoubtedly one of their motives. Another 
was to give greater security to the lines of raih'oad traversing Noi'th 
CaroHna, which might become of vital importance to the Confederacy 
in the event of the success of Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, and 
which were always more or less endangered by the proximity of Union 
garrisons on the coast. In aid of the projected movement, a large and 
powerful armored ram, called the Albemarle, which had been a long 
time building up the Roanoke River, was rapidly pushed to com- 
pletion. 

The first demonstration was against Newbern, and was evidently in- 
tended as a feint. On February 1st, the rebel General Picket, with 
the brigades of Hoke, Corse, and Clingman, carried by assault a small 
Union outj)OSt within eight miles of the town, capturing two guns and 
a few prisoners ; but satisfied, apparently, by a nearer reconnoissance, 
that the defences of Newborn were too strong to be attacked with 
any prospect of success, he withdrew his troops to Kinston on the 
succeeding day. 

The next movement was of a more serious character, and was di- 
rected against Plymouth, which had been strongly fortified, and com- 
manded the entrance to the Roanoke River. The main defences com- 
prised a breastwork with strong forts at diiferent points along the line. 
A mile further up the river was another strong work, called Fort Gray, 
opposite to which a triple row of piles had been driven, with torpedoes 
attached, to serve as a protection to the Union war vessels anchored 
in front of the town. Still farther up was another row of ])iles with 
torpedoes, near which a picket boat was stationed to give warning of 
the approach of the Albermarle. In the middle of April the gai-rison 
consisted of about two thousand five hundred men, under command of 
General Wessells, and the gunboats Southfield, Miami, Bombshell, 
"Whitehead, and Ceres were at anchor in the river. On Sunday, April 
17th, Hoke, with a force estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand men, 
and a heavy artillery train, appeared, before the town, and, late in the 
afternoon. Fort Gray was attacked from a battery of six pieces planted 
on a sand-bank on Pope's Island, a thousand yards up the river. Two 
desperate charges were made on the fort at early dawn of Monday, 
and both gallantly repulsed with severe slaughter to the enemy. The 
Bombshell, a small gunboat, steaming up to the aid of the fort, was sunk 
by the battery. At sunset the enemy desperately assaulted Forts Wil- 
liams and Wessells, forming part of the main line of defences, and were 
repulsed three times, the gimboats aiding the forts by hurlmg shell 
among the rebel columns. 

At three a. m. of Tuesday, the 19th, the much-dreaded Albermarle, pass- 
ing through the obstructions unharmed, silently ran down the river, elu- 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIN". 621 

ding our battery, and, obliquely crossing, struck her prow into the star- 
board bow of the Southfield, which sank in ten minutes. The Houthtield 
was formerly a ferry-boat plying between New York and Stat en Island, 
side-wheel, eleven hundred and sixty-five tons and seven guns. Some 
of her officers and crew were picked up by the Miami, some cap- 
tured, and a few lost. Both the Southfield and Miami had been 
lashed together to oppose a joint resistance to the ram, but the shock 
of the collision separated them. The Miami, and the Southfield as 
long as she could keep above water, maintained a brisk fire upon the 
Albemarle, which proved utterly ineffective. In firing on the ram, Lieu- 
tenant-Commader Flusser, commanding the Miami, a gallant and skilful • 
sailor, was instantly killed, by the rebound of a shell from the impenetra- 
ble sides of the enemy. His death Avas especially disastrous at that time, 
when, most of all, his skill and courage were needed. The ram, having 
driven ofi:* the" gunboats, began to shell the town and forts, briskly 
aided by the rebel batteries. The attack was violently cmducted on 
Tuesday, the rebel lines drawing nearer, and our force evacuating Fort 
Wessells, after a brave defence. At nine a. m., on Wednesday, Fort Wil- 
liams was assaulted and the enemy handsomely repulsed in several 
distinct charges, with great slaughter. At half-past ten a. m. General 
Wessells capitulated, and pulled the flag down fiom Forts Williams 
and Comfort. The garrison at. Fort Gray persisted in holding out 
somewhat longer, but finally surrendered. The enemy took about two 
thousand five hundred prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, several 
hundred horses, a large amount of proiAsions and stores, and the gar- 
rison outfit. The non-combatants of the town and some negroes had 
been prudently removed, before the main attack, to Roanoke Island. 
Our loss in killed and wounded was about one hundred and fifty — the 
enemy's probably upAvard of a thousand. The enemy seemed satisfied 
with this success, and made no further attempt upon Newberu or 
Washington. Warned, however, of the danger of leavinij isolated gar- 
risons to be overpowered after the fashion of Plymouth, Government 
ordered the evacuation of Washington in the latter part of April, so 
that by the 1st of May the only place on the mainland of being the 
North Carolina sounds occupied by the Union forces was Newbern, 
Avhich from its great strength might Avell defy attack. Operations by 
land forces ended, however, with the capture of Plymouth, and the 
troops on both sides were soon after, for the most part, sent North, to 
participate in the campaign against Richmond. 

As the i^resence of the Albemarle in tlie North Carolina Avaters 
threatened to destroy the uninterrupted supremacy which the Federal 
fleets had maintained there, the squadron Avas increased, and Captain 
JMelancthon Smith, an experienced officer, placed in command. On May 
5th, the Union fleet being collected near the mouth of the Roanoke 
River, the Albemarle sallied forth, accompanied by the Bombshell as a 
tender, and at half-past four p. m., proceeded to attack the gunboats. 
The latter Avere mostly small craft, built expressly to navigate the shal- 
low waters of the sounds and the rivers floAving into them, but man- 
fully accepted the unequal battle. Soon after five o'clock the Sassacus, 
a "double-ender" (that is, a vessel capable of sailing equally well in 



622 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

either direction), watching her opportunity, struck the ram fairly abaft 
her starboard beam, causing her to careen until the water washed over 
her deck and casemates. In this position the two vessels remained for 
about ten minutes, the crew of the Sassacus vainly endeavoring to 
throw luuid-grenades down the hatch of the Albemarle, and to get 
powder into her smok-estack. At length they separated, and at the 
moment of parting the ram sent a hundred-pound shot clean through 
the starboard boiler of her antagonist, filling her with steam and caus- 
ing her to retire for a while from the fight. No further casualty oc- 
curred to the Union fleet, and about half-past seven the ram retired up 
. the Roanoke River. Her tender, the Bombshell, was captured early 
in the action. From reports of refugees, it appeared that the Albe- 
marle had suffered considerably in the encounter. None of the gun- 
boats were much injured except the Sassacus, and the battle, consider- 
ing the relative strength of the contending parties, was justly claimed 
to have been creditable to the courage and skill of American seamen. 

The Albemarle did not venture outside of the river again, but, under 
the apprehension that she might at any time make her appearance, 
various plans were devised for her destruction. Of these, the only 
successful one was that suggested and imdertaken by Lieutenant W. B. 
Gushing, a young officer Avho had gamed an enviable reputation for 
coolness and, intrepidity in hazardous enterprises. On the night of 
October 27th he started up the Roanoke in a steam-launch equipped as 
a torpedo-boat, having on board a crew of thirteen officers and men. 
The distance from the mouth of the river to where the ram lay was 
about eight miles, and the banks, which are about two hundred yards 
apart, were lined with rebel pickets. About a mile below the town 
was the wreck of the Southfield, surrounded by some river craft. The 
result of the attempt is thus related by Lieutenant Gushing: — 

"Our boat succeeded in passing the picket, and even the Southfield, within twenty 
yards, without discovery, and wo were not hailed until by the lookouts ou the ram. 
The cutter was then cast ofT and ordered below, while we made for our enemy under a 
full head of steam. The rebels sprung their rattles, rang the bell, and commenced 
iiriug, at the same time repeating their hail, and seeming much confused. The light of 
a tire asliore showed me the iron-clad, made fast to the wharf, with a pen of logs around 
her about thirty feet from her side. Passing her closely, wc made a comi)lcte circle, 
so as to strike her fairly, and went into her bows ou. By this time the enemy's fire 
was ver\" severe, but a dose of canister, at short range, served to moderate tlieir zeal 
and disturb tlieir aim. Paymaster Swan, of the Otsego, was wounded near me. but 
how many more I know not. Three bullets struck my clothing, and the air seemed 
full of them. In a moment we had struck the logs, just abreast of the quarter-port, 
breasting them in some feet, and our bows resting on tliem. The torpedo-boom was 
then lowered, and, by a vigorous pull, I succeeded in driving the torpedo under the 
overhang, and exploded it at the same time that the Albemarle's gun was fired. A 
shot seemed to go crashing through my boat, and a dense mass of water rushed in 
from the torpedo, filling the laimch and completely disabling her. The enemy then 
continued his fire at fifteen feet range, and demanded our suriender. which I twice 
refused, ordering the men to save themselves, and removing my own coat and shoes. 
Springing into the river, I swam, with others, into the middle of the stream, the 
rebels failing to hit us. The most of our party were captured, some drowned, and 
only one escaped besides myself, and ho in a different direction. Acting Master's 
Mate Woodman, of the Commodore Hull, I met in the water half a mile bulow the 
town, and assisted him as best I could, but failed to get him ashore. Completely 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 623 

exhausted, I managed to reach the shore, but was too weak to crawl out of the water 
until just at daylight, when I managed to creep into the swamp, close to the fort. 
While hiding a few feet from the path, two of the Albemarle's officers passed, and 
I judged from their conversation that the ship was destroyed. Some hours' travelling 
in the swamp served to bring me out well below the town, when I sent a negro 
in to gain information, and found that the ram was truly sunk. Proceeding through 
another swamp, I came to a creek and captured a skiff belonging to a picket of the 
enemy, and with this, by eleven o'clock the next night, had made my way out to the 
Valley City." 

Only one other of the party succeeded in escaping, the rest being 
either killed, captured, or drowned, A detachment of naval vessels 
occupied Plymouth a few days later, and found the Albemarle lying 
near her wharf, completely submerged. In the succeeding year, how- 
ever, she was raised and converted into a useful war vessel. With 
this event military operations were practically ended in the inland 
waters of North Carolina. 

During the year 1864, the three English-built, equipped, and manned 
cruisers, the Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, whose depredations upon 
unarmed merchantmen had almost paralyzed the American carrying 
trade, terminated their piratical career. Early in June, the Alabama, 
Captain Raphael Semmes, after an unusually prosperous career in the 
Southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, arrived in the harbor of Cher- 
bourg. At that time the United States corvette Kearsarge, Captain 
John A. Winslow, was lying at Flushing, and her commander, upon 
hearing of the return of the Alabama to Northern waters, at once re- 
paired to Cherbourg to watch her movements. Semmes, ashamed pos- 
sibly of his inglorious career against defenceless vessels, and desiious 
to show that he was not afraid to meet an antagonist of equal stiength 
with his own ship, immediately sent word to Captain Winslow^ that he 
was desirous of meeting him in combat outside the harbor of Cher- 
bourg, and would feel obliged if the Union commander would wait 
until the Alabama was put in fighting trim. This proposition was 
willingly accepted by Captain Winslow, and the Kearsarge w^as held 
in readiness for the expected fight. The two vessels thus about to 
measure their strength were as nearly equally matched as any ocean 
combatants could be, their relative proportions being as follows : — 

Alabama. Kearsarge. 

Length over all 220 feet. 214^ feet. 

Length on water-line 210 " 19S| '• 

Beam 32 " 33 

Depth 17 " 16 '• 

Horse-power, two engines of. 300 each. 400 h. b. 

Tonnage 1,150 1.031 

The Alabama was a bark-rigged screw propeller, and the heaviness 
of her rig, and, above all, the greater size and height of her masts, 
gave her the appearance of a much larger vessel than her antagonist. 
The masts of the latter were disproportionately low and small : slie 
never carried more than topsail yards, and depended for her speed upon 
her machinery alone. Ships of war, however, Avhatever may be their 
tonnage, are nothing more than platforms for carrying artillery. The 
only mode by which to judge of the strength of two vessels is in com. 



624 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION". 

paring their armaments ; and herein we find the equality of tlie antago- 
nists as fully exemplified as in the respective proportions of their liulls 
and steam power. The armaments of the Alabama and Kearsarge 
were as follows : — 

Ai'mament of the Alabama. — One Y-inch Blakely rifle ; one 8-incb 
smooth-bore 6 8-pound er ; six 32-pounders. 

Armament of the Kearsarge. — Two 11-inch smooth-bore guns; one 
80-pounder rifle ; four 32-pounders. 

It will, therefore, be seen that the Alabama had the advantage of 
the Kearsarge — at all events, in the number of her guns — while the 
weight of the latter's broadside was only some twenty per cent, greater 
than her own. 

To protect the boilers of the Kearsarge, Captain Winslow had 
adopted the simple expedient of hanging her spare anchor cable over 
the midship section on either side. This had first been adopted by 
Farragut, in running with his fleet past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, 
on the Mississippi. The operation took just three days, without other 
assistance than the crew could aflbrd, and in order to make the addi- 
tion less vmsightly, the chains were boxed over Avith inch deal boards, ^ 
forming a case or box, which stood out at right angles with the vessel's 
sides. This was the whole foundation for the absurd stories circulated 
by rebel sympathizers, and which Semmes himself gave publicity to, 
that the Kearsarge was a formidable iron-clad, and consequently of 
vastly greater strength than her opponent. This method of employ- 
ing the anchor cable was perfectly well known to the rebel com- 
mander. He, however, preferred to protect his own boilers by taking 
on board one hundred and fifty tons of coal, which, in addition to two 
hundred tons already in his bankers, brought his vessel pretty low in 
the watei", while the Kearsarge, on the contrary, was deficient in coal, 
having taken on board barely sufficient for her immediate wants. 

Five days sufficed to complete Semmes's preparations, and on Sunday 
morning, June 19th, the Alabama, in "prime condition," according to his 
own statement, sallied forth to meet the Union cruiser. So much pub- 
licity had been given to the announcement that the Union and rebel 
war steamers were about to contend iji sight of the French coast, that 
the appointed day found the shores thronged with spectators, to whom 
a genuine sea-tight was a thing rather of the past than the present day. 
Fifty years had elapsed since the navies of England and France had 
contended in the same waters. Special excursion trains brought thou- 
sands of persons from Paris, and many had even come over from Eng- 
land. The efficiency of modern ordnance was now about to be tested 
by skilful hands, and the gunners of the Alabama, who had mostly 
been trained on the British practice-ship Excellent, were expected to 
show the superiority of the Blakely guns over those carried by the 
Kearsarge. The latter depended principally upon her eleven-inch 
Dahlgrens, and her gunners, taken mostly from the merchantmen, 
were without other instruction than that acquired during the year or 
two they had been in the National service. Singularly enough, too, 
although the greater part of European ships of war were steam pro- 
pelled, no single combat between vessels of this class, similar to those 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION'. 625 

80 often recorded in naval history, had ever taken place in European 
waters, and curiosity was greatly excited as to the probable result of 
such a contest. The day was clear and beautiful, just enough of a 
breeze prevailing to ruffle the surface of the water, and as the Alabama 
weighed and stood out of Cherbourg harbor on her mission of death 
and destruction, the church bells on either coast Avere summoning 
worshippers to the house of God. 

Shortly after ten o'clock the officers of the Kearsarge descried their 
antagonist coming out of the western entrance of the harbor, accora- 
panie(f by tlie French iron-clad frigate Couronne, which had been 
ordered lo convoy hor outside the limits of French waters. No sooner 
was the limit of jurisdiction reached than the Coui'onne put down her 
helm, and steamed back into port. Immediately preceding the Alabama 
was a three-masted steam yacht, the Deerhound, belonging to a Mr, 
Lancaster, an Englishman, who was on board with his family, ostensibly 
to witness the contest, but really, as it alterwards proved, to act the 
part of a tender to the rebel steamer. For the purpose of avoiding 
any infraction of French jui-isdiciion, and also of drawing the Alabama 
so fur off from shore that, if disabled, ?he could not return to port, 
Captain Winslow put out to sea, and at once cleared for action. Hav- 
ing reached a piniit seven miles from shore, he turned the head of his 
ship short around, and steered for the Alabama, intending to run her 
down, or, if that were not practicable, to close in with her. The 
following is his graphic account of the action which followed : — 

" Hardly had tl.e Kearsargo come round before the Alabama sheered, presented her 
starboard battery, and sloweil her engines. On approaching her at long range of about 
a mile, she opened her full broadside, the shot cutting some of our rigging, and going 
over and alongside of us. Immediately I ordered more speed; but in two minutes the 
Alabama had loaded and again fired another broadside, and followed it with a third, with- 
out damaging us except in rigging. We had now arrived within about nine hundred yards 
of her, and I was appreheusi\e that another broadside — nearly raking as it was — would 
prove disastrous. Accordingly I ordered the Kearsarge sheered, and open'.-d on the 
Alabama. The position of the vessels was now broadside and broadside ; but it was 
soon apparent that Captain Semmes did not seek close action. I became then fearful 
lest, after some fighting, that he would again make for the shore. To defeat this, I 
determined to keep full speed on, and v/itli a port helm to run under the stern of the 
Alabama and rake her, if he did not prevent it by sheering and keeping Ids broadside 
to us. He adopted this mode as a preventive, and as a consequence the .'Vlabama was 
forced, with a full head of steam, into a circular track during the engagement. The 
fetfeet of this mauceuvre was such that, at the last of the action, when tlie Alabama 
would have made oft" she was near five miles from ihe shore; and, had the actiori con- 
tinued from the first in parallel lines, with her head in shore, the line of jurisdiction 
would no doubt have been reached. The firing of the Alabama from the first waa 
rapid and wild ; towards the clo.se of the action her firing became better. Our men, who 
had been cautioned against rapid firing without direct aim, were much more deliberate j 
and the instructions given to point the heavy guns below rather than above the water- 
line, and clear tho deck with tiie lighter ones, v.^as fully observed. 

" I had endeavored, with a port helm, to close in with the Alabama but it was not 
until just before the close of the action that we were in position to use grape. This was 
avoided, however, by her surrender. The effect of the training of our men was evident; 
nearly every shot from our guns was telling fearfully on the Alabiuua, aud on the 
seventh rotation on the circular track she winded, setting foretrysail and two jibs, with 
head in shore. Her speed was now retarded, and by winding, her port broadside was 
presented to us, with only two guns bearing, not having been able, as I learned after- 
wards, to shift over but one. I saw now that she was at our mercy, and a few more 
40 



626 niSTOEY OF the geeat eebellion. 

guns, tvell directed, brought down her flag. I was unable to ascertain whether it had 
been liauled down or shot away ; but a white flag having been displayed over tlio stern, 
our fire was reserved. Two minutes had not more than elapsed before she again opened 
on us with two gun.s on the port side. This drew, our fire again, and tlio Kearsarge 
was immediately steamed ahead, and laid across her bows for raking. The white flag 
was still flying, and our fire was again reserved. Shortly after this her boats were 
seen to be lowering, and an oflicer in one of them came alongside, and informed us the 
ship had surrendered, and was fast sinking. In twenty minutes from this time tho 
.Alabama went down, her mainmast, which had been shot, breaking near the head aa 
she sank, and her bow rising high out of the water as her stern rapidly settled." 

In allusion to v/hat occurred after the surrender of the Alabama, 
Captain Wins! ow. reports as follows: — 

" It "was seen shortly afterwards that the Alabama was lowering her boats, and an 
ofScer came alongside in one of them, to say that they had surrendered, and were fast 
sinking, and begging that boats would be dispatched immediately for saving of life. 
The two boats not disabled were at once lowered, and, as it was apparent the Alabama 
was settling, tiiis officer was permitted to leave in his boat to afibrd assistance. An 
English yaclit, the Peerhound, had approached near the Kearsarge at this time, when 
I hailed and begged tho commander to run down to the Alabama, as she was fast sink- 
ing, and we had but two boats, and assist in picking up the men. He answered 
afSrmatively, and steamed towards the Alabama, but the latter sank almost immediately. 
The Decrhound. however, sent her boats, and was actively engaged, aided by several 
others, which had come from shore. These boats were busy in bringing the wounded 
and others to the Kearsarge, whom we were trying to make as comfortable as possible, 
when it was reported to me that tho Deerhound was moving off. I could not believe 
that the commander of that vessel could be guilty of so disgraceful an act as taking 
our prisoners off, and therefore took no means to prevent it, but continued to keep our 
boats at work rescuing the men in the water. I am sorry to say that I was mistaken ; 
the Deei hound made off with Captain Bemmes and others, and also the very officer 
who had come on board to surrender. I learnt subsequently that the Deerhound was a 
consort of the Alabama, and that she received on board all the valuable i^ersonal 
effects of Captain Semmes the night before the engagement." 

The Alabama, which fought seven guns to the Kearsarge's five, ia 
reported to have discharged three hundred and seventy or more shot 
and shell in this engagement, but inflicted no serious damage on tho 
Kearsarge. Thirteen or fourteen took effect in and about tlie hull of 
the latter, and sixteen or seventeen about the masts and rigging. The 
Kearsarge flred one hundred and seventy-three projectiles, of which 
one alone killed and wounded eighteen of the crew of the Alabama, 
and disabled one of her guns. Three persons were wounded on the 
Kearsarge. The number of killed and Avounded on the Alabama is 
unknown. Seventeen of the wounded, two of them in a dying condi- 
tion, were brought on board the Kearsarge. One hundred and fifteen 
officers and men of the Alabama's crew reached the shores of England 
and France, of whom six officers and sixty-four men were taken on 
board the Kearsarge. The Deerhound carried off fifteen officers, 
including Seramcs, who was slightly wounded, and twenty-seven men. 
The total ship's company of the Alabama, so far as can be ascertained, 
amounted to about one hundred and fifty, the majority bting British 
f?ubjects, of whom probably more than thirty were killed or drowned. 
The officers and crew of the Kearsa -ge numbered one hundred and 
sixty-three. The conduct of Serames in throwing overboard his sword 
after surrendcrmg, and allowLag himself to be conveyed to England, 



HISTORY OF TILE GllEAT EEBELLIOK 627 

was severely commented upon, and it was directed by the United 
States Government that he should be considered a prisoner of war 
Until properly exchanged. 

The Florida originally sailed from England under the name of Oreto, 
and under that name she was, on reaching Nassau, brought before the 
court through the efforts of the American consul, who was satisfied 
that she was in the rebel interest nnd intended as a rebel cruiser. The 
heutral authorities decided in favor of the vessel, which was permitted 
to proceed. Leaving Nassau, she went to Green Cay, where she re- 
ceived on board the armament sent out for her from England, ran into 
Mobile, changed her name to Florida, and subsequently fleeing from all 
naval vessels, carried on predatory war on American commerce, cap- 
turing and destroying unarmed merchantmen, without ever sending in 
a vessel for adjudication. In February, 1864, availing herself of a 
dark night, she escaped from Brest, eluding the Kearsarge, which was 
off that port. In June she visited the neutral jjort of St. George's, 
Bermuda, and remained there nine days, receiving all the coal and sup- 
plies necessary for a long piratical cruise. Leaving St. Geoi'ge's on thq 
27th of that month,^she remained outside, but in sight, for three or 
four days, boarding all vessels tliat approached the island. On the 
10th of July she captured the Electric Spark, near our coast, while 
several vessels were cruising for Ker, but she escaped, and was next 
heard from at TenerifFo, on the 4th of August. Subsequently, enter- 
ing the bay of San Salvador, Brazil, she encountered the steamer 
Waclmsett, commanded by Commander Collins, who, taking advan- 
tage of the absence of Captain Morris and about half the crew of the 
Florida on shore, quietly raised anchor and drove his ship straight into 
the rebel, who at once surrendered. A hawser was then attached to 
the captured vessel, and tlje Wachusett steamed out of the harbor at 
full s{>eed, having her prize in tow. The harbor fortifications opened 
upon her as she passed out, and she was followed by two Brazilian 
men-of-war, which, however, failed to overtake her. Th,e Florida was 
finally brought in a leaky and dilapidated condition to Hampton Roads. 
Here, while at anchor, and pending the settlement of the questions of 
international law which her caj^ture in a neutral port involved, an 
army transport came in collision with the shattered vessel, which sank 
a few days after, near the wreck of the Cumberland. 

The Georgia, another English-built naval vessel which cruised under 
the rebel flag, repaired to Clierbourg in February, 18G4, and thence 
proceeded to the Mersey, where she changed owners. Her armament 
was removed from her, and she left Liverpool for Lisbon. On the 15th 
of August, Commodore T. T. Craven, of the Niagara, fell in with her 
in latitude 39^ 16' north, longitude 0^ 39' west, sailing under the Eng- 
lish flag. Commodore Craven took possession of the vessel as a law- 
ful prize, and, putting a prize crew on board of her, he sent her to the 
United States. 



628 HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 



CHAPTER LXVI. 

Depopulation of Atlanta. — Correspondence between Greneral Sherman and Mayor Cal- 
houn. — Flank Movement by Hood. — Attack on AUatoona. — Hood Severs Sherman's 
Communications. — Marches into Alabama and Enters Tennessee. — Sherman's New 
Plan of Campaign. — Invasion of Tennessee. — Battle of Frankhn. — Aflair at Mur- 
freesboro'. — Battles of December 15th and 16th before Nashville. — Retreat of Hood 
into Alabama. — Close of the Campaign. 

The order for the depopulation of Atlanta which General Sherman, 
for military reasons, deemed it proper to issue and enforce, met with 
no little opposition from the small remnant of the inhabitants of that 
once flourishing place who had remained there during all the rigors 
of the siege. We have seen how Sherman replied to Hood's remon- 
strance. The following correspondence between him and the mayor 
of Atlanta convoys in as clear and forcible terms, perhaps, as were ever 
employed for the purpose, the hardships which the people of the rebel- 
lious States brought upon themselves in attempting to sever their rela- 
tions with the Union, and plunge the country in the horrors of civil 
war: — 

LETTER OF MAYOR CALHOUN. 

"Atlanta, Georgia, September 11, 1864. 
" Major-General W. T. Sherman : 

"Sir: — The undersigned, Mayor and two members of Council for the city of Atlanta, 
for the time being tlie only legal organ of the people of the said city to express their 
wants and wishes, ask leave most earnestly, but respectfully, to petition you to recon- 
sider the order requiring them to leave Atlanta. At first view, it struck us that the 
measure would involve extraordinary hardship ard loss; but since we have seen the 
practical execution of it, so far as it has progressed, and the individual condition of 
many of the people, and heard the statements as to the inconveniences, loss, and suf- 
fering attending it, we are satisfied that the amount of it will involve in the aggregate 
consequences appalling and heart-rending. 

"Many poor women are in the advanced state of pregnancy; others having young 
children, whose husbands, for the greater part, are eitlier in the army, prisoners, or 
dead. Some say: 'I have such a one sick at my house; who wiU wait on them when 
I am gone ?' Others say : ' What are we to do ? we have no houses to go to, and no 
means to buy, build, or rent any; no parents, relatives, or friends, to go to.' Another 
says : ' I will try and take tliis or that article of property ; but such and such tilings I 
must leave behind, though I need them much.' We reply to them : ' General Sherman 
will carry your property to Rough and Ready, and then General Hood will take it 
thence on.' And they Avill reply to that : ' But I want to leave the railroad at such a 
place, and cannot get conveyance from thence on.' 

"We only refer to a few facts to illustrate in part how this measure will operate in 
practice. As you advanced, the people north of us fell back, and before your arrival 
here a large portion of the people here liad retired south ; so that the country south 
of tills is already crowded, and without sufficient houses to accommodate the people, 
and we are informed that many are now staying in churches and other outbuildings. 
This being so, how is it possible for the people still here (mostly women and children) 
to find shelter, and how can tliey live through the winter in the woods — no shelter or 
subsistence — in the midst of strangers, who know them not, and without the power to 
assist them much, if they were willing to do so ? 

"This is but a feeble picture of the consequences of this measure. You know the 
woe, the horror, and the suflering cannot be described by words. Imagination can only 
conceive of itj and we ask /ou to take these things into consideration. We know 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIST. C20 

your mind and time are continually occupied with the duties of your command, wliich 
almost deters us from asking your attention to the matter; but thought it might be 
tliat you had not considered the subject in all of its awful consequences, and tliat, on 
redection, you, we hope, would not make tliis people an exception to all mankind; 
for we know of no such instance ever having occurred — surely not in tlio United 
States. And what has this helpless people done, that they should be driven from 
their homes, to wander as strangers, outcasts, and exiles, and to subsist on charity? 

"We do not know as yet the number of people still here. Of those who are here, 
a respectable number, if allowed to remain at home, could subsist for several months 
without assistance; and a respectable number for a much longer time, and who might 
not need assistance at any lime. 

" In conclusion, we most earnestly and solemnly petition you to reconsider this order, 
or modify it, and^sufier this unfortunate people to remain at homo and enjoy what little 
means Ihcy have. Respectfully submitted. 

" James M. Calhoun, Mayor. 



"E. E. RaWSON, ) rf -1 u 

"S.C.Wells, ' \ Ooun<^^lmen." 



GENERAL SHERMAN'S REPLY. 

" iieajj-quartlrs military division of the mississippi, 1 
"In the Field, >- 

"Atlanta, Georgia, St'pkmber 12, 18G4. ) 
" James M. Calhoun, Mayor, E. E. Rawson and S. C. Wells, representing City Coun- 
cil of Atlanta: 

"Gentlemen: — I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a petition to revoke 
my orders removing all the inhabitants from Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and 
give full credit to your statements of the distress that will be occasioned Vjy it, and yet 
shall not revoke my order, simply because my orders are not designed to meet the 
humanities of the case, but to prepare for the iuture struggles, in which millions, yea, 
hundreds of millions of good people outside of Atlanta, have a deep interest. We 
must have pe<ice, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure this, we must 
stop the war that now desolates our once happy and favored country. To stop war, 
we nmst defeat the rebel armies that are arrayecl against the laws and Constitution, 
which all must respect and obey. To defeat these armies, we must prepare the way 
to reach them in their recesses, provided witlx the arms and instruments which enable 
us to accomplish our purpose. 

" Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, and that we may have many 
years of military operations from tiiis quarter, and therefore deem it wise and prudent 
to prepare in time. The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistent with its 
character as a home for families. There will be no manufactures, commerce, or agri- 
culture here for the maintenance of families, and sooner or later want will compel the 
inliabitants to go. Why not go now, when ail the arrangements are completed for the 
transfer, instead of waiting till the plunging siiot of contending armies will renew the 
scene of the past month? Of course, I do not apprehend any such thing at this mo- 
ment; but you do not suppose that this army will be here till the war is over. I can- 
not discuss this subject with you fairly, because I cannot impart to you what I propose 
to do; but I assert that my militarj' plans make it necessary for the inhabitants to go 
away, and I can only renew my ofier of services to make their exodus in any direction 
as easy and comfortable as possible. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I 
will. War is cruelty, and you cannot define it ; and tliose who brought war on our 
country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had 
no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any 
of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If 
the United States submits to' a division now, it will not stop, but will* go on till we 
reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. The United States does and must assert 
its authority wiierever it has power; if it relaxes one bit to pressure, it is gone, and I 
know that such is not the national feeling. This feeling assumes various shapes, but 
always comes back to that of Union. Once admit the Union, once more acknowledge 
the authority of the National Government, and instead of devoting your houses and 
streets and roads to the dread uses of war, I and this army become at once your pro-^ 



630 HISTORY Oi^ THE GIIEAT EEBELLION. 

lectors and supporters, sliiclding jou from danger, lot it come from wliat quarter 
it may. I know tliat a few individuals cannot resist a torrent of error and passion, 
such as has swept the South into rebellion; but you can point out, so that wo may 
know those who desire a Government, and those who insist ujjun war audits desolation. 

" You might as well appeal accainst the thunder-storm as against these terrible hard- 
ships of war. They are inevitable; and the only way the pcoiJe of Atlama can hope 
once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop this war — which can alone be 
done by admitting that it began in error, and is perpetuated in pride. We don't want 
your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your land, or any thing you have ; but 
we do want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we 
•will have ; and if it involves the destruction of your improvements, wo cannot help it. 
You have heretofore read public sentiment iu your newspapers, that live by falsehood 
and excitement, and the quicker you seek for truth iu other quarters, the better for you. 

" I repeat, then, that, by the original compact of government, tlie United States had 
certain rights in Georgia, which have never beea relinquislicd, and never will be; that 
the Siuth began war by seiziugforts, arsenals, nnnts, custom-houses, kc, &e., long before 
Mr. Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one jot or titile of provocation. I 
myself have seen iu Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and part of Mississippi, hundreda 
and thousands of women and children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry 
and wi:.h bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vic-ksburg, and Mississippi, we fed thousands 
upon thousands of the families of rebel soldiers lelt on our hands, and wliom we could 
not see starve. Now that war comes home to you, you feel very different; you depre- 
cate its horrors, but did not feel them when you seut car-loads of soldiers and ammuni- 
tion, and moulded shell and shot, to carry war into Keutucky and Tennessee, and deso- 
late the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people, who only ask to live in peace 
at their old homes, and under tlie Government of their inheritance. But these compari- 
sons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can only be reached througli Union and war, 
and I will ever conduct war purely with a view to perfect and early success. 

" But, my dear sirs, when that peace does come, you may call on mo for any thing. 
Then I will sluxre with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes 
and families against danger from every quarter. Now, yon must go, and take wiih you 
the old and feeble; feed and nurse them, and build for them in more quiet places proper 
habitations, to sliield them against the weather, until the mad passions of men cool 
down, and allow the Union and peace once more to settle on your old homes at Atlanta. 
"Yours, iu haste, W. T. Shsrman, lUajor- General." 

From the date of the snrreuder of Atlant.i, up to the 22d of Septem- 
ber, an ariuisiice remained in force between the forces under Sherman 
and the ai-niy of Hood. This period of time on the ]iart of Sherman 
was occupied in recruiting, refitting, and reoiganizing. The raih-oad 
was employed in transporting stores, and in bringing new men to fill 
up the wasted ranks of tlie army, tlie trains returning with soldiers, 
going home to enjoy for a brief season their well-earned furloughs. 
Bakeries were established in all the camps to fnrnisfli the men with 
fresh bread, and they were supplied as rapidly as possible with new 
clothing and equipments. Meanwhile, the main body of Hood's army 
reposed near Jonesboro', twenty miles south of Atlanta, while his cav- 
alry, under Forrest and other leader.s, wei-e raiding upon Sherman's 
communications in Northern Alabama and Georgia and Southern Ten- 
nessee. To meet these movements, General Thomas was ordered to 
Nashville to direct operations in ih:tt section, a small force being sent 
at the same time by General Sherman to Ghattrinooga. On the 20t,h 
Septeinber the cavalry of Forrest crossed the Tennessee, and having 
destroyed the railroad between Decatur and Athens, appeared before 
tlie latter place, which was garrisoned by a small body of colored 
troops under Colonel Camj^bell. These surrendered, together with 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLION. 681 

portions of the Xineteentli Michigan atjd One Hundred and Second 
Ohio, ^vllich had come to the succor of tlie garrison. Forrest then 
moved upon Sulphur Branch Trestle, and, having captured the garrison, 
attacked, on tlie 27ih, the garrison of Pula:ski, where General Rous 
seau commanded. On the 29th he cut the Nashville Railroad near ■ 
Tullahoma, but was soon driven off by Rousseau. At the same time 
Geneial Steedman collected a force of live thousand men to keep open 
the rail communicaticm with Chattanooga. On the 2Gth, Xewton'a 
Division of the Fourth Corps, Army of the Cumberland, and Mor- 
gan's of the Fifteenth, were ordered from Atlanta to Chattanooga to 
replace Steedman. General Thomas, by order of Sherman, accom- 
panied this force to take charge of aflairs in Tennessee, and reached 
NashviUu October 3d. General Granger, commanding the Northern 
District of Alabama, was ordered to occupy Athens when Forrest's 
troops withdrew, and moved off with his conunand in two columns 
towards Columbia. Morgan's iJi vision occujiied Athens October 2d, 
and had orders to move upon Bainbridge with a view to intercept the 
enemy, while Rousseau, with four thousand cavalry, was to press his 
rear through Mount Pleasant. At the same time, as General Wash- 
burn, Avith four thousand five hundred men, was moving up the Ten- 
nessee in puisuit of Forrest, orders were sent to him to unite his cav- 
alry with those of Rousseau at Clifton. The enemy, liowever, escaped 
across the Tennessee, and Morgan returned to Athens. 

Hood, meanwhile, had kept his forces in the neighborhood of Jones- 
boro', and was sufficiently occupied for the lime being in simply watch- 
ing the movements of his adversary in Atlanta. To allow their. prin-; 
cipal Southern army to remain inactive was, however, no part of the 
programme of the rebel leaders, and in an intemperate and passionate 
speech delivered at !iIacon, on September 2od, Jefferson Davis an- 
nounced that Sherman should find Atlanta but another Moscow, and 
that his retreat to the North A\'ould prove even more disastrous and 
ignominious than that of Napoleon from Lis barren Russian conquests. 
These remarks foreshadowed a new military policy in the South, of 
which the principal feature was to be the conunencement of an ag- 
gressive campaign upon Sherman's communications by the whole rebel 
army under Hood, veiy much after the fashion of Sherman's final and 
successful movement against Atlanta. In aid of this movement, For- 
rest, by far the^ablest cavalry officer in the rebel army, was already 
operating against the communications between Chattanooga and Nash- 
ville, and it was supposed that if the railroad between Chattanooga 
and Atlanta could be well broken up by Hood, Sherman, cut off from 
his primary and secondary bases, would be compelled to retreat into 
Tennessee. The plan had the merit of boldness, and, had it been in- 
trusted to abler hands than those of Hood, or devised against a less 
skilful general than Sherman, might have proved successful. It will 
be seen that Sherman was in this emergency master of the situation, 
and completely outwitted his brave, but rash and incapable, antagonist. 

By the 2d of October, Hood's army was across the; Chattahoochee, 
and moving upon Dallas, whence it could threaten Chattanooga and 
the railroad, and, if hard pushed, retreat into Southwestern Alabama. 



632 HISTORY OV THE GREAT REBELLION". 

On the 4lh, the rebels readied tlie railroad noith of Marietta, and 
destroyed the track between Big Shanty and Acworlh^ and on the 
morning of the 5th a detachment of seven thousand men, vuidor Gen- 
eral French, approached the fort at Allatoona Pass, and demanded iu 
surrender. By this time, Sherman's troops, Avith the exception of tlie 
Twentieth Corps left to gan-ison Atlanta, were also across the Chatta- 
hoochee, and moving rapidly ujioii Hood, The latter, liowever, had 
the start by at least two days, and sought to avail himself of that 
advantage to overwhelm the small garrison at Allatoona, the capture 
of which phi. Avould have given him immense stores and an almost 
impi'ognable ]>osition. Sherman was also aware of the importance of 
Allatoona, and with wise foresight had on the previous day thrown 
into the place a re-enforcement of nine hundred men under General 
Corse*, drawn from the garrison of Kume. To French's demand for a 
surrender, "in order to save the unnecessary efliision of blood," Corse 
returned the curt reply, '' I shall not surrender, and you can commenee 
the uiuiccessary effusion of blood whenever you please.' The attack 
opened at eight a. m., and was maintained with great pertinacity until 
two r. ]\r., when the enemy, wearied and completely batHed, retired, 
with a loss of over a thousand men. During the heat of the contest, 
Sherman arrived on the summit of Kenesaw Mountain and opened 
telegraphic comnumication with the garrison, directing them to hold 
out resolutely, as succor was fast approaching. The fresh courage 
which this assurance gave to the beleaguered troo]).s enabled them, 
doubtless, to maintain their heroic resistance. 

*The rebels now marched northward along the railroad. North of 
Ilesaca they reconnnenced to destroy the track, and continued the 
work as lar as Tunnel llill, a distance of twenty miles, capturing on 
the 14tli the colored garrison at Dalton. Sherman was a compara- 
tively quiet but vigilant spectator of these operations, and, to those 
ignorant of his plans, seemed to *liave relaxed from the energy of 
movement which had previously characterized him. When linally, on 
the 15th, he marched from liesaca against Hood, compelling the latter 
to retire in a southwesterly direction towards Lafayette, his move- 
ments were unaccountably slow. The rebel army, "without, .apparently, 
any unusiuxl effort, escaped into Northern Alabama, whence on the Ist 
of November it marched for Warreuton, on the Tennessee Kivcr, 
Slaermim being then at Gaylesville, Alabama, near tlm Georuia line. 
The object of Sherman's strategy was now a[ipiirent. Ilood had been 
pushed fir away from the Chattahoochee into Northern Alabama, and 
tempted into another invasion of Tennessee. His raid on the railroad 
between Chattmiooga and Atlanta had been of so little detriment tiiat 
by the 28tli of October it was again in running order, and Sherman, 
having got rid of a troublesome enemy in his front, was now pixpajod 
to penetrate with a lajge force into the heart of Georgia, and march 
for the coast, with the almost positive certainty that no enemy of im- 
portance could op})ose him. It was necessary, however, to provide 
lirst for the safety of Tennessee, thus threatened by a rebel army, and 
for th.-it reason Thomas had been detached to Nashville. The Fourth 
Corps, Stanley, and the Twenty-third, Scholield, were sent to his sup- 



HISTOllY OF THE GREAT llEBELLION. G^Z 

port, giving liini, with the troops already in Tennessee, and tlio command 
of A. J. Smitli, then on tlie niareh tliither tVoni Missouri, an ample 
force to withstand jiood ; and lie was directed to continue to entice 
Hood northward and fight him in the neighborhood of Nashville, if 
possible. 13ut if the rehel general shoidd take the alaiin and follow 
Sherman, then Thomas was to follow Hood, who, placed between two 
large armies, would be in no enviable position. The new campaign 
projected by 8herinan will be hereafter related; at present we have to 
do exclusively with events in Tennessee. 

Upon its arrival at the Tennessee, the ainiy of Hood was re-enforced 
by twelve thousand mounted troops under Forres!, who, on his way 
thither fron» Corinth, had captured two Unirm transports and a small 
gunboat at Johnsville, an important depot of supplies. With needless 
precipitancy the gariison destroyed public pioperty estimated to be 
worth several millions of dollars. Hood remained for some tune on 
the Eouih side of the river, sending over only Lee's Corps with some 
cavaliy, and it was not until the iVth of Novend)er that he moved 
las renuiining troops across, timing his advance with that of Breckin- 
ridge, who was ojjerating in Eastern Tennessee. On tlic 19th he com- 
menced his march northward Irom Florence on parallel roatls, and on 
the 23d a portion of his force took possession of Pulaski. Thomas 
and tScholield, who were directly in the way of Hood's naarch, covering 
the approaches to Nashville, retreated slowly in the direction of that 
place. The whole Union force was not yet concentrated, and Thoma« 
wisely determined to light the decisive battle of the campaign with all 
the troops his department could fnridsh, and as near as ))Ossible to his 
base. On the 2Gth, the enemy occupied Columbia, Schofield, who com- 
manded the Union lear-guard, retiring across Duck Iliver towards Frank- 
lin, twenty miles south of Nashville, where he arrived on the HOth. Plere 
he formed his Ime of battle on the southern edge of the town, to await 
the coming of the enemy, and, in the mean while, hastened the crossing 
of the trains to the north side of Harpeth River. 

The enemy meantime pres.^ed closely upon Schofield's rear-guard. At 
noon of November .'JOtli, the main body of our army, consisting of the 
Fourth and Twenty-third Cor]>s, and the detachments which had been 
(collected fiom various points, was concentrated at Franklin. At that 
hour st.'veral bodies of Forrest's Cavalry were discovered hovei-ing on 
the flanks, and reconnoitring the position which Schofield had taken 
close to the town. Between three and four p. m., Hood aj>pi-o:iched 
ra[<idly, and, forming his coliunn with the quickness for wliicli he was 
famous, hurled tliein at once against the centre of the line, which was 
held by portions of the two corps of Stanley and Schofield. The 
assaulting columns consisted of divisions belonging to the corps com- 
manded by Generals Cheatham and Stewart, and the im|)etuosity of 
the charge carried these ti'oopsover the breastworks and into the heart 
of Scholield's position. The first Vdovv fell upon tlie centre of the line, 
breaking it and driving the defenders back in disorder. Through the 
gap thus made the Confederates swarmed fiercely, and for U|nvards of 
an hour the figlit raged with terrible fury. Hood's troops pressed 
vigorously against the lines of Generals Wagnei-, lluyev, and Cox, and, 



634 HISTOEY OF TKE GEEAT EEBELLIOH". 

driving the command of the former hack fiom their hreastworks, 
threw the other lines into wild, but, fortunately, temporary confusion. 

By tlu; first charge the Confederates obtained possession of the first 
line of defences, ami shortly after four o'clock they advanced against 
the second. By this time some of the reserves were brought to the 
front, which enabled Cox and Wagner to reform their broken lines. 
As the Confederates moved against the second line of breastworks, 
they were met and checked by the reserves and such of the other 
troops as had been rallied. Again they essayed to charge, but were 
again checked by Cox, Wagner, and Opdyke, the latter commanding 
a reserve brigade of Stanley's Corps. When order was fully restored 
at the second line and the troops rallied to the front, a charge was 
ordered to expel the Confederates from the line which they had 
captui^d. In the mean time, however, Hood made several successive 
attem|)ts to follow up the advantage gained by the first assault, but 
without success. 

About five p. M. the greatest struggle took place. When Cox and 
Stanley attem])te<l to drive back the enemy tlioy met the most stubborn 
resistance. The nn'u on both sides were within arms' length of each 
other, fighting like demons with the bayonet and with clubbed 
muskets. At the same time batteries were pouring storms of shot 
and shell into the enemy's ranks, but this was almost unlieeded. 
Finally, when it was too dark to continue the battle, and when Hood 
found that it was impossible to obtain all that he desired, he retired 
from the Hue captured at the opening of the action. 

The Federal loss was about fifteen hundred. The loss of the enemy 
amounted to six thousand two hundred and fifty, viz. : buried upon the 
field, one thousand seven hundred and fifty ; disabled and placed in 
hospital at Franklin, three thousand eight hundred, and seven hundred 
prisoners. Among their casualties were six general officers killed, six 
wojmdod, and one captured. This repulse of the enemy gave Schofield 
time to remove his troops and trains to Nashville, where on the 
same day arrived the advance of A. J. Sniith's army from St. Louis by 
transports, and also General Steedman, with a command numbering 
five thousand men, composed of detachments belonging to Sherman's 
colum?:, left behind at Chattanooga, and also a brigade of colored 
troops. 

Hood followed closely upon the retiring troops of Schofield^ and by 
noon of the 1st of December the Union line of battle was formed on 
the heights immediately surrounding Kashville, with A. J. Smith's 
command occupying the right, his right resting on the Cumberland 
River, below the city ; the Fourth Corps (Brigadier-General Wood 
temj^orarily in command) in the centre ; and General Schofield's 
troops (Twenty-third Army Corps) on the left, extending to the JSTolens- 
ville pike. The cavalry under General Wilson Avas directed to take 
post on the left of General Schofield, which would make secure the in-, 
terval between his left and the river above the city. Steedman's troops 
took up a position about a mile in advance of the left centre ®f the 
main line, and on the left of the Nolensville pike. This position, being 
regarded as too much exposed, was changed on the 3d, when, the cavalry 



HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 635 

having been directed to take post on the north side of the river at 
Edgetield, General Steedman occupied the space on the left of the line 
vacated by its withdrawal. 

On the 4th the enemy established his line with his salient on the 
summit of Montgomery Hill, within six hundred yards of our centre, 
his main line occupying the high ground on the southeast side of 
Brow^n's Creek, and extending from the Nolensville pike — his extreme 
right — across the Franklin and Granny White's pikes in a westerly- 
direction to tlie hills south and southwest of Richland Creek, and down 
that creek to ths Hillsboro' pike, with cavalry extending from both 
his flanks to the river. Artillery was opened on., him from several 
points on the line, withotit eliciting any response. 

Hood seems to have learned nothing from his mistake at Atlanta, 
whence he sent Wheelers Cavalry to operate upon Sherman's rgir, at 
the very moment he most wanted them to protect his own flanks, thus 
enabling Sherman to surjDrise his lines at Jonesboro'. This same mis- 
take he now repeated. At the moment Thomas was j)reparing to 
move against him, and was only waiting a remount of cavalry. Hood 
sent Forrest and Bates to support a column of Cleburne's old troops, 
in an attack upon Murfreesboro', held by Rousseau, who was prepared 
for them. The block-liouse, five miles north of Muvfiecsboro', was 
attacked ])y Bates's Division of Cheatham's Corps on the 4ih, but held 
out until three regiments of intantry, four companies of tlie Thirteenth 
Indiana Cavalry, and a section of artillery, under command of General 
Mih'oy, came up from Murfree:^boro', attacked the enemy, and drove 
him olf. During the 5tli, 6th, and Vth, Bates's Division, re-cnforced 
by a division from Lee's Corps, and two thousand five hundred of For- 
rest's Cavalry, demonstrated hea^ily against Fortress Rosecrans, at 
Murfreesboro', garrisoned by a considerable force, under command of 
General Rousseau. The enemy showing an unwillingness to make a 
direct assault, Milroy, with seven regiments of iniantry, w^as sent out 
on the 8th to engage him. He was found a short distance from the 
place on the Wilkerson pike, posted behind rail breastworks, was at- 
tacked and routed, our troops capturing two hundred and seven pris- 
oners and two guns, with a loss of thirty killed and one hundred and 
seventy-five wounded. On the same day Buford's Cavalry entered the 
town of Murfreesboro', after having shelled it vigorously, but he was 
speedily driven out by a regiment of infantry and a section of artillery. 

On retiring from before Murfreesboro' the enemy's cavalry moved 
northward to Lebanon and along the bank of the Cumberland in that 
vicinity, threatening to cro<s to the north side of the river and inter- 
rupt our railroad commmiication with Louisville, at that time our only 
source of supplies, the enemy having blockaded the river below Nash- 
ville by batteries along the shore. The Navy Department w^as 
requested to patrol the Cumberland above and below iSTashville with 
the gunboats then in the river, to prevent the enemy from crosS' 
ing, which Avas cordially and eftectually complied with by Lieutenant- 
Commanding Le Roy Fitch, commanding Eleventh Division Mississippi 
squadron. At the same time General Wilson sent a cavalry furce to 
GaLiatiu to guard the country in that vicinity. 



636 HISTORY OF THE GREAT KEBELLION. 

Meantime, Hood's main army oscnpiod the position before Nashville, 
■with Utile change up to tlie 15th, both armies having been ice-bomid 
for the last week of that time. Thomas employed the interval in re- 
mounting his cavalry and accumulating transportation. Being pre- 
pared at length to jnove, ho called a meiting of the coi'ps conunanders 
on the afternoon of J)ecember 14th, and, liaving discussed the plan of 
attack until it was thoroughly understood, he issued the following 
special lield order : — 

" As soon as the state of the weatlior will admit of ofTensivo operations, the troops 
will move against tlio enemy's position in tlio following order : — 

" Major-tJcneral A. J. Smith, commanding detaclimcnt of tlio Army of the Tennes- 
see, after forming his troops on and near the Harding pike, in front of his present 
position, will make a vigorous assaulc on the enemy's left. 

" Major-tJoncral Wilson, commanding the cavalry corps, Military Division of Missis- 
sippi, with three divisions, will move on and support Ocneral Smitli's right, assisting 
as far as possible in carrying tlie left of the enemy's position, and be in readiness to 
throw his force upon the enemy the moment a favorable ofjportunity occurs. Major- 
General Wilson will also send one division on the Charlottee piUe to clear that road 
of tho enemy, and observe in the direction of Bell's Landing to protect our right rear 
until tho enemy's position is fairly turned, when it will rejoin tho main force. 

" Brigadicr-lU'ueral T. J. Wood, commanding Fourth Army Corps, after leaving a 
etropg skirmish line in his works from Lauren's Hill to his extreme right, will form 
the remainder of tho Fourth Corps on the llillsboro' pike to support General Smith's 
left, and operate on the left and rear of the enehiy's advanced position on tho Mont- 
gomery Hill. 

" Major-lieneral Schofiold, commanding Twenty-third Army Corps, will replace 
Brigadier-General Kimball's Divi.-<iun of the I'^ourtli Corps with his trooj>s, and occupy 
the trenches from Fort Negley to Lauren's llill witli .%strong skirmish line. He will 
move with the remainder of his fureo in front of the works and co-operate with Gen- 
eral Wood, protecting the hitter's left flank against an attack by the enemy. 

"Major-General Steedman, connuanding District of the Etowah, will occupy the in- 
terior line in rear of his present position, stretching from the Reservoir on the Cum- 
berland River to Fort Negley, with a strong skirmish line, and mass the remainder of 
.his force in its present position, to act according to the exigencies which may arise 
during these operations. 

"Brigadier-General Miller, with his troops forming the garrison of Nashville, will 
occupy tho cxturior lino from the battery on hill 210 to the extreme right, including 
the enclosed work on the Hyde's Ferry road. 

" The quartermaster's troops, under command of Brigadier-General Donaldson, will, 
if necessary, be ])0sted on the interior line from Fort Morton to the battery on hill 210. 

" The troops occupying the interior line will be under the direction of Major-General 
Steedman, wlio is charged with tho immediate defence of Kashville during the operar 
tious around tho city. 

" Should the weather permit, the troops will be formed to commence operations at 
6 A. M. on the 15th, or as soon thereafter as practicable." 

The enemy's line was formed with Cheatham on the left, Stewart in 
the centre, and S. D. Lee on the right, ills most adv.-mced position, 
from which he amioyed our lines, was a commanding enunence on the 
Granny White pike. On the crest of this stood the house of a Mrs. 
^Montgomery. On the morning of the 15th December, the weather 
being f ivorable, the Union army was formed and ready at an early 
hour to carry out the plan of battle. The formation of the troops was 
partially concealed from the enemy by the broken nature of the 
ground, as also by a dense fog, which only lifted towards noon. The 



niSTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 637 

enemy was apprircntly totally uniiw.'ire of any intonlion on ovir part lo 
attack his position, and more especially did lie seem not to expect any 
movement against his h'ft Hank. To divert his atteniion still IVirlher 
from our real intentions, Steedman had orders to demonsiraie on tho 
enemy's right. As soon as the enemy's attention Avas aitiacted iu 
that direction, Smith and Wilson moved out on the Harding pike, 
and, wh(u;ling to tlie left, ailvnnced against his position across the Har- 
ding an<l Ilillsboro' pikes. Johnson's Division of Cavalry at tlie sumo 
time was sent eight miles below Nashville to attack a battery of tho 
enemy at Bell's Landing. The remainder of Wilson's command. 
Hatch's Division leading, and Knipe in reserve, moving on the light 
of A. J. Smith's troops, lirst struck the enemy along lli(dnnond%(Jreek, 
near Harding's house, and drove him back rnpidly, capturing a num- 
ber of prisoners, wagons, cfec, and, coni inning to advance, while slightly 
swinging to the left, came upon a redoubt contJiining i"our guns, Avhich 
was splendidly carried by assault at 1 p. m. by a portion of Hatch's 
Division, dismounted, and tlie cnptured guns turned upon the enemy. 
A second redoubt, stronger than the first, was next ass;nle<l and car- 
ried by the same troops that captured the first position, taking four 
more guns and about three hundred ])rifioners. 

General Tiiomas, finding that Smith had not taken sufficient distance 
to the right, directed Schoiield to move his command (the Twenty- 
third Corps) from tlui position in reserve to which it had been assigned 
over to the right of Smith, enabling the cavalry thereby to o)>erato 
more freely in the enemy's rear. The Fourth Corps, Wood command- 
ing, formed on the left of Smith's command, and as soon as the latter 
had struck the enemy's flank, moved against Montgomery Hill, Hood's 
most advanced position, at 1 p. M. The attack was gallantly made, 
and, after a brief resistance, the rebels abandoned their woiks, leaving 
the crest of the hill in the hands of the Union troo))s. 

Connecting with Garrard's Division, which formed the left of Smith's 
troops, the Fourth Corps continued to advance. The First and Second 
Brigades of Beatty's Division occupied the left, formed in single line, 
while KimV)airs and Elliot's Divisions were formed into column by bri- 
gade. The advance of this long line of battle was very fine. In their 
front lay a long dope of open country bounded by belts of wood. An 
increa^-ing slope ran to the woods now occupied by the rebels. Over 
this the line moved in one steady, imposing C(;lumn. The ciest of tho 
hill in front partly sheltered it from the enemy's artillery. A dense 
volume of smoke rose from the valley, shrouding the hills and rebel 
lines in our front. The roar of the rebel artillery was becoming fainter, 
while the sound of our guns rang nearer and nearer. The Fourth 
Corps for a moment halted and lay down to enable Smiih to connect, 
when suddenly the enemy could be seen breaking pell-mell from their 
works, while infantry, cavalry, and artillery were sweeping across the 
plain, A wild cheer rang from our lines, and the batteries redoubled 
their iron storm. Soon a column was seen emerging from the woods 
on the rebel flanks, the stars and stripes floating proudly in their front. 
This Avas our right, which had swung around their flank. The air re- 
sounded with cheers aa the Fourth Corps jumped to their feet and 



638 HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOK. 

pressed forward after the flying enemy, until the shades of night put an 
end to the combat. 

At the close of the day the enemy had been driven out of his 
original line of works, and forced back to a new position along the 
base of Plarpeth Hills, still holding his line of retreat to Franklin by 
the main pike through Brentwood and by the Granny White pike. Our 
line at nightfall was readjusted, rimning parallel to and east of the 
Hillsboro' pike — Schofield^s command on the right, Smith's in the 
centre, and Wood's on the left, with the cavalry on the right of Scho- 
field ; Steednian holding the position he had gained early in the morn- 
ing. The total result of the day's operations Avas the capture of sixteen 
pieces of artillery and twelve hundred prisoners, besides several hun- 
dred stands of small-arms, and about forty wagons. The enemy had 
been forced back at all points with heavy loss, and our casualties were 
unusually light. The whole command bivouacked in line of battle 
during the night on the ground occupied at dnrk, while preparations 
were made to renew the battle at an early hour on the morrow. 

Between the Granny White and Franlilin pikes is a kind of plateau, 
sloping towards the range of bluffs which seem to be bounded by 
Little Harper and Mill Creeks. Fine residences and well-cultivated 
plantations cover the landscape back to Nashville. Here the city was 
ehut out from view by the hiils, crowned with forts and batteries, their 
sides dotted over with white tents, and the dark forms of citizens 
crowding to see the battle, or at least hear its din. Behind these rose 
the houses and steej^les of the city. The cupola of the capitol was 
crowded with anxious spectators. 

At six A. M., on the 16th, Wood's Corps pressed back the enemy's 
skirmishers across the Franklin pike to the eastward of it, and then, 
swinging sliglitly to the right, advanced due south from Nashville, 
driving the enemy before him until he came upon his new main hue of 
works, constructed during the night, on what is called Overton's Hill, 
about five miles south of the city, and east of the Franklin pike. Steed- 
man raoAcd out from Nashville by the Nolensville pike, and formed his 
command on the left of Wood,^efiectually securing the latter's left 
flank, and made ])reparations to co-operate in the operations of the 
day. Smith's command moved on the right of the Fourth Corps 
(Wood's,) and establishing connection with Wood's right, completed 
the new line of battle. Schofield's troops remained in the position 
taken up by them at dark on the day previous, facing eastv/ard and 
towards the enemy's left flank, the line of the corps running perpen- 
dicular to Smith's troops. Wilson's Cavalry, which had rested for the 
night at the six-mile post on the Hillsboro' pike, was dismounted and 
formed on the right of Schofield's command, and by noon of the 16th 
had succeeded in gaining the enemy's rear, and stretched across the 
Granny White jjike, one of his two outlets towards Franklin. 

As soon as the above dispositions were completed, Thomas, having 
visited the diflerent commands, gave directions that the movement 
against the enemy's left flank should be continued. Our entire line 
approached to within six hundred yards of the enemy's at all points. 
Ilis centre was weak as compared with either his right, at Overton's 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 639 

Hill, or his left, on the hills bordering the Granny 'WhltG pike ; still 
there were hopes of gaining his rear and cutting off his retreat from 
Franklin. 

In front of tlie rebel lines, commanding the Franklin pike, was a 
strong fort, occupying the crest of the hill, with strongly intrenched 
works all round, and slashed trees in front. This hill is the first im- 
portant one of the Overton range — the extreme western s]nn- of the 
Cumberland range of mountains, and is about one mile in front of 
Thompson's house, where S. D. Lee had his head-quarters, and about 
five miles from Nashville. From this position the rebels not only 
checked the advance of Beatty's Division, but also commanded a 
salient fire on our advancing columns. 

About three p. m.. Post's Brigade of Wood's Corps, supported by 
Streight's Brigade of the same command, was ordered by General 
Wood to assault that position. This intention was communicated to 
SteedmaTi, who ordered the brigade of colored troops, commanded by 
Colonel Morgan, to co-operate in the movement. The ground on 
which the two assaulting columns formed being open and exposed to 
the enemy's view, he, readily perceiving our ijitention, drew re-en- 
forcements from his left and centre to the threatened point. This 
movement of troops on the part of the enemy was communicated along 
the lino from left to right. At this time a gentle rain was falling ; not 
a breeze was stirring, and the calm was ominous. As the troops 
began to move, our batteries opened. As they rose the slope the ene- 
my received them with a tremendous fire of grape, canister, and mus- 
ketry, our men moving steadily onward up the hill until near the crest, 
when the reserves of the enemy rose and poured into the assaulting 
column a most destructive fire. 

Unlbrtunately, at this moment the lines that were joined below lap- 
ped, and the negro troops became mingled with the left of Post's 
Brigade, creating disorder. The slaughter of our troops here was 
awful. Post, liir ahead of the line, was v. aving his sword and calling 
his men to follow, when a discharge of grape and canister from the 
rebel battery mortally wounded him. Our line was at this time within 
twenty steps of the works. The rebels rose from their works and poured 
in another terrific volley that seriimsly staggered the line, causing the 
men first to waver and then to fallback, leaving their dead and wounded 
— black and white indiscriminately mingled — lying amid the abatis. 
General Wood readily re-lormed his command m the position it had 
previously occupied, preparatory to a renewal of the assault. 

Meanwhi'e, at four p. m., Schoiield and Smith scaled the bald hill 
in their front, v/here were captured eight guns, and the enemy's line 
was broken. Schofield, who had kept Cox's Division of his corps up 
to tins hour rather in re.-erve, now swung him rapidly around at a 
charge. Two batteries were ercountered, but the enemy, finding his 
line broken to his right, only opened one to cover the retreat of the 
other. 7\s though the obstacle were one of no consequence at all, Cox 
pushed vigO!"ously forward, captured the battery playing on him, and 
followed rapidly in pursuit of the other, captured it also, and with it 
several hundred prisoners. Simultaneous with the advance of Cox, 



640 IIISTOKY OF THE GKEAT KEBELLIOlSr. 

Wilson's Cavalry clismountod and attacked the enemy, strikincj him in 
reverse, getting tirm possession of the Granny White pike, and cntting 
otriiis retreat by that ronte. On the ridge he met with very stnbhora 
resistance, but drove the enemy at every ])oint. East of the ridge the 
enemy fought with little energy, but allowed their left to be enveloped 
with comparative ease. 

Wood's and Steechnan's troops, hearing tlie shouts of victory coming 
from the right, now renewed the assault upon Overton llill with great 
impetuosity, and in face of a terrible fire carried the position, capturing 
nine pieces of artillery and many prisoners. The enemy retired througli 
the Brentwood Pass. The cavalry and a portion of the Fourth Corps 
overtook the rebel rear-guard posted across the road behind barricades 
near Chalmers. This was defeated, and the rebel General Ilncker cap- 
tured. The captures during the two days embraced four thousand 
four hundred and sixty-two prisoners, including two hundred and eighty- 
seven officers, fifty-three pieces of artillery, and many small-arms, and 
the enemy also 'lost three thousand killed and wounded. The total 
Union loss did not exceed thi-ec thousnnd. 

At daylight on the 17th, the Fourth Corps continued the ])ursuit 
towards Franklin by the direct«"0ute, wdiile the cavalry moved on the 
Granny White pike and its intersection with the Franklin pike, and 
took the lead. The enemy fell back to tlie Harpeth Iviver. His rear- 
<juard jtosted at Hollow Tree Gap, four miles north of Franklin, was de- 
feated with the loss of (bur luuidred and twenty prisoners. An atteniftt 
of the enemy to defend the crossing of the Ilnrpeth Kiver at Frankhn was 
defeated by Johnson's Division, which had been sent by Wilson on 
the Hillsboro' pike direct to Harpeth River, Wilson now pressed the 
})ursiiit to Columbia, the enemy retiring before him slowly to a i^oint 
five miles south of Franklin. There nn attempt to make a stand was 
defeated, and the retreat was continued. Oji the night of the 19th, 
the enemy crossed the Duck River and rcmove<l the bridge. Tlie 
swollen stream caused a delay of a day. General Thomas in his report 
states : " The pontocm train coming up to Rutherford's Creek about 
noon of the 21st, a bridge was laid during the afternoon, and General 
Smith's troops were enabled to cross. The weather had changed from 
dismal rain to bitter cold, veiy materially retarding the work in laying 
the bridge, as the regiment of colored troops, to whom the duty was 
intrusted, seemed lunnaimed by the cold, and totally unequal to the 
occasion." Wilson's Cavalry and Wood's InHmtry {)ressed the pursuit. 
Forrest's Cavalry, which Hood had so foolishly detached from his main 
army while he was besieging Nashville, rejoined him at Columbia, and 
a strong rear-guard was formed, which did good service in covering 
the retreat. On the 24th, Wilson overtook the enemy at Buford Sta- 
tion, inliicting some punishment ; and on the 25th the enemy evacuated 
Pulaski. At Lamb's Ferry he made a stand, and as the pursuing force 
under Colonel Harrison came uji, charged, drove him back, and cap- 
tured a gun. The Fourth Corps Avas within six miles of Ptdaski, De- 
cember l'()th, and reached Lexington on the 28th. The enemy being 
now across the Tennessee, General Thomas ceased the pursuit. 

On the 30th December, the end of the campaign was announced to 



iiiSTOiiY or Tiri: gkeat eebellion. G41 

the army, and the following disposition was made of the command: 
Smith's (joips to take post at Eastjjort, Mississippi ; Wood's Corps to 
be concentrated at Iliintsville and Atlieiis, Alabanii; Schofield's Corps 
to pr()(!e<>dto Dalton, Georgi;i ; and VVilson'sC.ivalry, after sending one 
division to Eastport, Missi,s^i[)pi, to concentrate the balance at or near 
IIuntsvil!e. On reacliing tlie several ])0.sitio!is assigned to them, the 
different commands were to go into winter-quarters and recuperate for 
the spring campaign. These dis))ositioiiS not meeting the views of the 
,^eneral-iii-cl)ief, orders were issued on the 3 1 st of December for Generals 
^cliofield, Smith, and Wilson to concentrate their commands at Eastport, 
ilissis^i])pi, and that of General Wood at Iluntsville, Alabama, pre- 
paratory to a renewal of the campaign against the enemy in Mississippi 
and Alabama. 

A number of minor operations by cavahy occurred in tlie pursuit of 
Hood's army. The results of the operations un<ler Thomas were: 
thirtecji thousand one hundred and ciglity-nine prisoners of war, in- 
cluding general officers and nearly one thousand otliei^officers of all 
grades, and seventy-two jiieces of S'jrviceablo artillery. During the 
game period over two thousand deserters from the enemy were re- 
ceived, and to whom the oath was administered. Our own losses did 
not exceed tin thousand in killed, wounded, and missing. 

Thus ended the career of Hood as an active commantlev in the field. 
Receiving Irom Johnston a compact and unbroken army, v. hich had 
made a good fight against the superior forces of Sherman, he wusted 
its numbers in three foolhardy attempts to defeat his wary opponent 
in a pitched battle, and finally, in consequence of seniUng away his 
cavalry, the only arm in which he was superior to Sherman, he enabled 
the latter to completely flank him and drive him out of Atlanta. Dis- 
patched by Davis on a hazardous attempt to drive Sherman out of 
Georgia and regain Temiessee, he permitted himself to be enticed by 
Thomas into the neighborhood of Xashville, when that general, abun- 
dantly re-enforced and supplied, sallied forth at his leisure and dealt the 
rebel army such a blow as drove it, a bc.'iten and demoralized mass of 
fugitives, into Northern Alabama, and lendered it powerless lor further 
offensive puqjoses. 



CHAFPER LXVIL 

Bheridan in Command of the Middle Military Division. — Manoeuvring in tlio Valley. — 
Object of the Movements. — Battles of Opequan Creek and Fisher's Hill. — Rout and 
Eetreat of the Rebels.— Their new Positioa at Brovra'a Gap.— Movements of Sheridan. 

On August 7th, General Sheridan as'^nmed command of the Middle 
Military Division, comprising the Middle Department, and the Depart- 
ments of Washington, the Susquehanna, and West Virginia. On the 
same day he fixed his head quarters at Harper's Ferry, and at once 
commenced to concentrate his troops along tl)e Potomac in the vicinity 
of the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan's troops consisted now chiefly of 
the Sixth, Eighth, and Nineteenth Corps of Infantry, and the infantry 
41 



0)43 msi\M:\ ok iuk laa-wi' ukuki.i ion. 

of tho oKl Armv of tho Kniuvwluv, mulor Crook. A pnit o( tl»o Niiuv 
ttH'utli Coiivs hv»\vovor, UHs s(ill in liVUiisinuH. Uis oivvuli'v ooinprisod 
Toit'Oirs bi»>tt PivisUMi ot" PoUMuao (.\hvh1i\v, Avorill's Oivision, Kt»llv't» 
vH»u\uuunl, ami LowoiTs Uiigjulo. Wilson's Soooiul t'avniiv l>ivisu>u 
«'U"vi\cd vMi tho I3lh tV^Mu r'u V Toint. Av;uii>sl thissiiSMiij ;uul <hmuj>}»oI 
nnuy, (UmvoimI Kuilv was now nl»lo Cv> nmstor nboui ois;hto<>u thonsjuul 
inoiK His anuY oonsisunl, tirst, of t\\<> iutUmry ooips, uiuiin- l\lio*lo!» 
«ud lijvokiuriilgo. Ivlunlos litui his own oM <li\ ision mul liniusourX 
(Hiul viuious JH\sorvos iu tlio X'allov, tho wholo osiiiutUtHl at nlHUit. stn'ou 
ihovisuiul mou, Kfuusoiir's hivisiou ootupiisoil thi» briiinilos o( JjilUy 
(toiMuorlv of Vojjram). Kvaus, uiul Johnson. lMVokinrivl«:o hail tho 
uivisions of Wharton anU l*oriU>n, tour ihousaiul tivo hnnihvil ^>l• tivo 
<hoii«;uul sttv>ni;', tho tomnor havini;' two lMis;M»K>s, ;nul tho lattt^r ^liko 
)ihoiU>s's oM vli\isu>n) o\»nsistii>i;- of loiu", Kansvini's (.'avahy consistvil 
ol' ahoiu fivo thousand tivo hnnvhod trov>ps, iliviJi^l into t'oui' hriyfadt^s, 
luivloi- luvbodi^i. MoOunsland, Jai'ksou, and \ aughan. Tho aniUorv, 
luuior Kou^^, v#usisto<l v>f thivo battalions, t\nd not far from fitlv ^uns. 
'rUo inou Nvoro, to a oonsivlorabU* oxtont, oniivloyod throsJuuj;- w hoal 
in iho vaUoy and soiulinij it to Uiohniond. 

iJLt snniiso on Wodnosday nuM^nin*;', tho I0(h oi' August, Shoridan 
boi^ui tv» nioYo out his loivos tVi)n» llalhown, for tho rt>j>v>ssossiiMi oi' 
tho \' alloy. Tho tVuvo ivaohod C'harlostown in two honrs, whoro tho 
I^iuotoouth Corps strxiok oiX \o tho lotl tor Uorryvillo, [>nHO*lod by tho 
oavalrv bvigados of (.lister and Cibbs, Siill tarthor to iho lotY niaroluul 
(.'»\>ok s Infantry, with numntod uun iuailvanoo. Kinallv, on tho right, 
i\w 8ixth (.\)ii>s, prooodoii l>y tho brigados v( l>ovin and lii>woll. kopt 
ou tho W'inoliovSior road a tow n\ilos. and thon tnrnovl v>tl" tv>wai»U 
Sn\ithstioUl, auvl towards tho Niuotoonth. Tho army avlvani^'d, skir- 
niishiui;- oooasiv>naUv with tho onomy, who rt^tirod up tho \' alloy, rtU>u,i; 
tho fc^trasburi? j\>ad. At I'rv^ut Koyal a rt^bol foroo, oonsisiing oi' 
J oiios's Tonnossoo liriijado of numntod infantry, with throo tu>ld j>io<"os, 
hold a sinutij posit unt This was assaiUnl by t'osnola's l'\Mirth Now 
A"v>vk oavalry, whioh was ropulsod. Tho l'\>iirtli. Sixth, and Ninth 
}V'ow' York auvl Srvontoonth IVnnsylvania tluni avlvam-tHl. dismoimtod, 
supportovl by Tioroo's Uattvny. Tlio tiyht lastod frv>m t^lovt>n till two, 
with no dooisivo rosnlt, though tho onon\y dotJiinod tho pursnit sv>mo 
hours and intUotod h»ss on tho Fodoral tr\>ops. 

Tho enon\y thou drow otV in tho dirootion of Now'town, whovo ho t\xad« 
a fvu'thor stand, covoiinvr tho passago of his trains, anil ropidsing an 
aitavk by tho \'^uiv>u i^ivvah'v. Tho advanoo now passovl boyond \Viu- 
ohostor and Millwood, whioh woro ovaonatod by tho ojuniy, and 
V ampovl, on tho night i>f tho llth, six nulos [o tho soiithoast of tho 
t'ormor plaoo. Kaily, tliinking it was tho dosign of Slu'rid;iu io tlank 
him, had bogun his withilrawal from NVinoluvstor to Ni'wiown on tho 
lOth, and oonthuu>vl it till tho Uth. About ton i»'oK>ok ot' tho lattor 
day, l.owoU's Cavalry ohargod through tho town, but olVootod nothing, 
tor tho roar-giiard had ahvady inovod oi.t at tho othor oiul. Tho light- 
ing of tho day was ontiroly oondiiotinl by Party's roar-gnaid. (hi tho 
iJlh, tho onomy having again fallon baok, tho o<>hm\n rosmnod tho ad- 
vanoo, and ou tho following day roaohod Ccdur Crook, throw inik^ 



tllr.'finV <)V 'I til: i,Hi.h'i lUA'.VAAAnH. i'A'.', 

north of HffJi^l/'iff/, lUru iUi^y riimd.Uta'i t]uriitii ^'*"* ''^'f' ^f^ ^^*^ 
iniu'Xtvii. Hiit'iviiih a ht-wi '^uarUuti wur*'. hov\/ Hi, ihif. upoi, Mm«< hwi ifnuft 
liW^'J for lin', tunii', |/ii»|/'/w^fc<iX!/:^<hh(v<l'/ f/y i'lcinoni, ^^if/*;K mi'i lim,iAtr, 
(hi t.\)i'. I/>(.I/ Uh'. t-imiiy wji|</jm;w I h<-/« tioht m^«*i/u»{(, \fni, 

M'l l''Mti',i'H Hill h<70M'J; whJ';l» ''//' J (h'^ •//w/k 

'i'|)« i'hi'iny how tintiiU',n\y ri'Minnaii lUo, //rti^/<fejy«. fiU'iuUiAi^ iu U<i« 
fyiviiiit'M \j) nirMwI/ti/'f/, I/Ji/J \niM^M on hh Uttl flank iu'vi'inl yti^tn ut Uw* 
in'/<inJ,;(iin«, wh'/'J* Iki'i fc^/ ofiAsn yiivtiu ini,>kii4/ji Ut tl^s iih*finy in i/ntvloun 

Fo»vl, Soim oi th<'M< ^!i|**i w«r« teiiur'ta^i, Moahy, ■^UU hh lij^l^i 
tr'/';f>K, wiiK f>/0 v\f/)\u.hi <» ttllow »j<i«^< an ooitoiUnnty V> \t'.t,'»M.^ uii'i on 
i\ii'. \''U\i )iH I'O'U'. i}ni/iii/it HnU'M^'r'H ^f'i[t tui'i [>')*i\it*'A n\>>iii U><i if>nnt\y 
ii",i\u 111. I'< /ryvJIlit, 'IU"> iriihi wan iinariUA \ty H''uUiy'n iiir/'-tyUi of 
iftn'r\iiinilit.'i ilnyH hii^th At M'/«l/v'b^^ '-!<;< if/<-; ;* imrlof •^'' </>im'i ^u.yh 
\r.\,u'u',-%\,\\i',Vi'.u. A ft'.w \fr{i.vi', II ■ 'lu^i im \tt>vM\^. ^Sm 

Mi<i till i\it: fir'/fxariy S/.tkiu '/ff l'/ Kn^-, i i-tty, 'Hi*' i'}r' hk. 

i'.nv:iUy\)fi.i(i/jii(o. Mo>.hy '-/Aj^tiui' 'i .in'i 'U'^iroyu^i a^i'^- "''"*> 

fc<-/;(jn-'J ovt'.r two iiiut/in'A j fivt? or tn UnuonAi hortm 

ftM'l tint\i'.ii, two iiuti'lrtfi \n'i4 ' , 1 ti4tum %Utrt^, ///* t^/** WJd* 
two kill'j'J «n'l i\tri*At wouh'U'A. 

TUh 'i'mtHtA'.e, uricuSy nxai/'/iirfiiA'A hy rt^i^or^M, tmm*A iSia who\u a^my 
i/t ri'Xiti^r-.i'U'., 0» iUn tmin^', 'iay iiitt f.ii^'iny trAoinit'A a t\intn\ //i^ty, 
;* iAn', mytjii of hioit^iay, iitf, i f;tl/^ tim UiiU'^^'AuiU 



t«ki/)pj yari \n iim a/jtivris iiu'.r*',y f/ro'/A'Ai'A 'iowit iUo W 

Vroiti lO/yal f/tki: i/f ''/»'/*.« lUo, Hianmu'i'fuU un'i ai' ■ '-ii 

iron\t^ in nutk. Tlitit-4', (tn/'/tnnU*,> lA m. ( UtftkiA It';- 'jf 

iyuaiAir fitiA i><;vJo, nn/U^r (ienifntl Mi'.trtiU tui't w*/- ■'. 'l^i 

n^Uf/'ii w.tM iiro>A'/MU*A wUh vii/or, (Ui4 ot'U'rn tutv*^, ■_■ ^< ': 4*- 

*trii/^i'/ri of i-.sf.ry i}/fni( that f/zui't afford uttkWnHht'Ai v, 'ly^ 

'Vhai, iiui/m* W*ir*i nirUxiy tlXl'/'MU/i mijy h< ^/,< ., i'lom i)j<; .' ; < ;JC- 

Usid^ from a Midnmrt^l ^y^t^^tr : 

way </f it /A py 



■ •', iM(((/ri( tum testify Uh*m^ </y w^ W>i*^; >yvjf; ^-Mi, mfi U v>n% immM 

'JV* t^MfUis f/Alow&A i'i//mif ffffi Hii*f*-\4'4n*ii XiiAnA*. anA ijMt*i^A*fA Wior 
t^HfiiU-^r '-■ ' ■ '' '■■' <'A 

i}itntr' ■■::y,^'r ■ f *.>-'"^/^M»^, 

otiiily kMnity> -It ' Ja. 

\iiltn,f'i*'Mi'A-4.\ ^In ■■■*tM 



644 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

of some of these half-guerrillas, half- farmers, who had committed 
gross outrages near Snicker's Gap. While thus engaged, the Upion 
cavalrymen Avere attacked by a superior force of Mosby's men, and 
brutally murdered after surrendering. Many neighboring houses were 
destroyed in retaliation for this butchery.' On the 21st, the army oc- 
cupied a position about two miles out from Charlestown, near Summit 
Point, from the Smithfield to the Berryville pike, Avith the Sixth Cor])S 
on the right, the Eighth in the centre, and the Nineteenth on the left, 
the latter overlapping the Berryville pike. Aboyt eight o'clock, Early 
came u}>, on his road to Martinsburg, and, with a part of his columns, 
attacked onr advanced cavalry skirmishers, on the right and left, easily 
driving them in. His main body moved off across our right; but 
■with a small force he drove back Wilson's cavalry division from its 
position on Summit Point, Avith very great loss. He then attacked 
the Sixth Corps, and the combat lasted, Avithout material advantage to 
either side, from ten a. m. until nightflxll, when the corps fell back to 
Boliv^ar Heights. Sheridan then posted his army on the first of the 
ranges called Bolivar Heights, near Harper's Ferry, the right on the 
Potomac, and the left on the Shenandoah. Head-quarters were at 
Halltown. The cavalry was sent up to the neighborhood of Charles- 
town early on IMonday, the 22d, and had sliarp skirmishing with th-e 
enemy until nine a. m., and at interA'als during the day. The cavalry 
of the enemy then scoured the country in all directions. Several recon- 
noissances took place on th^ 21th and 25th, in Avhich the First and 
Third Divisions of cavalry weie badly liandled. 

The two aniiies remained confrontii:g each other for some days, at 
the end of Avhich time Early .again fell back up the valley. This fact 
being ascertained, Sheridan issued orders o^i the evening of the 27th 
for the army to move at daylight. About seven o'clock of the 2Sth, the 
entire force got into motion, moving out from behind their formidable 
breastworks in columns of brigades by the right flank, .each corps pre- 
serving its relative po^ition in the line of battle, and moA'ing in the 
direction of Charlestown. The cavalry, Avliich had proceeded in the 
direction of Shepherdstown, moved to the front and led the advance. 
By ten o'clock, the Nhieteenth Corps i-eached Charlestown, and the 
army pushed on until they reached their old line of battle during the 
recent engagement a Aveek before. The Sixth Corps, General Wright, 
iield the right, the Nineteenth Corps, General Emory, the centre, and 
General Crook's command the left. The army Avas then formed in line 
of battle, and awaited the result of the caA'alry advance. At dusk, orders 
were issued for mi advance at daylight on the 29th. On the foIloAving 
morning, the enemy were found near Smith field, by General Merritt, who 
attacked the rebel cavalry vigorously, driving them through the toAvn 
and beyond Opequan Creek, Avhere he came in contact Avith infoutry. 
Custer's Cavalry, with Ransom's Battery, Avere moved across the creek, 
for the purpose of making a reconnoissance towards Bunker Hill. But 
after an encounter Avith the enemy's skirmish line, they retired across 
the stream, followed by infantry, Avho attempted to outflank them. 
Our cavalry accordingly fell back upon Smithslield, in season to escape 
the movement. Here thej were met by Ricketts's Division of Infantry, 



niSTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOIf. 645 

before whose advance the enemy found it prudent rapidly to withdraw. 
Our loss in this afiliir was less than one Imndred. The troops then 
fell back upon Charlestown, where they remained quiet for several 
days. 

On the morning of September 3d, the whole army was again put in 
motion in a southerly direction, Crook's command occupying the left, 
the Nineteenth Corps the centre, and the Sixth the right. At noon, 
Crook reached ihe vicinity of Berry ville, where, a few hours later, he 
was fiercely attacked by a heavy rebel force approaching from the 
direction of Winchester, which lies directly west. The enemy were 
handsomely repulsed; and during the succeeding night the whole 
army was engaged in throwing up substantial breastworks, as if for 
the purpose of making their position a permanent one. Thus affairs 
remained for nearly two weeks, Early being, according to reports, at 
Bunker Hill in force, and Sheridan showing no disposition to leave 
his intrenched lines near Berryville. The cavalry on both sides were 
active in reconnoissances. 

The campaign in the Shenandoah, since the appointment of Sheridan 
to the command of the Middle Division, had hitherto been one of 
manoeuvres rather than of decisive lighting, and the marchings and 
counter-marchings, advances and retreats of the Union general were to 
the public mind a source of no little per2)lexity. To comprehend his 
motives, it must be remembered that the possession of Lynchburg 
was indispensable to Lee if he wishetl to remain in Richmond, and 
that the large force detached under Early, to drive away Hunter and 
demonstrate against Washington, was still in the valley. Under these 
circumstances, Gi-ant placed Sheridan at the mouth of the valley — first, 
to detach a force fron\ Lee-; second, to employ that force in the valley, 
BO that no ]3ortion of it might be sent to Hood at Atlanta; third, to 
guard Washington and the border from the attacks of this force. For 
about five or six weeks, Sheridan's incessant moving backward and 
forward kept Early so busy that Hood could not get a man from Lee, 
and was fiirced to suffer defeat at Jonesboro', and to evacuate Atlanta 
for lack of re-enforcements. Meantime, Early and Sheridan were living 
off the valley farms, and together destroying much food and forage 
precious to Lee, and all this time Early did no essential damage to 
Sheridan. 

With the fdl of Atlanta, one of the prime motives for pursuing this 
Fabian policy was removed, and to a general of so energetic and im- 
petuous a temperament as Sheridan, the opj)ortunity now afforded to 
fight a pitched battle with the enemy ibr the possession of the valley 
was seized with avidity. About the middle of September the lieuten- 
ant-general paid a hasty visit to the Upper Potomac, and, after learn- 
ing from Sheridan that the enemy was still in force in the valley, 
released him from the irksome task of manoeuvring, and bade him 
strike when he found the opportunity. Reconnoissances undertaken 
on the 13th and 16th rendered it evident that the main body of the 
enemy had advanced to the vicinity of Bunker Hill and Stephenson's 
Depot, and General Sheridan resolved to take advantage of this op- 
portunity^ and by a rapid movement fall on Early's rear from the 



64:Q insTOEY OF the great eebelliok. 

direction of Berryville towards Winchester. Accordingly, on Monday, 
the 19th, pursuant to orders, the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps were 
ordered to march at three o'clock, and the Army of Western Virginia, 
under Crook, at five o'clock. The Sixth Corps was directed to move 
out on the Winchester and Berryville Pike, marching in parallel 
columns on each side of the road, with the artillery, ammunition, and 
supply trains on the road — the Nineteenth Corps to follow on the 
same road in similar order. Crook was ordered to move from his 
position in the Vicinity of Summit Point across the country in a south- 
westerly direction, and form a junction at the crossing of the Opequan, 
on the Berryville and W^inchester pike. The cavalry, under Torbert 
and Averill, were meanwhile to divert the enemy's attention by heavy 
demonstrations on his left. Shortly after daylight, Wilson's Division 
of cavalry crossed the Opequan, and skirmished with the enemy, who 
were discovered in force on the west bank of the Opequan. Early 
immediately recalled his forces from Bunker Hill, and when the Sixth 
and Nineteenth Corps advanced across the Opequan, they were met 
and repulsed by a fire from the enemy's guns. Being re-enforced by 
our batteries, they again advanced and retook the position. At three 
o'clock, Crook's First Division came into position on the right, the 
Second Division, in the rear, supporting a division of the Nineteenth 
Corps. At about the same time, General Torbert arrived on the ex- 
treme right with AverilFs and Merritt's Divisions of cavalry. With 
his forces thus consolidated, General Sheridan ordered an advance 
along the entire line. Our infantry were soon hotly engaged with the 
enemy, who stubbornly maintained their ground until our cavalry 
joined in the charge, when they gave way in utter confusion, never 
pausing in their flight until they reached Fisher's Hill, thirty milea 
south of Winchester, where they took refuge behind some previously 
erected earthworks. The following is Sheridan's dispatch announcing 
his success : — 

" We fought Early from daylight till between six and seven p. M. We drove him 
from Opequan Creek through Winchester and beyond the town. We captured two 
thousand five hundred to three thousand prisoners, five pieces of artillery, nine bat- 
tle-flags, and all the rebel wounded and dead. 

"Their wounded in Winchester amount to some three thousand. ' We lost in killed 
General David Russell, commanding a division of tlie Sixth Army Corps, and wounded 
Generals Chapman, Mcintosh, and Upton. The rebels lost in killed the following gen- 
eral officers : 

" General Rhodes, General Wharton, General Gordon, and General Ramseur. 

" We have just sent them whirling through Wincliester, and we are after them to- 
morrow. This army behaved splendidly. I am sending forward all the medical sup- 
plies, subsistence stores, and ambulances." 

Sheridan lost no time in following the retreating rebels, and the 21st 
found his army confronting their new position. The enemy was posted 
with his right on the North Fork of the Shenandoah, and his left on 
the North Mountain. His line, running westerly, extended across the 
Strasburg Valley. There was considerable manoeuvring for position 
till after mid-day. Crook's command was on our right, Wright's Sixth 
Corps in the centre, and Emory's Nineteenth on the left. While 



inSTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 647 

Emory demonstrated on the left, Ricketts's Division of the Sixth Corps 
advanced directly in front, and Averill drove in the enemy's skirmish- 
ers. Under cover of these demonstrations. Crook moved out to the 
extreme right, and, after an arduous march, swept about, and flanked 
the enemy's left. 

At lour or five o'clock in the evening, a successful charge was made 
hv Crook, who cari-ied the enemy before him. At the same time, 
Wriglit attacked in the centre, Emory on the left, and Averill skirted 
along the base of the South Mountain. With great rapidity, the Sixth 
Corps broke in the enemy's centre, separating his two wings, when he 
retreated towards Woodstock in great confusion. Artillery, horses, 
wagons, rifles, knapsacks, and canteens were abandoned in the flight, 
and eleven hundred prisoners and sixteen pieces of artillery captured. 
In the battles of the 19th and 21st the rebels lost, in killed, 'woimded, 
prisoners, and missing, not less than ten thousand men. 

Sheridan continued the pursuit on the night after the battle to 
Woodstock, and there halted next morning, for rest and rations- 
Averill, pushing on in advance, drove the enemy to Mount Jackson, 
twenty-five miles south of Strasburg, where he halted and made a 
stand, cliecking our advance with infantry and artillery. From Wood- 
stock Sheridan moved rapidly up the Valley to Mount Jackson. 
About a mile from the town the "North Fork" of the Shenandoah 
crosses the pike. A good wooden bridge still spanned the strenm. 
After some sharp skirmishing on our left, Devin's Cavalry drove the 
enemy before him, whereupon our batteries, posted near the bridge, 
opened on the opposite crest, over which the enemy finally retired. 
Skirmish lines were immediately moved across the stream, and, cover- 
ing the fronts of their respective corps, pushed forward. In the ad- 
vance, the Nineteenth Corps marched in colunm on the right of the 
pike, and the Sixth in like. formation on the left, ready at any moment 
to form line. The batteries had the pike. The cavalry was thrown 
forward in advance of the infantry skirmish line. At every favorable 
position the enemy would halt and contest our advance ; but the bat- 
teries, being brought forward, would, after a few rounds, cause them 
to resume their march in retreat. No stop was made at Newmarket, 
the scene of Sigel's fight and defeat in May. 

On Sunday, Septeniber 25th, Sheridan's head-quarters were in Har- 
risonburg, and on Monday morning, Torbert, with his troopers, pushed 
out to Staunton, twenty-five miles away. JMeantime, Early retired 
upon Brown's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, eight miles southeast of Port 
Republic, twenty miles east of Staunton, and fifteen northeast of 
Waynesboro'. Sheridan pursued to Port Republic, destroying sev- 
enty-five wagons and four caissons. From Harrisonburg, Torbert, 
with Wilson's cavalry division and one brigade of Merritt's, niaiched 
to Staunton, which he entered at eight a. m. of Monday, the 26th, and 
there destroyed a large quantity of the enemy's property of various 
kinds. Thence he marched southeasterly to Waynesboro', threw the 
iron bridge over the South River at that point into the river, and 
destroyed the bridge over Christiana Creek, and the railroad from 
Saunton to Waynesboro'. At Waynesboro' other Government prop- 



648 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION/ 

erty was deslroye.l. But finding tlic tunnel defended by troops, 
Torbert retired to Harrisonburg by way of Staunton. 

On tlie 27th, otllnsive demonstrations were resumed. But before 
they were fairly opened, the enemy su<idenly burst upon PoAvell's flank 
with great force, and was with ditliculty repulsed. The effect of this 
engagement was to cause our cavalry to fail back from Port Kejjublio 
to Cross Keys. Brown's Gap remained in the enemy's possession. 

The position of Early at Brown's Gap was a very strong one. It 
had the advantage of covering Gordonsville and Charlottesville, and of 
threatening Sheridan's flank and rear shoidd he attempt to move from 
Lynchburg. It possessed also unusual facilities for defence. North 
of it are Swift's Run and Semen's Gaps; south of it, Rockfish Gap and 
Jaman's Gaps. All of these are so near together that Early easily 
held theni under his control, posting his main force at Brown's Gap, 
and throwing his flanks out as far as Rockfish Gap and Swift Run 
Gap. These are the gateways to Gordonsville and Charlottesvillo 
from Staunton and Harrisonbuig. He held them firmly, and w;is 
disposed not to surrender them without a decisive battle. One or 
two assaults had resulted in such stout resistance from Early's troops 
that it was very evident that the enemy had recovered his equilibrium, 
and was disposed to contest every rod of the way. It was also dis- 
covered that Early was too strongly posted in the Gap to be assaulted. 
Two courses, therefore, remained for Sheridan : either to prosecute his 
advance towards L}Tichburg, or to retire down tlie valley. To reach 
Lynchburg had been a prime object with Sigel an<l Hunter, as it was 
now with Sheridan But to move with Early upon his flank and rear 
would have been hazardous in the extreme. There remained, then, 
nothing but to fall back. Mosby also ^vas on Sheridan's flank, and the 
army supplies on the way tip the valley were in danger, .as before, 
when Mosby captured the train. 

On the 6th October, Sheridan retreated to Woodstock, whence Ji© 
sent the following dispatch : — 

" Woodstock, Virginia, October 1, 18G4 — 9 p. m. 
" Lieutenant-Greneral U. S. (tRant: 

" I have the honor to report my commaud at this pohit to-night. I commenced mov- 
ing back from Port Repuhlic, Mount Crawford, Bridgewater, and Harrisonburg yes- 
terday morning. The grain aud forage in advance of these points liad previously been 
destroyed. In moving baeic to this point tlie whole country from the Blue Ridge to 
the North Mountain has been made entirely untenable for a rebel army. I havo 
destroyed over two thousand barns filled with wheat and hay and farming implements, 
over seventy mills tilled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of the army over 
four thousand head of stock, and have killed and issued to the troops not less tliaa 
three thousand sheep. This destruction embraces the Luray Valley and Little i'orb 
Valley, as well as the main valley. A large number of horses have been obtained, a 
proper estimate of which 1 cannot now make. Lieutenant John R. Meigs, my engineer 
officer, was murdered beyond Harrisonburg, near' Dayton. For this atrocious act all 
the houses within an area of five miles were burned. Sines I came into the valley from 
Harper's Perry, every train, every small pArty, and every straggler has been bush- 
whacked by the people, many of wliom have protection-passes from commanders who 
have been hitherto in that valley The people here are getting sick of the war. 
Heretofore they havo had no reason to complain, because they have been living in 
groat abundance. I have not been followed" by the enemy to this point, willx the ex- 
copliou of a small force of the rebel cavalry that showed themselves some distance 



HISTORY OF TILE GREAT REBELLTOIS'. G49 

behind my rear-ffuanl to-day. A party of oiio liundrod of th« Ki^rliili Oliio Cavalry, 
wliioli I liad Ktationed at tlic bridge over tlie North Shenandoah, near Moimt Jacltson, 
was attacked by McNeil with seventeen men, while they were asleep, and the whole 
party diKpeised or captured. I think they will all turn up. I learn that lilty-six of 
them had readied Winchester. McNeil was mortally wounded, and foil into our liands. 
This was fortunate, as lie was the most daring and dangerous of all the bushwhackerg 
in this section of the country. 

(Signed) " P. n. Sheridan, Majdr- General." 

During his pursuit of Early, and on his retreat down tlie valley, 
Sheridan cfFected an immense destruction of public ])r()petty, and in ac- 
cordance with orders from Government, destroyed all the grain, hay, 
and forage to be found, e.xcept what was necessary for his own army. 
The valley had been the great store-house and granary of the rc.bel 
armies in Virginia, and in order to cripple Lee it was deeme<I indis- 
pensable to carry out this harsh but necessary policy. It had also har- 
Dored perhaps the worst class (jf guerrillas to be found in the country — 
men who were farmers by day and robbers by night ; who, uiider the 
guise of loyalty, entrapped and murdered unsuspecting Union soldiers, 
and had, from the outset of The war, been systematic and successful 
epics over tlie movements of the Union armies. To strike termor into 
this class of men and those v/ho sympathized witli or harbored them, 
and put a stop to their excesses, was th(; prime object of the Govern- 
ment, and a wholesale system of devastation was inaugurated by 
Sheridan, which, while it sometimes struck friend as well as foe, un- 
doubtedly had on the whole a beneficial influence in restraining the 
operations of the guerrillas and bushwhackers, and driving them to 
parts of the country where it would be less dangeroiis for the in- 
habitants to harbor them. This duty was efficiently [terformed by 
Torbert's Cavalry. On the 8th of October the rebel General Rosser, 
while harassing Slieridan's rear, was suddenly encountered by the 
Union cavalry and soundly beaten, losing three hundrctl i)risoners, 
eleven pieces of artillery, and a number of caissons and wagons. He 
was then pursued a distance of twenty-six miles. 



CHAPTER LXVIH. 

position of Armies. — I'larly Advances. — Battle of Cedar Creek. — Opportune Arrival of 
Sheridan. — Disastrous Defeat of the Enemy. — Sheridan's Troops leave for tha 
Potomac. — Devastation, 

Early promptly renewed his advance movement on the retirement 
of Sheridan to Cedar Creek. The losses inflicted upon him wei-e soon 
made up by re-enforcements, and a few days of repose in the fastnessea 
of Brown's Gaj) enabled him to recuperate his forces, and to take the 
field Avitli twenty-eight thousand men, comprising the five divisions of 
infantry under Ramseur, Gordon, Pegmm, AVharton, and Ker: haw. 
While Early was advaneing, the P'ederal commandei- hnd quietly oc- 
cupied the north bank of Cedar ("reek. The Army of Western Vir- 
ginia, General Crook, held the left, its right resting on the pike; the 



660 IIISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 

Nineteenth Corps, General Emory the centre, its left resting on the 
pike ; and the Sixth Corps, General Wright, the right, connecting 
with the Nineteenth Corps. The J'irst and Second Cavalry Divisions 
were on the extreme right, Custer being in advance in front of the 
Sixth Corps, and Merritt in rear of Custer, his left flank just overlap- 
ping the right of the Sixth Corps. Tlius the Sixth Corps was rendered 
partially a reserve. The line was formed from- right to left across the 
entire valley, thus: Custer, Merritt, Wright, Emory, Crook, Powell 
The cavalry of the latter picketed the whole North Fork to Front 
Royal. Crook and Emory had artillery in position to command the rising 
ground on the opposite bank of Cedar Creek. Just in the rear of Crook, 
on the left, what was called the Provisional Division, under Colonel 
Kitchin, was encamped. Sheridan s head-quarters were fixed at a stone 
house about lialf a mile in rear of the centre. Sheridan himself had 
been absent on a journey to Washington since Sunday, October 
16th.. On Tuesday night he slept at Winchester on his return. Wright, 
therefore, commanded the army on the morning of the 19lh, Ricketts 
being in command of the Sixth Corps. Against this strong position, 
which was considered by the Union generals almost impregnable, 
Early, with a boldness commendable in one who bad recently suifered 
two severe defeats, determined to make a night attack, and, if pos- 
sible, retrieve his reputation and drive Sheridan from the valley. He 
was prompted to undertake the movement from a belief that the Sixth 
Corps had been withdrawn, and from a report that Sheridan was 
absent fi-om the army. How nearly he Succeeded, and how oppoi-- 
tun-ely he was frustrated, are among the most remarkable facts of the 
war. 

Just before daybreak on the morning of the 19th, Early began his 
movement to surj^rise the Union army. An impenetrable fog enveloped 
the whole region, favoring his designs. The three divisions with which 
lie began his assault were massed at Fisher's Hill, and the troops w^'re dis- 
encumbered of every accoutrement except their arms and ammunition. 
They were not even permitted to carry their canteens, lest their clank- 
ing should advise Sheridan of their approach. Just as the first gleam of 
day began to mingle with the dim moonlight, the sharp rattle of 
musketry on the extreme right gave notice of what was an unin> 
portant and feint attack. As this attack began, the sentinels of the 
enemy along the whole line fired signal muskets from right to left. 
Immediately afterwards the three divisions, under Pegram, Ramseur, 
and Gordon, advanced in solid columns down the turnpike from 
Strasburg, without skirmishers, and assaulted Crook's position in 
front ancl flank. The surprise was complete, and the rebels, advancing 
by column of regiments, and firing rapid and terrific volleys of mus- 
ketry, swept over the works almost without opposition. Crook's 
whole line gradually giving way, of seven guns in the breastworks, 
six were captured, but one Ibeing saved. The enemy pressed on with 
fierce shouts, keeping up a deadly fire of musketry, AA'hich prevented 
Crook's men from rallying in the thick fog which bewildered both 
men and oflicers. The smoke, the fog, the wild shouts, and the deadly 
fire from an unseen foe, who poured into the encampments, capturing 



HISTOEY OF TILE GREAT EEBELLIOW. 651 

camp equipage and barely aroused soldiers, were powerful agents in 
promoting confusion. General Crook and his division commanders 
did their best, under the circumstances, to meet the shock, and con- 
stantly opposed a half-organized front against the enemy. The latter, 
pushing up beyond and around our left, entered the encampments of 
the provisional division under Colonel Kitchin, routing it also, and 
driving those and Crook's troops on towards the pike. 

Mauwhile, Kershaw's Division, which had left Early's position in a 
southeasterly direction, and had turned north and crossed the North 
Fork before dawn of Wednesday, was now closing on the intreuch- 
ments of the Eighth Corj^s, capturing prisoners in large numbers and 
seizing the batteiies. The left division of Crook's Corps and Kitchin'a 
Division were now thoroughly broken up. At the same time Early, 
with his remaining division, had moved on up the pike towards our cen- 
tre, bringing artillery, and opening with it on the lines of the Nine- 
teenth Corps. Their opening fire was vigorous, and was followed up 
by an advance of their infantry across the creek, joining in the assault 
made by their comrades on the left, and directing itself against the 
lines of the Nineteenth Corps. Emory's left flank was wholly exposed 
by the retreat of Crook, and the attack upon it was, therefore, over- 
whelming. Colonel McAuley, commanding the Third Brigade of Grover's 
Division on the left, was ordered to swing out of his position in front 
and meet the flank fire of the rebels. He did so, making a gallant but 
ineffectual opposition ; and he had scarcely left the breastworks to per- 
form the movement, when the enemy swept up into them against the 
unavailing Are of Grover's Division, forcing the whole divit5ion back, 
with the loss of eleven guns captured and left upon the field. 

It was now daylight, and the enemy, having rolled up the left of the 
line and captured eighteen guns, which were turned on our retreating 
columns, was now driving in the centre. Nearly all of his force waa 
over the creek, and his flanking column, leaving the pursuit of the 
Eighth Corps, was closing in on Emory's left, who, being flanked 
in his turn, gave way to the rear. The Sixth Corps, which was in line 
on the right of the Nineteenth Corps (the cavalry being in front of its 
right), partially in reserve, was ordered to change front, swing round — 
what had been its left before being the pivot — meet the advance of the 
enemy in the centre, and check it. Another order was sent to thecav- 
aly on the extreme right, mider Torbert, to move rapidly across in rear, 
from right to left, and check the advance of the enemy in the direction 
of the pike towards Middletown. The Sixth Corps, moving by tlie left 
flank, came up a short distance in rear of what had been General Sheri- 
dan's head-quarters, opened the right of its line to pei-mit the stragglers 
from the left of the Nineteenth Corps to pass througli, and then, in 
conjunction Avith the remainder of the Nineteenth Coi^ps, which finally 
rallied and formed on its right, repulsed a tremendous charge of the 
enemy and held them at bay. 

This served to cover the general retreat which was ordered. The 
enemy were steadily gaining ground on the pike towards Middletown, 
Great efforts were made to get away the trains of the two left corps, and 
most of those of the Nineteenth were saved. Most of the ambulance 



652 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 

train of the Eiglith Corps was captured during the first hour of the 
engagement. In the retreat, and in the effort to cover our trams, our 
troops suffered severely from the fire of the enemy, who pursued closely 
and with great -sigor. The Sixth Corps was steadily coverhig the re- 
treat, however, and, by resisting the enemy's advance, gave opportunity 
to re-form the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps, with the Nineteenth on 
the right, the Sixth in the centre, and the Eighth on the left. During 
the reti-eat, General Ricketts, coniraandingthe Sixth Corps, was severely 
wounded in the breast. The enemy now increased both his artillery 
and musketry fire to its utmost capacity, till the roar and carnage be- 
came terrific. He still pressed our left flank, as if determined to drive 
us away. from the turnpike, that he might seize our trains and insert 
himself between us and Winchester. His projects were aided some- 
wliat by the necessity forced upon us to sj^end much time in manceu- 
vringtore-formtheline, while he employed himselfonly in advancingand 
pouring in his destructive fire. As he pressed our left so much more 
hotly than the right, the cavalry divisions of Merritt and Custer were 
gent across thither from the right, and now a severe contest took place 
near Middletowu, in the thickly wooded and rough country in which 
our left had found itself. 

It was now about nine o'clock, and our troops, having got into line 
of battle again, were for the first time making desperate efforts to check 
the enemy. The Eighth Corps, on the left, and the Sixth, in the centre, 
were receiving the brunt of the fierce onset. Merritt and Custer had 
also taiken part in the thick of the battle. Both sides were using artil- 
lery as well as musketry, but the enemy brought to bear the greater 
weight of metal, having re-enforced their own batteries with our cap- 
tured pieces. As the enemy's troops closed in on our own, it was clear 
that the momentum he had acquired Avas swinging him again past our 
flank. The flanking column of the enemy pressed severely u[)on Thor- 
burn's Division and other parts of Crook's Corps, and once more forced 
it back. The Sixth Corps held its ground well, but the whole line was 
giving way, and the enemy gained Middletown. He continued to 

{)ress us back towards Stephensburg or Newtown, which lies next 
)elow Middletown, on the turnpike, and about five miles distant there- 
from. His artillery was served with great accuracy from the heights 
north of Middletown, which we had just vacated. Our principal aim 
henceforth was to successfully cover our trains and to draw away the 
army Avith as little loss as possible to Newtown, when another stand 
might be made. 

Where all this time was Sheridan ? He had arrived, as has been 
mentioned, at Winchester, twenty miles from his camp, on the night 
of the 18th, intending to proceed to Cedar Creek on the next morning. 
Unsuspicious of danger ahead, he started at about eight a. m. on the 
19th with his escort at a leisurely pace. But soon the distant thunder 
of artillery in the direction of Middletown caused him to quicken his 
pace. Tiiiidcing that Early had possibly ventured to attack the position 
at Cedar Creek, he was desirous of witnessing the punishment which 
the rebel general, by all the chances of war, should receive fur his 
temerity. Gradually the sound of the artillery swelled into a coutinu- 



HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 653 

ous roar, and seemed to roll towards Lim, until tlie conviction became 
too strong for doubt that a lieavy battle was raging in the front, and 
that the defeated party were being rapidly pushed northward. He put 
spurs to his horse and rode at full speed towards the firing, fearing, yet 
unwilling to believe, that any disaster could have overtaken the array 
which lie had twice led to signal victory. But soon the first group of 
fugitives and camp-follo'»\-ers streaming northward told hini that his 
ariny was beaten and in full retreat. Galloping along far ahead of his 
escoi't, he dashed up to the front soon after ten o'clock, his charger 
reeking with foam, and by his voice and presence infused confidence 
and new courage into the disheartened troops. Even wounded men by 
the roadside greeted him with cheers. At once he directed every 
effort to stopping the retreat and re-forming the men. This was favored 
by a pause in the pursuit on the ]iart of the enemy, which enabled the 
army to fall back out of range. The provost-marshals of the several 
corps succeeded in forming a line of guards in the rear, Avhich was 
gradually effective in preventing desertion. In a short time tlie strag- 
glers were partially organized and moving towards the front. The 
Array of Western Virginia, which had been so completely broken up 
and scattered in the morning, was thus re-formed in a measure and put 
in position. Sheridan ordered all retreat to be stopped at once, and at 
one p. M. had got his army established in line of battle, as follows : 
the Sixth Cor|)S in the centre. Nineteenth Corps on the right, Crook's 
command on the left, Custer's cavalry division on the extreme right, 
and Merritt's cavalry division on the extreme left. 

The enemy meantime had moved up his guns in range of the new 
position, and having again got his troops in hand, once more came on 
to the charge, but was severely re])ulsed by the Nineteenth Corps. 
General Bidwell was killed and Gruver wounded during this attack. 
It now became evident that Early had relinquished offensive movements 
for the .day. The enemy began throwing up breastworks. Their wag- 
ons and ambulances were brought across Cedar Run, and every thing 
indicated their intention to retain the position during the night. Hav- 
ing now become somewhat prepared to tsike the oftensive, Sheridan, at 
three p. m., ordered an attack with a view of regaining the position at 
Cedar Creek. . The Sixth Corps was drawn up in the centre, along the 
pike, with Getty's Second Division in advance, and the other divisions 
supporting. Between three and four oV-lock Getty dashed forward on 
the charge, and the remainder of the line followed. A tremendous fire 
of artillery and musketry greeted our troops as they burst out of the 
woods. For a time it seemed impossible to withstand it. Our lines 
once fell back, broken, but were again re-formed, and while such of our 
own batteries as remained answered the enemy with vigor and effect, 
the troops again pressed on. Despite determined and bloody resist- 
ance, they carried the town, and drove the discomfited enemy through 
it. This was the crisis of the day, and from that moment victory was 
ours. On through Middletown, and beyond, the enemy hurried, and 
the Army of the Shenandoah pursued. Custer and Merritt, charging 
in on right and left, doubled up the flanks of the foe, taking prisoners, 



654 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLIOIT. 

Blasliing, killing, driving as they went. The march of the infantry, 
though more slow, was more effective. 

The retreat of the enemy was continued back to Fisher's Hill. At 
Cedar Creek he attempted to hold us in check, and planted his bat- 
teries on the opposite banks, to hold the bridge and fords. But our 
forces pressed on, carried the fords and bridge, and drove him fron^ 
the creek through Strasburg to Fisher's Hill. A part of our infantry 
reached Strasburg, but tlie main array bivouacked in the old camp 
along Cedar Creek. The cavalry dashed through Strasburg to Fish- 
er's Hill, and there the victorious march terminated. The enemy sub- 
sequently retired upon Newmarket, abandoning almost every thing 
in their flight. The total losses, exclusive of recaptures, were as fol- 
lows : Early's loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was stated by 
the enemy to be less than tAvelve hundred, but Avas in reality far 
greater. He lost in prisoners alone over sixteen hundred men. Hq 
also lost twenty-three cannon, besides all those captured by him in 
the morning, and a few caissons. The other losses, wagons, &c., ex- 
clusive of recaptures, were small. A part of the medical stores of each 
side was captured by the other. Our losses were about six thousand 
five hundred men, including over fifteen hundred prisoners. The offi- 
cial statement of losses in the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps made them 
about five thousand five hundred in all. The official estimates of those 
in the Eighth Corps put them at about eight hundred and fifty. 
Among the rebel dead was General Ramseur. 

Early haviiig retired upon Newmarket and intrenched there, began 
to recuperate with that energy for which he was conspicuous. His 
cavalry began at once to scour the Luray Valley, under Loniax, Avhence 
Sheridan's Cavalry failed to draw him. By the 20th of October he 
again showed signs of an advance, by throwing forward a strong 
cavalry force, while Breckinridge, having relieved Echols in South- 
western Virginia, was reorganizing a force there with a view to sup- 
port Early. Sheridan was also drilling, clothing, and organizing his 
men, while Mosby and Imboden's troopers were so busy on his flanks 
that it required a strong force along the lines to protect the communi- 
cations. 

In the first week of November the enemy's demonstrations were 
more marked, and his cavalry under Rosser threatened Sheridan's 
communications north of Winchester. On the morning of the Tth^ 
Sheridan broke up his camp and fell back to Newtown, four and one- 
half miles distant on the turnpike, and about nine miles south of Win- 
chester. The Nineteenth Corps was on the right of the pike in ad- 
vance, the Sixth on the left, and the Avagon trains between them on 
the road. The artillery followed, and the Eighth Corps brought up 
the. rear. The cavalry covered the flanks and rear. The retrograde 
movement continued next day along the pike from Newtown to 
Kearnstown, four miles south of W^inchester. On the afternoon of 
Friday, the 11th, Lomax's Cavalry, who had been following us, pressed 
severely against the cavalry divisions of Custer and Merritt, in re- 
connoitring, and drove them in. Our army was then in line at 
Kearnstown. After a sharp skirmish the enemy was forced to retire. 



HISTORY OF TILE GREAT REBELLION. 655 

Next morning, the 12th, Lomax again attacked our cavalry, driving 
in our pickets. On reaching our main force, he was repulsed after a 
protracted engagement. Powell's Division then pursued him to Front 
Koyal, and captured two guns and one hundred and fifty men. The 
fighting. was spirited, and our losses were considerable. Early sub- 
sequently advanced his army and again occupied Fisher's Hill with 
about fifteen thousand men. On the 21st of November he occupied 
Mount Jackson and Newmarket with his infantry, with his cavalry 
throwTi forward from his right. In the first week in December the 
Sixth Corps left the valley to re-enforce Grant, as did also a consider- 
able portion of Sheridan's infantry. In the same way Lee was re-en- 
forced by Kershaw and other troops from Early, leaving but a few 
thousand men at Newmarket. Both armies thenceforth remained 
quiet fur some months. 

During the first week in December, Merritt's (First) Cavalry Divi- 
sion crossed the Blue Ridge, and made a grand raid through the upper 
parts of Loudon and Fauquier Counties, which were the chief haunts 
of Mosby and his men. Every thing was laid waste — barns, houses, 
famis, and mills ; many cattle were captured, and others slaughtered 
and burned. L'nfortunately, not a few Union citizens suffered the 
loss of every thing in the general destruction. The raid was in ac- 
cordance with the policy initiated by Grant and Sheridan, and its 
results, officially reported, are as follows : — 

PROPERTY CAPTURED. 

First Second Reserve 

Brigade. Brigade. Brigade. Total. 

Horses 147 235 86 388 

Mules 4 4 8 

Cattle 2,563 2,483 474 5,520 

Sheep 3,607 2,130 100 5,837 

Swine 1,033 110 1,141 

PROPERTY DESTROYED. 

Barns 474 464 230 1,168 

Mills 19 22 8 49 

Factories 2 .... 2 

Distilleries 14 16 

Tonsofllav 17,620 10,000 27,620 

Bushels of Wheat 26,500 25,000 51,500 

Bushels of Corn 5,400 57,500 62,900 

■ Bushels of Oats 2,000 2,000 

Havstacks 990 131 1,121 

Wheatstacks 57 57 

Tanneries 1 ... 1 

Stacks of Grain 104 «... 104 

Estimated value of property destroyed and captured by the First 

Brigade. Colonel Stagg.. . ' $857,716 

Second Brigade, General Devin 1.239.520 

Reserve Brigade 41 1,520 

Total $2,508,756 

Perhaps the statement of a rebel commissioner of the revenue in 



656 HISTORY OF THE GllEAT EEBELLIOIf. 

Shenandoah County, made about the same time, will give a clearer 
idea of Sheridan's previous cavalry operations in that county alone. 
He says : — 

"I wiil now tiy and give you some idea of the damage done in part of this coimty by 
the Yankees in the way of burning of barns, mills, &c. I have been over nearly the 
whole of ray district, comprising all the upper eud of the county, from Narrow Passage 
Creek to Rockingham Couuty line, and I lind there ha'^been burned by Sheridan's 
army two hundred and fifteen barns, eighteen dwellings, eleven grist mills, nme water 
saw mills, two steam saw mills, one furnace, two forges, one fulling mill, one carding 
machine, besides a number of smaller buildings, such as stables, &c. The quantity of 
grain destroyed is immense. I cannot give you any idea of the amount of grain, hay, 
fodder, &c., destroyed, but the quantity is very large." 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

Political Parties. — Elections of 1862. — Organization and Strength of the Peace Party. — 
Banishment of Vallandigham. — Ohio Election. — Political Reaction in favor of the 
AdministTation.-T-Thirty-eijihth Congress. — President's Plan of Reconstruction. — 
Amendment to the Constitution. — Presidential Canvass of 1864. — Conventions at 
Baltimore and Chicago. — Nomination of Lincoln and McClellan. — Result of the Eleo- 
tion. — Peace Negotiations. — Colonel Jaques. — The Niagara Falls Correspondence. 

The failure of the Peninsrdar campaign of 1862, followed by the de- 
feat of Pope in the second Bull Run campaign, the invasion of Mary- 
land by Lee, and the indecisive battle of Antietam, together witli the 
aggressive strength exhibited by the rebels in the West by the invasion 
of Kentucky under Bragg, all conspired to bring the Administration 
into temporary disfavor; and in the fall elections of 1862 several of the 
States, including New York, which had given large majorities for Lin- 
coln two years previous, were carried by the opposition. The gains of 
Congressmen m.nde by the latter in these elections threatened to neu- 
tralize, and perhaps considerably overcome, the Administration majority 
in Congress. IncajDacity, wastefulness, corruption, and imbecility were 
freely charged upon the President and his constitutional advisers ; but 
the most serious objection urged against the Administration was its 
alleged unconstitutional method of conducting the war. Confiscation, 
arbitrary arrests, conscription, the emancipation of slaves belonging to 
rebels, and similar forcible measures initiated by Government, for which 
it was insisted there was no warrant aiforded in the Constitution, were 
alike condemned by the opposition, who contended that the war could 
be carried to a successful completion without resort to so radical a 
policy, and that in point of fact it had better be terminated at once than 
conducted unconstitutionally. The political contest of 1862 may, there- 
fore, be considered to have shown in some degree a public dissatisfaction 
with the course of the Administration during the year, though it cannot 
be doubted also that military reverses had much to do in causing that 
dissatisfaction. With those who claimed to be superior to such acci- 
dental influences as success or defeat, the emancipation proclamation of 
September was a sufficient reason for trying to overthrow the Adniini.'^- 
tration in Congress, and at the close of the year it looked as if their 



inSTOKY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOIS'. 657 

efforts might be rewarded with success. It is worthy of notc,]iOA7ever, 
that in those States in which the soldiers were allowed to vote, tbeRe- 
pubHcau supremacy was easily m:iint:iine!l. This was notably the case 
in lown, where the soldiers' vote enabled the Republicans to return 
their full delegation to Congress. 

The year 18Q3 opened Avitli no favorable prospects for the National 
cause, and the reinilscs bdbre Fredericksbuig and Charleston, and the 
defeat at Chancollorsville, follow^ed by the second invasion of Maryland, 
Beemed to presage further losses for the Administration. The opposi- 
tion had meanwhile been busy in other ways. Undeterred by the as- 
eertions of Government that its action in arresting suspected persons, 
at a time when the country swarmed v/ith spies and secret traitors, was 
utterly disinterested, and by its eff irts to release all prisoners against 
whom no evidence of treasonable intent could be brought ; regardless 
also of the act of Congress sanctioning the action of the President in 
Buspending the Avrit of habeas corpus, and clothing him with full au- 
thority to check and punish all attempts to defeat the efforts of tho 
Government in the prosecution of the war, the leaders of the opposition 
busied themselves with promoting publi-; dissatisfaction and demand- 
ing that the war should be brought, to a close. While many were sim 
cere in believing that the evils wliich sprang from a vigorous prosecution 
of the war were worse than secession itself, it cannot be doubted that 
many vrerealso influenced by a fictions, partisan spirit, which prompted 
tlieiu to rejoice in the humiliation of their country, provided the over- 
throw of tii'dr political opponents could be thereby secure'l. The lat- 
ter branch of the opposition formed the nucleus around which rallied a 
party whose watchword was "Peace on any Terms,'' and whose num- 
bers'^ were swelled by tlie whole disloyal element in the North, and by 
various secret organizations formed to promote the independence of 
the '■• Southern Confederacy," of which the K. G. C.'s, or " Knights of 
the Golden Circle," were the most conspicuous.' One of the most act- 
ive advocates of peace with the rebel Confederacy was Clement L, Val- 
landigham, a Democratic meinber of Congress ii'oin Ohio, who, after the 
.ndjournment of the Thirty-seventh Congress, made public st)eeches in 
his congressional district, denouncing and counsoliing resistance to the 
draft which was about to be enforced. He charged the Governnient 
at Washington with aiming, under tiie pretext of i-estoring the Union, 
to crush out liberty and establish a despotism, and with deliberately 
rejecting propositions by Avhich the Southern Stiites could have been 
brought back to tlie Un'ion. He also denounced Order No. 88, issued 
by General Burnside, then commanding the De])artment of tlie Ohio, 
forbidding certain disloyal practices, and announced his intention to 
disobi^y it, at the same time calling upon the people who heard him to 
resist and defeat its execution. For this conduct hcAvas tried before a 
court-martial in May, 18G3, and sentenced to be iilicedin close confine- 
ment vv^ithin some fortress of the United States. The Pi-esident modi- 
fied this sentence by directing that, instead of being imprisoned, Vallan- 
digham should be sent within tho rebel lines, and should not return to 
the United States until after the termination of the war. This sentence 
was at once carried mto execution. 
42 



658 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK i 

Vallandigliam, after passing some time in Rielimond, escaped in a 
blockridc-ruiiner to British America, where be remained some time, 
tinding abundant sympathy from the rebel refugees in Canada. His 
trial and banishment caused no iittle excitement through.out tiic country, 
and by his party he wa-^ regarded as a martyr. Meetings were held to 
protest agamt the action of the Government, and the Democratic State 
Convention of Ohio linally capped the climax by nominating him as 
its candidate for Governor in the ensuing State election. The Repub- 
lican or Union party, as it was now called, nominated for the t^ame 
office John Brough, a former Democrat, but a man pledged in tho 
most emphatic manner to support the Government in its eiFoits to 
suppress the rebellion. Thns the issue was joined between the op- 
ponents of the Administration and those who, beheving that its 
measui'es were proper and effective, lent it their hearty supp'ort, and, in 
consequence, the Oliio election was watched with absorbing interest 
by the whole country. By a special law of the State its citizens, 
absent in tho military service of the cotmtry, were permitted to vote 
for State officers, and the soldiers' vote, it was claimed, would be cast 
ahnost unanimously for Brough. 

Meanwhile, with the commencement of July occurred anotlicr turn 
in tho tide of the war. The battle of Gettysburg and tlie ignominious 
ending of Lee's invasion of the North, and the ca])ture of Vicksburg 
and Port Hudson, followed by the opening of the Mississippi to com* 
merce, restored the prestige of tho Union arms, and the prospect of 
subduing the Confederacy seemed more hopeful than ever bcfon^. 
With this happy cliange in military prospects, the friends of the Ad- 
ministration, and all those persons in favor of a vigorous proscc-ution 
of the war, shook oif their despondency, and began to gather energy 
for the jiolitical contest of the yeai\ The riotous proceedings in New 
York, Boston, and elsewhere, against the enforcement of tlic draft, by 
revealing the existence of a powerful secession element at work to oi> 
jiose the Government, strengthened the Administration p:irty, and the 
fall elections of 1863 w^itnessed a complete reversal of the popularverdict 
declared a year previous. Yallandighara was defeated in Ohio by the 
unprecedented majority of one hundred thousand in favor of Brough, 
the soldiers' vote being almost unanimous for the latter, and the great 
States of New York and Pennsylvania elected tho Union candidates for 
office by large majorities. Such was the reaction in fovor of the Adminia 
tration that it secured enough of tho remaining members of Congress to 
be elected to give it a majority of about twenty in the next House of 
Representatives. The result of the canvass was that every State, except 
New Jersey, voted to sustain the Administration. Tho ground taken 
by its friends was that held by the President from the beginning — that 
the rebellion must be suppressed, and the Union preserved at whatever 
cost — that this could only be done by force, and that it was both the 
right and the duty of the Government to use all the means at its com- 
mand, Avhich were commonly exercised in time of Vv'ar, to acconi- 
plishe tliis object. The result was, tlierefore, justly claimed as a de- 
cided verdict in fivor of the Administration, and thenceforth tho 
determination of tlie vast majority of the people to prosecute the wav 



HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 653 

to a successful completion remained unshaken, in spite of reverses 
wliicli caused temi^onuy d(.'pre:sion, of conscriptions Avhich drew 
fearfully upon the able-bodied, industrial population of the country, 
and of taxation which surpassed the wildest predictions made by 
alainiists at the commencement of the struggle. 

Th3 Thirty-eighth Congress convened at Washington, December, 
186-3, and was organized by the election of Schuyler Colfax, a Repub- 
lican member from Indiana, as Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives. In his annual message. President Lincoln proposed a j)Uin of 
reconstruction for the revolted Slates, which is fiilly set forth in the 
following proclamation : — 

TROCLAMATION. 

" Whereas, In and by tlio Constitution of the United Rtntcs, it is provided that tho 
President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for oflences against the 
United States, except in cases of impeaclnnent — and, whereas, a reljellion now exists, 
whereljy the loyal ^tate Governments of several States have for a long time been sub- 
verted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty of treason against the 
United States; and 

'• W/iertos, With referonco to said rebellion and treason, laws havQ been enacted by 
Congress, declaring forieimres and couliseaiion of property and liberation of slaves, all 
upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the President was 
thereby anthorizcd at any time tlicreafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who 
may liavo participated in the existing rebellion in any Stale or part thereof, pardon and 
amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may 
deem expedient for the public welfare; and 

" Wlierea-'!, Tlio Congi'cssional declaration for limited and conditional pardon accords 
with the well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and 

'^Wlienas, With jeierence to the said rebellion, the President of the United States 
has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves; 
and 

" ir/ieT-ea?, It is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to 
resume their allegiance to the United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State Govern- 
ments within and for their respective States : therefore, 

" I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make 
known to all persons who have directly or -by implication participated in the existing 
rebellion, except as hereinafter exccj)ted, that a fidl pardon is hereby granted to them 
and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in 
property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon condition 
that every such person shall take and sul)scribe an oath and thencelbi'ward keep and 
maintain said oath inviolate, an oath wliieh shall be registered for permanent preserva- 
tion, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit: 

"'I. , do solemnly swear, in presenc-e of Almighty God, tliat I will 

honcolbrth iliithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, 
and the Union of the States thereunder; and that in hke manner I will abide by and 
faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with refer- 
ence to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, moditied, or held void by Congress or 
by aecision of the Supreme Coin-t; and tlvit I will in like manner abide by and faith- 
fully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion hav- 
ing" refeience to slaves, so long and so far as not modilied or declared void by decision 
of the Supreme Court. So help mo God.' 

"The persons excepted from the benefits of llio foregoing provisions arc: all who 
arc, or shall have been civil or diplomatic oflicei-s or agents of the so-called Confederate 
Government; all who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the 
rebellion; all who are, or shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called 
C)on(cdcrato Government, abovo the rank of colonel in the army, or of lieutenant in 



660 HISTOEY 01^ THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI?'. 

the navy; all -u-ho left seats in the United States Conjrcsg to aid the rebellion; all ■who 
resigned commissions in the army or navy of the United States, and afterwards aided 
the rebellion; and all who have engaged in any -way in treating colored persons, or 
white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and 
which persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, 

. or any other capacity; and I do further proclaim, declare, and mai%e known that, when- 
ever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, 
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persona 

' not less than one-tenth iu number of the votes cast in such States at the Presidential 
election of the year of our Lord one thousand eight liundred and sixty, each liaving 
taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter 
by the election law of the State existing immediately before the so-called act of seces- 
sion, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a State Government which shall ba 
republican, and in nowise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the 
true government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the 
constitutional provision wliich declares that 

" ' The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form 
of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, and on application of 
the Legislature, or the Executive, when the Legislature cannot be convened, against 
domestic violence.' 

" And I do further proclaim and make known that any provision which may be 
adopted by sucli State Government in relation to the freed people of such State, 
which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their eilucation, 
and which may yet bo consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with their present con- 
dition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by tbo 
National Executive. 

" And it is suggested as not improper that, in constructing a loyal State Government 
in any State, the name of the State, the boundary, the subdivisions, the Constitution, 
and the general code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the 
modifications made necessary by the conditions liercin before stated, and such others, if 
any, not contravening said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by those 
framing the new State Government. To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to 
Bay that tliis proclamation, so far as it relates to State Governments, has no reference to 
Slates wherein loyal State Governments have all the while been maintained; and for 
the same reason it may be proper to further say, that whether members sent to Con- 
gress from any State sliall be admitted to seats,"constitutionally rests exclusively with 
the respective Houses, and not to any extent with the Executive. And still further, 
that this proclamation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the 
national authority has been suspended, and loyal State Governments have been sub- 
verted, a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal State Governments 
may bo re-established within said States, or in any of them. And, while the mode 
presented is the best the Executive can suggest with his present impressions, it must 
not be understood that no other possible mode would he acceptable. 

"Given under my hand at the (:;ity of Washington, the eighth day of December, a. I). 
one thousand oiglit hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United 
States of America the eighty-eighth. 
" By the President : AERAHAir Lincoln 

" "\Vm. II. Sewaud, Secretary of State." 

In two States only, Louisiana and Arkansas, war. the experimont of 
reconstruction on the basis here proposed tested, and in neither of them 
can it be said to have had entire success. The projeet proved distaste- 
ful to radical members of the Administration party, and circtuustances 
prevented its being applied in more instances than those cited. Just 
before the adjournment of Congress in July, a bill was passed to 
•<j" guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped 
|or overthrown, a republican form of government." This bill provided 
• for the appointment of a provisional governor ip each State, and, as 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 661 

BOon as military resistance had ceasod and the people returned to 
obedience, an enrolment to be made of all white male citizens, 
desiunating those who take and those who refuse the oath of allegiance. 
If those who take the oath are a majority, the governor shall invite the 
people to elect a convention to re-establish their State Government 
m conformity with the Constitution of the United States. The bill 
provided the mode of electing and assembling such conventions, 
and enacted the following restrictions u])on their action : " That 
the convention shall declare, on behalf of the ])eople of the State, 
their snbmis-ion to tlie Constitution and laws of the United States, 
and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby prescribed by the 
United States in the execution of the constitutional duty to guar- 
antee a republican form of government to every State, and incorporate 
them in tlie constitution of the State, that is to say : F'irst — No person 
who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, except offices 
merely ministerial, and military otlices below the grade of colonel. 
State or Confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a 
member of the legislature, or governor. Second — Involuntary servi- 
tude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is guai-an- 
teed in said State. Third — No debt, State or Confederate, createil by 
or under the sanction of the usurping power, shall be recognized or 
paid by the State." Constitutions made or amended by these conven- 
tions were to be submitted to the peoi)le, " and if a majority of the 
votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he 
shall (certify the same, Avith a copy thereof, to the President of the 
United States, who, after obtaining the assent of Congress, shall, by 
proclamation, recognize the government so established, and none other, 
as tlie constitutional government of the State, and from the date of 
such ]-ecogniiion, and not before. Senators and Representatives, and 
electors for President and Vice-President, may be elected in such State, 
according to the laws of the State and the United States." In case 
the conventions refused to establish governments in accordance with this 
act, the governors were to dissolve tliem and order new elections. It 
was also enacted that until the United States shall have recognized a 
republican form of State Government, the provisional governor in each 
of said States shall see that this act, and the laws of the United States, 
and the laws of the State in force when the State Government was 
overthrown by the rebellion, are faithfully executed within the State ; 
but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore held in in- 
voluntary servitude shall be recognized or enforced by any court or 
officer ill such State, and the laws for the trial and punishment of white 
persons shall extend to all persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications 
of voters under this law for delegates to the convention. That until 
the recognition of a State Government the provisional government 
shall cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year 1864, and 
every year thereafrer, the taxes provided by the laws of such State, to 
be levied during the liscal year preceding the overthrow of the State Gov- 
ernment. That all persons held to involuntary servitude or labor in 
the States aforesaid are hereby emancipated and discharged therel'rom, 
and they and their posterity shall be forever free. And if any such 



662 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 

persons or their posterity sliall bo restrained of liberty, under pretence 
of .any .'Jaim to such service or labor, the courts of the United States 
shall, on habeas corpus, discharge them. That if any person declared 
free by this act, or any law of tho United States, or any proclamation 
of tlic President, be restrained of liberty, with intent to be held in 
or reduced to involuntary servitude or labor, the person convictQil be- 
fore a court of competent jurisdiction of such .act shall 1)0 punisheil by 
fine of not less than iiftcen hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not less 
than five nor more than twenty yeai's. That every person who shall 
hereafter hold or exercise any olHce, civil or military, except offices 
merely ministerial, .an<l military offii-es below the oriule of colont'l, in 
tlie rebel service, Stale or Confederate, is hereby declared not to be a 
citizen of the United St.ates. 

This act the President did not sign, but gave it publication by a 
proclamation, in which he said: "That while I .am (as I was in De- 
cendjer last, when by proclamation I proi)ounded a plan for restora- 
tion) unprepared, by a formal approval of this bill, to be inflexibly com- 
mitted to any single plan of restoration ; and, while I am also unpre- 
pared to declare that the free State constitutions and governments 
already adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisitma shall be set 
aside and held fur naught, thereby repelling and discouraging tho 
loyal citizens who have sot up the same as to further efibrt, or to de- 
clare a constitutional competency in Congress to abolish slavery in 
States, but am at the samu time sincerely hoping and expecting that a 
constitution.al amendment, .abolishing slavery throughout the nation, 
may be adopted, nevertheless I am fully Scatisfied with the system for 
restoration contained in the bill as one very proper plan for the loyal 
people of any State chosing to adopt it, and that I am and at all times 
shall be, pre{)ared to give the Executive aid .and assistance to any such 
people, so soon as the military resistance to the United State-* shall 
nave bt-en suppressed in any such State, and the people thereof shall 
have sulliciently returned to their obedience to tiie Constitution and 
laws of the United States, in which cases military governors will bo 
appointed, with directions to proceed according to tho bill." 

The enrolment and conscription bill was .amended by this Congress 
in several particulars, and that clause in the orighud bill which per- 
mitted drafted persons to be exempted from service by the payment 
of three hundred dollars into the nation.al treasury was repealed. 
Negro soldiers, of whom one hundred thous;md Avere enlisted in 1864, 
were ])laced on .an equal footing Avith white soldiers in respect to pay 
and other m.atters, and aBure.au of Freedmen's Ailairs was established, 
which should de, ermine all questions relating to persons of African 
descent, and nudce regxilations for their employment and proper 
treatment on abandoneifpLantations. P'inally, to silence the cavillings 
of those persons Avho denounced the Pi'esident's cmancii)ation jirocla- 
mation as unconstitutional, a resolution was adopted to submit to tho 
•action of tiie several States an amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States, prohihiiing th.e existence of slavery within the States 
and Territories of the TJnlon forever. This met with niuch opposition 
from members of the border Slave States, who declared it was a palpable 



IIISTOKY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOW. 003 

violation of Stiitc riglits for the people thus to interfere with anything 
\vl)icli State laws declare to be property. But the objection Avas met 
by S nator Revcrdy Johnson, of Maryland, who argued that when the 
Constitution was originally framed this prohibition might have been 
embodied in it, and that it was competent for the States to do now. 
. Avhaievcr they might have done then. To secure an amendment to 
the C(^nstitution, it is necessary, after it has been adopted by a two- 
thirds vole in both houses of Congress, that it should be latilied by the 
legislatures of two-thirds of tiie States; and the question was seriously 
agitated whether two-thirds of tiie loyal States would not be sulliciont 
in the present instance. In order, however, to be within the strict 
letter of the law, it was determined to follow the constitutional pro- 
vision literally. So far as the amendment has boon acted n\)Ou, every 
Free State except New Jersey has ratified i^; but enough States have 
not yet voted for ratification to make up the requisite two-thirda. 

The s^jring of 1864, which witnessed the comnK'ncement and prog- 
ress of the momentous campaigns of Grant and Sherm:m, waa 
destined also to witness a political struggle of more than usual 
acerb ty. The peace party had now become fully organized, and, 
despite' its overwhelming defeat in the previous autumn, hoped through 
the apparent f libiro oi' the nulitary plans of the year, and the undoubt- 
ed and w ide-spread desire for peace, to insure the election of their 
candidate for the Presidency. It was deemed peculiarly unfortunate 
that the country should be involved at such a crisis in the excitement 
and conludon ordinarily attending a Preside-atal election, and the 
opinion prevailed among a large portion of the people, that the canvass, 
whi h had usually commenced after the nomination of candidates in 
May o:- June, should be postponed until the autumn. Strong eixorts were 
made to have the Republican nominating convention adjourned to Sej> 
tembcr or October; but i)opular impatience could not endure so long a 
delay, and on June 7th the convention met at Baltimore. On the first 
ballot; Abraham Lincoln Avas unanimously renominated for President, 
amid unmistalcable demonstrations of enthusiasm, and subsequently 
Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, formerly a Uidted States Senator from 
that Statt-, and since 18G2 its military governor, Vv'as nominated for Vice- 
President. The following is the platform adopted by the convention : — 

"nesolre'l Tliat it is tlie highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against 
all their enemies tlie integrity of tiie Union, and the paramount autliority of the Con- 
stitution and hxws of the United States, and that, hiyiog aside all differences and polit- 
ical opinions, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment, 
and aiming at a common object, to do every tiling in our power to aid the Government 
in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in 
bringing to the punisliment due to their crimen the rebels and traitors arrayed against 
i!;. [Prolonged applaused 

"/.'e oZ';ei,"Tliat we approve the determination of the Government of the United 
'States not to compromise with rebels, or to oiler any terms of peace except such aa 
maybe based upon an "unconditional surrender" of their hostility and a return to 
then- just allegiance to the Constitution and laws- of the United istates; and that w© 
call upon the Governmout to maintain this posiuon, and to prosecute the war with the 
\itmost possible vigor to the complete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance 
npon the self-sacrihees, the patriotism, tlic heroic valor, smd the undying devotion of 
the American people to their country and its free institutions. [Applause] 



664 • HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

'^Resolved, That as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strcngrth, of thia 
rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles of repub- 
lican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extir- 
, pation from llie soil of tlio republic [applause] ; and lliat we uphold and niaiutaiu tho 
^ acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defence, has aimed a 
* death-blow at this gigantic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of sucii an amendment 
to tho Constitutiou, to bo made by tho people in conformity with its provisions, aa 
fihall terminate and forever pro! libit the existence of Slavery within the limits cr tho 
jurisdiction of tho United States. [Applause.] 

'■^Resolved, Tliat tlie tlianks of tho American people are due to the soldiers and sailors 
of the army and the navy [applause], wlio have perilled their lives in defence of their 
country, and iu vindication of the lienor of the flag ; that the nation owes to them some 
permanent recognition of their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent 
provision for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable 
wounds in tho service of the country; and that the memories of those who have fallen 
in its defence shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance. [Loud applause.] 

'^Resolrt'd, That wo approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the unselhsh patriot- 
ism, and unswerving fidelity to the Ccjnstitution and tho principles of American liberty, 
with which Abraham Lincoln lias discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled 
difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential office; that wo 
approve and indorse, as demanded by the emergency and essential to the preservation 
of the nation, and as v>'ithin the Constitution, tho measures and acts which he has 
adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve especial- 
ly the proclamation of emancipation and the employment as Union soldiers of men 
heretofore held in slavery [applause] ; and that we have full conlideuce in his deter- 
mination to carry these and all other constitutional measures essential to the salvation 
of the coimtry into fidl and complete effect. 

^^Rewlvcd, That we deem it essential to the general welfare that harmony sliould 
prevail in tho national councils, and we regard as worthy of public confidence and 
official trust those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these 
resolutions, and which should characterize the administration of the Government. 
[Applause.] 

^^Resulved, That the Government owes to all men employed in its armies, without 
regard to distinction of color, tho full pri;tection of the laws of war [applause], and 
that any violations of these laws, or of the usages of civilized nations iu tlie time of 
war, by the rebels, now in arms, should be made the subject of full and prompt redress. 
[Prolonged applause.] 

'■'■ EetoLved, That the foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the 
wealth and development of resources and increase of power to this nation — tlie asylum 
of tho oppressed of all nations — should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and 
just policy. 

''Resuhed, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of the railroad to tho 
Pacific. 

''R.solved, That the national faith pledged for the redemption of the public debt 
must be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recommend economy and rigid 
responsibility in the public expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxation; 
that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and promote the use of 
the national currency. [Applause.] 

^^Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the Government, that the people 
of tho United States can never regard with indifference the attempt of any European 
Power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by fraud, the institutions of any repub- 
lican government on the Western Continent [prolonged applause] ; and that tliey will 
view with extreme jealousj% as menacing to the peace and independence of this oiu 
country, the eflbrts of any such Power to obtain new footholds for monarchie:d govern- 
ments, sustained by a foreign military force in near promixity to the United States. 
[Long-continued applause]." 

The nominations were generally reeeived Avith satisfaction by the 
Republican party, though a radical section of it had expressed a pref- 
erence for Secretary Chase as a candidate for the Presidency. Tha 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 665 

name of Mr. Johnson, who was of Soiithern birth, but had been from 
the commencement of the war thoroughly identiiied with the Union 
cause, was considered to give great stren,o;th to tlie ticket. 

The opposition, with aA'iew of adding to the strength of their party, 
postponed their convention to the 29th of August. In the interval 
between the meeting of the Republican Convention and that date, 
many events, they supposed, might occur to increase the public craving 
for peace and compromise, and to bring into discredit the acts and 
policy of the Administration, The move was a sagacious one, for up 
to the 29th of August the progress of the National arms had not been 
in accordance vvnlh ])ublic expectation, considering the enormous scale 
on which preparations were made, and many of that numeror.s class 
who invariably side with tlie successful parly avcjc l)eginning to grow 
lukewarm or to waver in their support of Mr. Liiicol;). So powerful, 
in such a crisis as the country was then passing through, is the influ- 
ence of military success to sustain a party, be its cause ever so just a one, 
that if a long train of reverses had followed the commencement of the 
autumn, it is not improbable that the contest between the Republican 
and opposition candidates for the Presidency might have been close and 
exciting. But September brought the fill of Atlanta ami the victories 
of Sheridan in the valley, and it was seen that Grant, while a]ipaiently 
making slight progress, was in reality holding Lee by an iron grip 
within his intrenchments at Petersburg, and preventing him from send- 
ing a single man to re-enforce the rebel armies in the West. As this 
conviction dawned upon the public mind, confidence was restored, the 
faint-hearted i)lucked up courage, and the crisis was past. This change 
of opinion, however, could not be foreseen by the leaders of the oppo- 
sition, and therefore their postponement of their convention v/as on 
the vvdiole a clever stroke of policy, the failure of which was through 
no fiult of its advisers. 

For months before the meeting of the convention, which took plac-e 
in Chicago, but one prominent name was in the mouths of Demo- 
cratic politicians in connection with the Presidency, and that was Gen- 
eral McClellan's. We liave stated how he was taken up by these men 
in the first flush of his military reputation, and how the political ideas 
which he then imbibed, by arraying him in opposiiion to the Adminis- 
tration, and prompting him to go beyond the line of his proper duty, 
impaiied his usefulness as a soldier. Since his removal from the com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac, in November, 18G2, he had relin- 
quished no one of those political views, and his long retirement from 
active duty was regarded by his friends as a species of martyrdom, 
prompted by the fears and hatred of the Government. The popularity 
which he had once possessed, both in and out of the army, it was be- 
lieved, had experienced no diminution. A man of undoubted ability, 
of many accomplishments, having the appearance and address of a 
polished gentleman, and of imblemished private character, he formed 
■ in some respects a marked contrast to the Reiiublican candidate, and 
Was decided to combine in himself more elements of success tlian any- 
other man in the ranks of the opposition. Under these circumstances 
his nomination was a foregone conclusion, and was secured on the first 



66Q niSTOEY OF the GEEAT EEBELLIOlSr. 

ballot, tlie only competitor against Mm having any show of strength 
being Governor Seymour, of New York. This result was, neverthe- 
less, unpalatible to that wing of the Democratic party of whicli men 
like Vaihiudigham were the exponents;, because McCIclhm was pro- 
fessedly in favor of prosecuting the war aa,:iinst the rebellion ; and for 
the purpose of securing their support, Gi^orge II. Pendleton, a mem- 
ber of the Thirty-seventh Congress, from Ohio, and one of their ablest 
men, was nominated for the Tice-Prosidency. The ticket thus com- 
prised a candidate for President in favor of war, and a candidate for 
V ice-Presiv)ent pledged in the strongest terms to oppose it. The fol- 
lowing platform, adopted by the convention, expressed, it will be seen, 
the views of tlie peace men : — 

' Resolved, Tliat in the future, as in the past, wo will adhoro with unswerving fidelity 
to the Uuioa miier the Constitution, as the only solid foundation of our strength, se- 
curity, and happiness as a people, and as a framework of government equally eondu- 
cive to the v/elfare and prosperity of all the States, both Northern and Soullieru. 

'■'■ Resolvel, That this convention docs explicitly declare, as the sense of the 
American people, tliat after four years of failure to restore the Union by tlio experi- 
ment of war, during which, under the pretence of a military necessity, or war power 
higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, 
andjDublie liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of 
tlie 'country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare de- 
mand that immediate efforts bo made for the cessation of liostilitios with a view to an 
ultimate convention of all the States, or otlier peaceable means, to the end that at the 
earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Uiiion 
of the States. 

^'lieolved, That tlie direct interference of the military authority of the United 
States m the recent- eleotions held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware, was 
a shameful violation of the Constitution, and a repetition of such acts in the approaching 
election will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with all the means and power under 
our control. 

" ResulvsJ; That the aim and object of tlie Democratic party is to preserve tho 
Federal Union and tlie rights of the States unimpaired, and they hereby declare 
that they consider tlie administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous power 
not granted by the Constitution, the subversion of tiie civil by military law in 
States not in insuiTCCtion, the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment, trial, and sentence 
of American citizens in States wliere civil law exists in full force, the suppression of 
freedom of speeeh and of the press, the denial of the right of asylum, the open and 
avowed disregard of Sea to rights, tho employment of unusual test oaths, and the in- 
terference with and the denial of the right of the people to bear arms, as calculated to 
prevent a restoration of the Union and the perpetuation of, a Government deriving its 
just po\yers from the consent of the governed. 

" liesolued, That tho shameful disregard of the Administration of its duty m respect to 
our fellow-citiaens, who now and long have been prisoners of war in a suffering condition, 
deserves the sevoest reprobation, on the score alike of public, and common liumanity. 

" Repaired, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily and earnestly 
extended to tlie soldiery of our array, who are and have been in tlie field under the flag 
of our country, and in the event of our attaining power they will receive all the care, 
I)roie(';ion, regard, and kindness that the brave soldiers of the republic have so nobly 
earned." 

When these resolutions were made public, many earnest and pafri-, 
otic men, who were sincerely in favor of the war, and who continued 
to support McClellan because they believed him to be equally sincere, 
predicted that he would decline the nomination, if sucli a philform was 
to guide liis public acts in the event of his election. All doubt as to 



IIISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOl^r. 667 

> 

the course •\vliicii the Democratic candidate would pursue was, how- 
ever, soou dispelled by the following letter of acceptance : — 

"Oraxge, N. J., Feptinibcr 8, 1864. 

" Gentle:men : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 3-our letter, inlurrninw 
tnc of iny uouilnatioa by the Democratic National Convention, recently assembled at 
Chicago, as their candidate, at the next election, for President of the United biatcs. 

"It is unnecessary for mo to say to you that this nomination comes to me unsought. 

" I am happy to know that when the nomination was made, the record of i;iy publio 
life was kept in view.- 

"The eO'ect of long and varied service in the army, during war and peace, has b?en to 
strengthen and make indelible in my mind and heart, the loyo and reverence for the 
Union, Constitution, laws, and flag of our country, impressed upon mo in early youth. 

"These feelings have thus far guided the course of my life, and must continue to do 
80 to its end. 

"The existence of more than one Government over the region vdiieh oneo owned 
our flag is incompatible with the peace, the power, and tlie happiness of tho people. 

"The preservation of our Union was the solo avowed object for which the v.ar was 
commenced. It should have been conducted for that object only, an^l in accordance 
with those principles which [ took occasion to declare when in active service. 

"Thus conducted, tlie work of reconciliation vvould have been easy, and wo might 
have reaped tlio benefits of our many victories on land and sea. 

"The Union was originally formed by the exercise of a spirit of conciliation and 
compromise. To restore and preserve it, the came spirit must prevail in our councils, 
and in the hearts of the people. 

"Tho re-establishment of the Union in all its integrity is, and must contin'.io to be, 
the indispensable condition in any settlement. So soou as it is clear, or cveu probable, 
that our present adversaries are ready for peace, upon tlie basis of tiio Union, we 
should exlianst all tho resources of statesmanship practised by civilized nations, and 
taught by the traditions of the American people, consistent with tho honor and inter- 
ests of tlie country, to secure sucli peace, re-establish the Union, and guarantee for the 
future tho con -tltutioual riglits of every State. The Union is tho one condition of 
peace — we ask no more. 

"Let mo add what I doubt not was, although unexpressed, the sentiment of the 
Convention, as it is of tho people they represent, that when any one State is willing to 
return to the Union, it should be received at once, with a fall guai-antoc of all its 
constitutional riuhts. 

"If a franlc, earnest, and persistent effort to obtain those objects sliould fail, tlie re- 
sponsibility for ulterior consequences will fall upon those who remain in arms against 
the Union. But tho Union miist be preserved at all hazards. 

"I cnuld not look in the face my gallant comrades of the army and navy, who have 
survived so many bloody battles, and toll them that tlieir labors and the sacriHccs of so 
many of our slain and wounded brethren had been in vain; that we had abandoned 
that Union for which wo have so often perilled our lives. 

"A vast majority of our people, whether in the army -and navy or at homo, would, 
as I would, hail with unl)onnded joy the permanent restoration of pence, on- the basia 
of tho Union under the Constitution, without the effusion of another drop of blood. 
But no peace can be permanent without Union. 

"As to tho other subjects presented in the resolutions of the convention, I need only 
say that I should seek, in the Constitution of the United Stdes, «nd the laws iramed 
in accordance therewith, the rule of my duty, and tho limitations of execiitive power; 
endeavor to restore economy in pulilic expenditure, re-establish the supremacy of law, 
and, by the operation of a more vigorous nationality, resume our commanding position 
among the nations of t!ie earth. 

"The condition of our finances, the depreciation of the paper money, and tho bur- 
dens thereb}' imposed on labor and capital, show tho necessity of a return to a sound 
financial system; while the ri,:ihts of citizens and the rights of States, and the binding 
authority of law over President, army, and people, are subjects of not less vital im- 
portance in war than in peace. 

" Believing that the views here expressed are those of tho convention and the people 
you represent, I accept the nomination. 



668 HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOK. 

" I realize tho weight of the responsibility to be borne should the people ratify your 
choice. 

'"Conscious of ray own weakness, I can only seek fervently the guidance of the 
Ruler of the universe, and, relying on His all-powerful aid, do my best to restore union 
and peace to a suflering people, and to establish and guard their liberties and rights. 
"1 am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obcdieuc servant, 

"Geo. B. MgClellan. 
"Hon. Horatio Seymour, and others, Committee." 

From about the miJdle of September, when the canvass commenced 
to be actively conducted, there could be little doubt of the result, and 
the only question seemed finally to be respoctinc^ the majority which 
Mr. Lincoln woidd receive. The election took place on November 8th, 
and resulted in the choice of tho Republican candidates, by the follow- 
ing vote : — 

ST VTF3. Union. Dcniooratic. Union Democratic 

■^ ■ Lincoln. MuClellan. Majorities Majoritici 

Alabama 

Arkansas 

California G2,134 43,841 18,293 

Connecticut 44,G91 42,285 2,406 

Delaware 8,155 8,767 G12 

Florida 

Georgia 

Hhnois 189,496 158,730 30,766 

Indiana 150,422 130.233 20,189 

Iowa 89,075 49,596 39,479 

Kansas '.('vWl 3,691 12,750 

Kentucky 27,786 64,301 36,515 

Louisiana • . . . . 

Maine 6S,1I4 46,992 21,122 

Maryland 40.15:3 32.7:^9 7,414 

Massachusetts 126,742 48,745 77,997 

Michigan 91,521 74,604 16,917 

Minnesota 25,060 17,375 7,685 

Mississippi 

Missouri 72,750 31,678 41,072 

Nevada 9,026 6,594. 3,232 

New Hampshire 36.400 32,871 3,529 

New Jersey 60,723 68,024 7,301 

New York 368,735 361,986 6,749 

North Carolina 

Ohio 265,1.''>4 205,568 59,586 

Oregon 9,888 8.457 1,431 

Pennsylvania 296,391 276,:!16 20.075 

Rhode Island 14,349 8,718 5,631 

South Carolina . . . . . . . . 

Tennessee ' .. 

Toi-as .. .. •• .. ' 

Vermont 42,419 13,321 29,098 

Virginia 

West Virginia 23,152 10.438 12,714 

Wisconsin 83,453 65,884 17,574 



Total 2,223,035 1,811,754 455,709 44,428 

Net majority for Lincoln 411,281 



The 



2 year 18G4 was marked by two indirect attempts to commence 
iations for peace, which resulted in nothing. In the middle oi 



negotiations tor peace 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 669 

July, Colonel Jnmes F. Jaques, of the Seventy-third Illinois Volun- 
teers, accompanied by Mr. Edward Kirke, was permitted to enter the 
rebel lines in front of Petersburg;, and proceed to Richmond, where be 
obtained an intervicAV with Jefterson Davis. Though clothed with no 
authority to speak for either President Lincoln or the Government, and 
much less to act for them, he was nevertheless received with cordiality 
by Davis, to whom he explained the basis on which, in ail probability, 
the United States Government would consent to treat for peace. 
Davis having intimated very decidedly that no peace could be contem- 
plated by hiin or his Government, without the recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the "Southern Confederacy" by the United States, Colonel 
Jaques and his companion took their dejiarturo, no wiser than when 
they reached Richmond. * 

The next attempt at peace negotiations was conducted through more 
practised hands, but resulted none the more favorably for the peace 
party. Early in July, Mr, Horace Greeley, editor of the New York 
Tribune^ i-eceived from W, Cornell Jewett, a political adventurer of 
some notoi'iety, information that certain prominent rebel refugees in 
Canada were desirous of holding an interview Avith him at Niagara 
Falls. The following letter from Mr. Greeley to the President in ref- 
erence to this matter formed the prelude to the attempted negotiar 
tions : — 

" New York, July 7, 18G4. 

" Mt Dear Sir: — I venture to enclose you a letter and teleg-raphic dispatcli tliat I 
received yesterday from our irrepressible friend, Colorado Jewett, at Niagara Fnlls. I 
think tliey deserve attention. Of course I do not indorse Jewett's positive averment 
that his friends at the Falls have 'full powers' from J. D., though I do not doui)t that 
he thmks they have. I let that statement stand as simply evidencing tlie anxiety of 
the Confederates everywhere for peace. So much is beyond doubt 

" And thoiefore I venture to remind you that our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying 
country also longs for peace — shudders at the prospect of fresh conscriptions, of fur- 
ther wholesale devastations, and of new rivers of human blood ; and a wid'-spread 
conviction that the Government and its prominent supporters are not anxious for peace, 
and do not improve proffered opportunities to achieve it, is doing great harm now, and 
is morally certain, unless removed, to do far greater in the approaching elections. 

" It is not enough tliat we anxiously desire a true and lasting peace. We ought to 
demonstrate and establish the truth beyond cavil. The fact tliat A. IT. Stephens Avaa 
not permitted a year ago to visit and confer with the authorities at Washington has 
done harm, which the tone of the late National Convention at Baltimore is not calcu- 
lated to counteract. 

" I entreat you, in your own time and manner, to submit overtures for paciflcation 
to the Southern insurgents, which the impartial must pronounce frank and generous. 

"If only with a view to the momentous election soon to occur in North Carolina, 
and of the draft to be enforced in the Free States, this should be done at once. I would 
give the safe-conduct required by the rebel envoys at Niagara, upon their parole to 
avoid observation, and to refrain from all communication with their sympathizers in 
the loyal States; but you may see reasons for declining it. But wliether through 
them or otherwise, do not, I entreat you, fail to make the Southern people comprehend 
that you, and all of us, are anxious for peace, and prepared to grant hberal terms. I 
venture to suggest the following 

"plan of adjustment. 
" 1. The Union is restored, and declared perpetual. 
" 2. Slavery is utterly and forever abolished throughout the same. 
" 3. A complete amnesty for all political offences, with a restoration of all the inhab* 
itaats of each State to all the privileges of citizens of the United Statee. 



670 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION". 

" 4. Tho Union to pay four hundred million dollars (."^iOO.OOOjOOO), in five per cent 
United iStatcs stock, to the late Slave States, loyal and secession alike, to be apportioned 
gro rata, according to their slave population respectively, by the census of 18(iO, in 
compensation for the losses of their loyal citizens by tho abolition of slavery. Kach 
State lo bo entitled to its quota upon the ratification by its lep^islature of this adjust- 
ment. The bond? to be at the absolute disposal of the legislature aforesaid. 

" 5. Tlie said Slave States to be entitled henceforth to representation in the House 
on the basis of their total, instead of their Pederal population, the whole now being 
free. 

" G. A national convention, to be assembled as soon as may be, to ratify this adjust- 
ment, ami make such changes in the Constitution as ma}' be deeined advisable. 

" Mr. President, I fear yoti do not realize how intently the people desire any peace 
consistent with tlie national integrity and honor, and how joyously they would liail 
its achievement, and bless its authors. With United States stock worth but forty 
cents in gold per dollar, and drafting about to commence on the third million of Union 
soldieis, can this be wondered at? 

"I do not say that a just peace is now attainable, though I believe it to be so. But 
I do say that a frank offer by you to the insurgents of terms which the impartial say 
ought to be accepted, will, at the worst, prove an immense and sorely needed advan- 
tage to the national cause. It may save us from a Northern insurrection. 

" Yours truly, Horace Greeley. 

" Hon. A. Lincoln, President, Washingtpn, D. C. 

" P. S. — Even though it should be deemed unadvisable to make an offer of terms to 
the rebels, I insist that in any possible case it is desirable that any offer they may be 
disposed to make should be received, and eitlier accepted or rejected. I beg you to 
invite those now at Niagara to exhibit their credentials and submit their ultimatujn, 

" H. G." 

A few days Inter, Mr. Greeley was informed hj George N. San- 
ders, a noted rebel agent in Canada, that Clement C. Clay, of Alabama', 
Professor J. P. Ilolcombe, of Vii'ginia, and himself, were willing to go 
at once to Washington, provided they could be assured of their per- 
sonal safety. To this Mr. Greeley replied as follows : — 

"Niagara Falls, N. Y., Jul;/ 17, 18G4. 
•'Genti^emen: — I am informed that you are d -.ly accredited from Richmond as the 
bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace, that you desire to visit 
Washington in the fulfilment of your mission, and that you further desire that Mr. 
George N. Sanders shall accompany you. If my information bo thus far substantially 
correct, I am authorized by the President of the United States to tender you his safe- 
conduct on the journey proposed, and to accompany you at the earliest time that will 
be agreealile to you. 

"I have the honor to be, gentlemen, yours, Horace Greeley. 

" To Messrs. Clement C. Clay, Jacob Thompson, James P. Holoombe, 
Clifton House, C. W." 

Clay and Ilolcombe replied on the succeeding day tnat tne safe- 
condiict of the President had been tendered to them under some mis- 
apprehensions of facts, since they had not been accredited to him from 
Richmond as the bearers of propositions looking to the establishment 
of peace. "We are, however," they added, " in the coniidential em- 
ployment of our Government, and are entirely familiar v/iih its wishes 
and opinions on that subject ; and Ave feel .auihorized to declare that, 
if the civcnmstances disclosed in this correspondence were communi- 
cated to Uichraond, we would be at once invested with the authority 
to which your letter refers ; or other gentlemen, clothed with full 



IIISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEEELLIOIT. 671 

powers, would bo immediately sent to Washington, Avith a view of 
hastening a consummation so much to be desired, nnd terminating at 
the earliest possible moment tlie calamities of the war." Under thesO 
circumstances, Air. Greeley telegraphed to Washington for further 
instructions, and received on the same day the following memoran- 
dum : — 

"ExEcuTrvE Mansion, Washington, July is. 1864. 
" To whom it may concern : 

" Any proposition whicli embraces tlio restoration of peace, the integrity of tlie 
whole Union, and the ubnndonment of slavery, and wliich comes by and wiili an au- 
thority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will bo 
received and considered by the lilxecutive Government of the United States, and will 
be met by liberal terms, on substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearera 
thereof shall have safe-conduct both ways 

(Signed) " Abrakaji Lincoln." 

This, in view ol the temper and pretensions of the South, Avas prac- 
tically a bar to fiu'ther proceedings, and Avas so considered by the 
rebel agents. In their liiial reply to Mr. Greeley, after quoLing the 
President's memorandum, they proceed as foUoAvs : — 

" The application to which wc refer .was elicited by your letter of the ITth instant, 
in which yon inform Mr. Jacob Thompson and ourselves that you v/erc autliorized' by 
the President of the United States to lender us his safe-conduct on the hypothesis that 
we were ' duly accredited from Riclimond as bearers of propositions looking to tho 
establishment of peace,' and desired a visit to Washington in tlie fulfilment of this 
mission. This assertion, to which wo then gave, and still do, entire credence, was ac- 
csptoii by us as tho evidence of an unexpected but most gratifying change in the 
policy of the President, a change v/hicli we felt authorized to hope might terminate in 
the conclusion of a peace mutually just, honorable, and advantageous to the North and 
to the South, exacting no condition but that wc should be ' duly accredited from 
Richmond as bearers of propositions looking to tho establishment of peace.' Thus 
proffering a basis for conference as comprehensive as we could desire, it seemed to us 
that tho President opened a door which had previously been closed against the Confed- 
erate States for a full interchange cf sentiments, free discussion of conflicting opinions, 
and untrammelled effort to remove all causes of controversy by liberal negotiations, 
Wc, indeed, could not claim tho bone'lt of a safe-conduct which iiad been extended to 
us in a character we liad no right to assume, and had never affected to possess; but 
tlio uniform declarations of our Executive and Congress, and their thrice repented, and 
a,s often repulsed, attempts to open negotiations, furnish a sufficient pledge lo assure 
us that this conciliatory manifestation on tho part of tho President of tlie United 
States would be met by them in a temper of equal magnanimity. Wc had, therefore, 
no hesitation in declaring tliat if this correspondence Avas communicated to the Presi- 
dent of tho Confederate States, he vrould promptly embrace the opportunity presented 
for seeking a peaceful solution of this unhappy strife. Wc feci confident that you 
must share our profound regret that the spirit which dictated the first step towards 
peace had not continued to animate the counsels of your President. Had the repre- 
sentatives of the two Governments met to consider this question, tho most mcnientoua 
ever submitted to human statesmanship, in a temper cf becoming moderation and 
equit}-, followed as their dehberatioi:s would have been by the prayers and benedic- 
tions of every patriot and Christ'au ou tho habitable globe, who is there so hold as to 
pronounce that the frightful waste of individual happiness and public prosperity which 
is daily saddening the universal heart, might not have been terminated; or if the deso- 
lation and carnage of war must still be endured througli weary years of blood and suf- 
fering, that there might not at least have been infused into its conduct something more 
of the spirit which softens and partially redeems its brutalities? Instead of the safe- 
conduct which we sohcited, and which your first letter gave us every reason to sup- 



672 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION 

nose would bo extended for tlie purpose of initiating a nep;ot!ation in which neither 
Government would compromise its rights or its dignit_y, a document has been presented 
which prov(jkes as much indignation as surprise. It bears no feature of resemblance 
to that which was originally offered, and is unlike any paper which ever before ema- 
nated from the constitutional Executive of a free people. Addressed ' to whom it 
may concern.' it precludes negotiation, and prescribes in advance the terms and con- 
ditions of peace. It returns to the original policy of ' No bargaining, no negotiations, 
no truces with rebels except to bury their dead, until every man shall have laid down 
his arms, suljmittcd to the Government, and sued for nicrc}'.' What mayJiC the ex- 
planation of this sudden and entire change in the views of the President, of tliis rude 
withdrawal of a courteous overture for negotiation at the moment it was likely to bo 
accepted, of this omphalic recall of words of peace just uttered, and fresh blasts of war 
to the bitter end, we leave for the speculation of those who have the means or inclinar 
tjon to })enetrato the m,ysteries of his Cabinet, or fathom the caprice of Lis imperial 
will. It is enough for us to say that we have no use whatever for the paper which 
has been placed in our hands. Wo could not transmit it to the President of the Con- 
federate States witliout ofleriug him an indignity, dishonoring ourselves, and incurring 
the well-merited scorn of our countrymen. 

" AVhilo an ardent desire for peace pervades the people of the Confederate States, 
we rejoice to believe that there are few, if any, among them, who would purchase it at 
the expense of liberty, honor, and self-respect. If it can bo secured only by their sub- 
mission to terms of conquest, tlie generation is yet unborn which will witness its resti- 
tution. If there be any military autocrat in the North who is entitled to proH'cr the 
conditions of this manitosto, there is none in the Sovith authorized to entertain them. 
Those who control our armies are the servants of the people, not their masters; and 
tliey have no more inclination than they have right to subvert the social institutions 
of the sovereign .^tates to overthrow their established Constitutions, and to barter 
away their jiriceless heritage of self-government. This correspondence will not, how- 
ever, we trust, prove wholly barren of good results. 

'' If there is any citizen of the Confederate States who has clung to a hope that 
peace was possible with tins Administration of the Federal Government, it will strip 
from his eyes the last film of such a delusion. Or, if there bo any whose hearts have 
grown faint under the suffering and agony of this bloody struggle, it will inspire 
them with fresli energy to endure antl bravo whatever may yet be requisite to pre- 
serve to themselves and their children all that gives dignity and value to life, or hope 
and consolation to death. And if there be any patriots or Christians in your land, 
who shrink appalled from the illimitable vista of private misery and public calamity 
which stretches before them, wo pray that in their bosoms a resolution may be quick- 
ened to recall the aliused authority and vindicate the outraged civilization of their 
country. For the solicitude you have manifested to inaugurate a movement which 
contemplates results the most noble and humane, we return our sincere thanks, and 
we, most respectfully and truly, your obedient servants, 

"C. C. Clay, Jr. 

" James P. Holcombe." 



CHAPTER LXX. 

Finances of 18G3. — Revenue..— Sales of Bonds. — Effect of Paper Money. — Policy of Mr. 
Cliase. — Gold Law, and its Effects. — iMr. Chase Resigns. — Finances of 1«64.— r 
Sales of Bonds in Europe. — Statement of Debt. — National Banks. — Piicoa of Gold. 

The financial resources of the Government Avere developed with the 
most extraordinary power and efiect as the war proceeded. Tlic 
immense pressure of continual paper issues upon the markets, in dis- 
charge of the vast claims upon Government, coidd have no other eifcct 
than a continual depreciation of the value of that paper. In a previous 
chapter the finances of the Government were brought down to the close 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 673 

of the fiscal year 18G3, at which time the debt hml accumulated to 
$1,098,793, 18*1. The receipts of the fiscal year, ending Jixue 30, 1863, 
comprised $69,059,642 from customs, and ^42,340,124 from taxes, mak- 
ing together 1111,399,766 from revenue. There was borrowed in that 
year $776,682,361, making together $888,082,123, to mi.'ct an expendi- 
ture of $895,796,630. The fiscal year 1864 opened with $411,190,065 
legal tender money outstanding, and gold at a premium of 150. The 
internal revenue and customs taxes Avere so modiliod as, it was hoped, 
to increase the revenue of the year at least fifty per cent. The depre- 
ciation of paper had, however, greatly increa^^cd the expenses of the 
Government, by enhancing the cost of most articles of which the Gov- 
ernment was the purchaser, and making it requisite to increase the pay 
of the troops, as well as to swell the sum of the bounties oiFered. It 
was veiy clear that, no matter how near to the estimates the receipts 
from taxes might come, the increased expense caused by the de- 
preciation of paper would more than absorb the sum of the taxes, 
and that the dependence of the Government must be upon borrowing. 
In pursuing this course, the Government varied the form of the bonds 
offered in the market. Up to the close of May, 1863, the gold bonds 
of the Government had not met with much sale, because of their high 
price as compared with the value of other commodities upon the mar- 
ket. The property of the people had been locked up in goods and 
merchandise that were not readily salable when the war broke out. 
It was not until the issue of Government paper, in exchange for com- 
modities at very high prices, had transmuted goods into Government 
paper, that the people had money or paper to invest in the bonds of 
the Government. In the spring of 1863 very active sales of goods had' 
taken place for paper, which had depreciated to forty-two cents per 
dollar. High prices had been obtained in this paper for merchandise, 
and when gold began to decline in May, the desire to convert the paper 
money into the gold bonds enabled the Government to negotiate a con- 
siderable amount of the 5-20 bonds. In the first quarter of the 
fiscal year, 1864, $109,631,250 of those bonds were sold. In addition, 
$1 5,000,000 more legal-tender notes were issued. The sales of the 5-20 
bonds continued up to the middle of January, 1864, the rate of gold re- 
maining at about 152. The Secretary of the Treasury was then induced to 
stop the sale of the gold bcmds, and to issue anew form of legal-tender 
notes, bearing interest, to the extent of $150,000,000. The effect of 
this was to send the price of gold up a little, and this tendency was 
enhanced by the attempts of Congress to check the rise, by interfering 
with the freedom of individual action. The issues of legal tender then 
became necessary, because the sales of the Government bonds were 
less free. 

Meantime the customs revenues were very large, exceeding the esti- 
mates to a considerable extent. The law guaranteeing that the public 
interest should be paid in gold, had required that the customs receipts 
should be applied, first, to the payment of interest on the public debt, 
and secondly, to the purchase annually of one j)er cent, of the entire 
public debt, as a sinking fund. In March, 1 864, gold was at a premium of 
160, and a bill was brought intoCongress to allow the Secretary to sell in 
43 



674 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



the open market the gold not required for the interest. This was refused ; 
nevertheless, the Secretary caused to be issued the following notice : — 

•'United States Treasury, New York. ATarch 2."?, 1864. 
" By direction of tlie Secretary of the Treasury, notice is liereby given that until 
further orders I will issue to importers, for payment of duties on goods imported by 
them, certificates of deposit of gold coin, to the credit of the collector of any port as 
desired in oxchango for notes, at a quarter of one per centum below the current market 
vahie of gold. 

" These certificates are not assignable, but Avill bo receivable by the collector from 
tho party to whom they are issued. 

"J. J. Cisco, 
"Assistant Treasurer of the United States. 

"No. United States Treasury, New York, , 1S64. 

" I certify that has this day deposited to the credit of the CoJ- 

lector of the Port of New York $ in gold coin. This certificate is receivable 

only for duties on imports from the party to whom it is issued, and upon his indorse- 
ment. , Assistant Treasurer. 

"$ ." 

The gold certificates thus sold were used for the payment of customs, 
in the view of checking the demand for gold. A considerable quantity 
•of gold was also sent to London, and exchange drawn ngainst it was 
rsold for paper in the same manner. Congrt>ss now passed a resolution 
incri'asiiig the duty on imported goods fifty per cent, for sixty days, 
to take effect on April 29th. The effect of this Avas to cause very 
large entries of goods for duties in April, and consequently to draw 
gold into the Treasury, and a further rise in gold resulted. Congress 
now took measures to stop dealing in gold,* by passing a law which 



* [public— NO. 104.] 

AH ACT TO PROIUHIT CERTAIN 8.\LES OF GOLD AND 
roRKIO.N EXCIIANGK. 

Be it enactfd hii the Senate ond Ifou.ie of liep- 
rMonlnticen of ()ie United States of Americti in 
Congi'eM axxeinbled, Tli:il it siiall be iinl.iwtul to 
make any c<iiitr:xot lor llio piircluise or 'nle and de- 
livery ol" any pold coin or bullion, to be delivered 
on any day fub.«.eqnent to the day of making pneh 
contr.aot, or for tlxj iiayment oi" any sum, either 
fixed or conlinirent, in default of the delivery of 
any gold coin or bullion, or to make such 
oontnK'.t iipoii any 'ither terms than the actual de- 
livery of such pold coin or bullion, and the p.iy- 
ment in full of the .a-rreed price thereof, on the day 
on which such contract is made, in Tnited States 
notes or national currency, and not (ptherwise ; or 
to make any contract for the purchase or sale and 
delivery of any forei^'n excl-.ansrc to be delivered at 
any tiiiie beyond ten days subsequent to the mak- 
ing of such contract; or for the payment (if any 
sum, either lixed or continL-ent, in default of the 
delivery of any foreign exchange, or upon any 
• other terms than the actual delivery of such i 
foreisn cxcluingc within ten days from the mak- 
ing of such contract, nnd the immediate payment | 
In full of the agreed price thereof on the day of de- j 
livery in Ignited States notes or national currency; 
.or to make any contract whatever for the sale and 
delivery of any gold coin or bullion of which the 
per.son making sucli contn«ct shall not. nt the time 
■of making the eamc, be in actual |)osse.ision. And 
it shall be unlawful to make flny loan of money or 
currency not being in coin to be repaid in coin or 
bullion, Or to make any loan of coin or bullion to 
be repaiil in money or currency other than coin. 

Sko. 2. And be tt further enacted. That it shall 
be further unlawful for any banker, broker, or 
«tberj>crson, to make any purchase or euIu of HDf, 



gold coin or bullion, or of any foreign cxclLing.-' 
or any contract for any such jjurehase or sale, at 
any other place than the ordinary place of busi- 
ness of either the seller or purchaser, owned or 
hired nnd occupied by him individually, or by a 
partnership of which he is a member. 

Sec. 3. Avd be it further enacted. That nil 
contracLs mado in violation of this net shall be ab- 
solutely void. 

Sec. 4. Avd be it further etwcted. That any 
person who shall violate any jirovi.sions of thi.i 
act shall be held guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on 
conviction thereof, bo fined in any sum not less 
than one thousand dollars, nor more than ten 
thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for a period 
not less than three months nor Innsrer than one 
year, or both, nt the discretion of the court, and 
shall likewise be suhjeclto a penalty of one thou- 
B.ind dollars for each oirence. 

Sep. 5. And- be it further #»jf/cf^rf. That the 
penalties imposed by the fourth section of this 
act may be recovered in an action at lilw in any 
court of record of the I'nited Slatis, or any court 
of competent juri.^<lictioii, which a<'tion may bv 
broncht in the name of the Iiuite<l States by any 
person who will sue for .said penalty, one half for 
tlo use of the United States, and iho other half 
tor the use of the person brii^ging such action. 
And the recovery and satisfaction of a judgment 
in any such action shall be a bar to the impositioi. 
of any fine for the same offence in any prosecution 
instituted subsequent to the recovery of sueli 
judL'inetit, but shall not bo a bar to the inflioti<i!i 
of punishment by imprisonment, ns jirovidtd ly 
said fourth section. 

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted. That »!'. 
acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the pruvi. 
siona of this act arc hereby repealed. 

Approved Juno 17, ISCi 



KISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOT^. 675 

forbade sales of exchange for specie at more than ten clays' time, at 
any place except the individual office of the banker, and in point of 
fact greatly embarrassed the business operations of bankers, since they 
could not tell in how far they might be exposed, not simply to the 
danger of infringing on the law, but to the complaints of informers, 
called into being by the enactment, which bestowed upon them half 
the fine. The law also, by limiting the time within Avhich a contract 
for exchange might run, cut off a large amount of ordinary shipping 
business done in New York for Western account, and which, in the 
usual course of business, required at least fifteen days to perfect ar- 
rangements between Chicago and New York. These difficulties, of 
course, caused a rise in both exchange and gold. The latter rose to 
285 and 290 on July 1st. 

The bill had, as we have stated, caused a dead-lock in the foreign 
exchange business, on account of the provisions above referred to. It 
is well known that a very large proportion of the ordinary business 
payments of the people of this country, and of every civilized commei^ 
cial community, are, in modern times, settled by certified checks, and 
similar financial expedients. To forbid the use of these certified checks, 
in any important department of legitimate business, wotild be attended 
with the most disastrous results, both to the enterprise of private indi- 
viduals and to the credit of the public Treasury. The construction 
given to the bill on this point, by the Treasury Department, will be 
found in the following communication from the Secretary : — 

"Treasury Department, WASinxGTON, ) 
''June 21, 18G4. f 

" John J. Cisco, Assistant Treasurer, New York : 

" I transmit an opinion of the Solicitor of the Treasury upon certain questions imddP 
the gold act, a7id concur in his (/pinion. 

"S. P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury." 

" Treasury Department, Solicitor's Office, \ 
"Jwne 27, 1864. ( 

"Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated to-day, 
submitting to me the following questions: — 

"The act to prohibit certain sales of gold and foreign exchange, approved June 13th, 
18G4, requires payment in full of the agreed price of gold or bullion purchased on the 
day on which the contract is made in United States notes or national currency, and 
not otherwise. Can such payment be made by check for the amount of the purchase 
money in United States or national currency ; or can it be made only by manual do- 
livery of the notes or currency by buyer to the seller ? 

" Second. The same act prohibits contracts for the purchase or sale and delivery of 
foreign exchange except on conditions of immediate payment in full of the agreed price 
thereof on the day of delivery in United States notes or national currency. Would a 
payment for such exchange in gold coin of the United States be valid or otherwise? 

" In reply to the first inquiry, I have to say that I have no doubt that the delivery 
of a bond fide check for the amount of the purchase money, in United States notes or 
currency, drawn against such notes or currency, actually at the present credit of the 
drawer, and which if presented immediately would be so paid, is a payment withiu 
the meaning of the act. In regard to the second question, my opinion is that a pay- 
ment for exchange in gold coin of the United States is a legal and valid payment 
" I have the honor to be, with high respect, 

"Edward JoiU)AN, Solicitor- of the Treasv/rTf. 

"To Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of the JVeasury." 



676 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

On the strength of this opinion, the bankers, who had "before refused 
to engage in any transaction liable to objection under the gold act, 
ventured cautiously forward, and thus aided in quieting the public ex- 
citement. The gold bill Avas finally repealed by a vote of twenty-four 
to thirteen in the Senate, and eighty-eight to twenty-nine in the House, 
June 30. The same day Mr. Chase resigned. 

The results of the financial operations for the* fiscal year ending June 
80, 1864, were as follows : — 

Receipts. Expenses. 

Customs $102,316,153 Civil, &c $10,273,530 

Lands 588,333 War 690,791,843 

Taxes 110,216,783 Navy 85,733,293 

Miscellaneous 47,511,488 Interest 53,685,421 



Total $260,632,757 $865,234,087 

Thus the expenses had exceeded the revenue by six hundred and 
four million six hundred and one thousand three hundred and seventy- 
one dollars, which was borrowed, on — 

Five-twenty bonds, act Feb. 25, 1862 .> $321,557,283 31 

Fractional currency, exceeding amount redeemed 2,702,421 25 

Six per cent, bonds, act July 17, 1861 30,565,875 45 

Ten-forty bonds, act March 3, 1864 73,337,600 00 

Twenty years six per cents., act March 3, 1863 42,141,771 05 

United States notes, act February 25, 1862 43,859,82146 

One year five per cent, notes, act March 3, 18G3 44,520,000 00 

Two year five per cent, notes, act March 3, 1863 152,864,800 00 

Three year six per cent, compound-interest notes 15,000,000 00 

Certificates of indebtedness exceeding amount redeemed 4,098,758 35 



Whole amount $730,642,410.97 

Of which amount there was applied to repayment of public debt 112,527,526.05 



Which left applicable to expenditures . .' $618,114,884.92 

There remained on hand fourteen million dollars at the close of the year. 
The miscellaneous receipts were composed mostly of the premium on 
gold sold, and the commutation money of conscripts under the first 
conscription act. The receipts of gold lor duties, and the interest paid, 
were as follows : — 

Receipts from Customs $102,316,153 

Interest paid in Coin 53,685,421 



Excess of receipts $48,630,732 

This amount under the law was to be applied towards the establish' 
raent of a sinking fund. Instead of that, however, the gold was sold, 
and the premium obtained, $19,298,896, was carried to the receipts 
under the miscellaneous head. 

An important revolution had been effected in the banking system 
of the country by the introduction of Mr. Chase's National Banking 
Bcheme, which authorized the establishment of three hundred million dol- 
Uvrs of bank capital, to issue tliree hundred million dollars of bank-note* 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT liEBELLION. 6*77 

not convertible into specie, but redeemable in leg.il-tender notes ; the 
bank-notes to be a legal tender for all Government dues except customs, 
and secured upon United States bonds. The advantages held out by 
this law were not at first appreciated, but iu 1864, national banks 
began to be rapidly organized, and by the close of the first Administra^ 
tion of Mr. Lincoln the whole amount of capital authorized was nearly 
engaged, and one hundred and eleven million dollars of the notes issued. 
A law taxing State bank-notes ten per cent, was intended to induce State 
banks to convert themselves into National banks, and thus simplify and 
consolidate the whole banking system of the country. The tendency 
has accordingly been in that direction. 

Mr. Chase was succeeded by Mr. William Pitt Fessenden, Senator 
from Maine, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The 
Government paper was worth thirty-five cents per dollar, and the 
revenues Tvcre not large from taxes ; but the revised law coming then 
into operation promised to increase the amount. There was also a 
five per cent, extra income tax levied in October on the incomes of 

1863. The customs had begun to decline, but the low price of tho 
Federal six per cent, bonds, selling then in London at thirty-five cents 
per dollar, and therefore giving seventeen pev cent, interest on the in- 
vestment, was beginning to attract the attention of capitalists in 
Europe, and sales became large, thereby checking the drain -for gold 
in the payment of goods imported. 

By the laws in force on the day Mr. Fessenden assumed office, he 
had authority to borrow on the credit of the United States the amounts 
following, to wit: — 

Mrsf. Under the act of March 3d, 1863, so much of $75,000,000 
advertised ])i"evionsly to June 30th, 1864, as had not been awarded to 
bidders, $32,459,700. 

Second. Under the act of March 3d, 1864, so much as had not been 
subscribed for and paid into the treasury, viz.: $127,603,520. 

Third. Under the act of June 30th, 1B64, $400,000,000. 

Fourth. Amount of Treasuiy notes issued under former acts which 
had been redeemed and cancelled, and which the Secretary was author- 
ized to replace by notes issued under the act of June 30th, 1864, 
$62,191,400. 

Total available resources under laws authorizing loans, $622,284,625. 
To this may be added the actual balance in the treasui-y, July 1st, 

1864, $18,842,588 71. Total, $641,127,213 71. Thus provided with 
funds, he did not attempt any change from the course pursued by Mr. 
Chase. 

The policy of the department was, as far as practicable, to avoid the 
issues of legal tender by substituting for them bonds. The sales of the 
latter abroad facilitated this movement. Mr. Fessenden retained 
power to the close of March, 1865, in which term the debt had in- 
creased from $1,733,810,119 to $2,423,437,001, or $689,626,882, being 
at the rate of $2,500,000 per day. Of this increase, $74,000,000 was 
legal tender, $260,000,000 gold bonds, $64,000,000 arrears to creditoi-s, 
and the remainder paper interest bonds. The whole progress of the 
debt was as follows : — 



678 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



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HISTORY OF TIIE GEEAT KEBELLION. 679 

The course of the gold premium from the first issues of the legal 
tender to March, 18G5, was monthly as follows: — 

PRICE OP GOLD IN LEGAL TENDER. 

1862. 1863. 1864. 1865. 

Highest, Lowest. Iligliest. Lowest.. Highest. Lo-west. Highest. Lowest 

January 105 ...101 160 ...13:;.l 159^. . .15U 2.Hi...l97i 

February 1045...102;i 172^. ..152| lC0A...157i 216|...196f 

March 102-1.. .lOU 171 ...139i 170 .. 15,9^ 201 ...154^ 

April 102i@10U 159i — 146 189 —164 

May 10:'.i r^o 102i 156 —143^ 195 — 167| 

June 101)1 @ 103^- 149i — 140.5- 252 @ 167 

July 120i-@109i 145i — 133i... .290 @ 229 

August 115i@112i 128i@ 122i 261 @ 231 

September 124l@ 116| 142i@ 127^;- 2541® 185 

October 136,1® 122^ 156|@ 142^- 222^® 189 

November 133^® 129^ 154tl® 1431 260 ® 209^ 

December 133|@ 130^. . . . 153'® 146^. . . . .2-13|-@ 211 



CHAPTER LXXI 

Sherman Prepares to Cross Georgia. — Composition of Army. — Marching: Orders. — Com- 
bat at Griswoldville.— Appeal' to the People of Georgia.— Millcdgeville Reached.— 
Army at Louisville. — Combat with Wheeler. — March to Savannah. — Communicates 
with tlie Fleet. — Fort McAllister. — Evacuation of Savannah, — Sherman's Dispatches. 
— Wilmington Expedition. — Fort Fisher. — Powder Ship. — Bombardment. — Failure. — 
Return to Hampton Roads. — Co-operation from Plymouth. 

When Sherman paused in his pursuit of Hood, he remained several 
days at Gaylesville, in Northern Alabama, and then with tlie Four- 
teenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps, the Fourth and 
Twenty-third having been sent to Tennessee, returned to Atlanta, 
to commonee preparations for a march through Georgia to the sea- 
coast. Hood had made the mistake of going north into Tennessee, 
without any very definite object, and there was no force south of 
Atlanta to present any opposition to the proposed march of Sher- 
man. Beauregard was indeed at Corinth, but with little prospect of 
being able to make head against the well-appointed army under the 
control of the Union leader. The army with which Sherman left 
Atlanta was composed of four corps of infantry, one division of caval- 
ry, four brigades of artillery, and two horse-batteries. The infantry 
consisted of the Fourteenth Corps, General Jeff. C. Davis ; the Fif- 
teenth, General Osterhaus (Lo«-an being absent) ; the Seventeenth, 
General LUair; and the Twentieth, General Slocnm. The cavalry was 
commanded by Kilpatrick. Finally, there Avas a full brigade of artiU 
lery for each corps, and one battery of horse artillery for the cavalry, 
numbering in all about sixty-Sve thousand men. The two divisions 
of the Sixteenth Corps Avere divided between the Fifteenth and 
Seventeenth. The corps were quite full, m.any had new regiments 
added, and the men, under the recent calls for troops, had come m to 
restore the old regiments to their maximum. The artillery arm was 



680 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



organized into an independent brigade for each corps, commanded by 
a field oHlcer, Avith liis own adjutant-general, quartermaster, commis- 
sary, ordnance officer, &c. Sherman, in his special field order No. 
120,* aimounced the division of his forces, for the purpose of military 
operations, into two wings: "The right wing, Major-General 0. O. 
Howard commanding, the Fifteenth, and Seventeenth Corps ; the left 
wing, Major-General II. W. Slocum commanding, the Fourteenth and 
Twentieth Corps." Each wing had its due proportion of infmtry, 
cavalry, and artilleiy. The men on commencing the march had in 
haversacks two days' rations salt meat, two days' hard bread, ten 
days' cofiee and salt, and five days' sugar. Each infantry soldier 
carried sixty rounds of ammunition on his person. 

Thus prepared, between the 12th and 15th of November, the troops 
began to concentrate around Atlanta. From Rome and Kingston 
southward the railroad was thoroughly broken up, and no property or 
buildings that could aid the enemy were spared. A general conflagra- 
tion in Atlanta consumed over two million dollars of i^roperty, and the 



SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS— No. 120. 

Head-Quarters Military Divisio>i of the 
Miss., in the Field, 
KTingston, Ga., jVod. 9, 1SG4. 

I. For the purpose of military openvtions this 
army is (liviilt-d into two wings, viz. : the right 
winir, Major-Gtiieral O. O. Howard coininanding, 
the Filteentli and Seventeenth Corps; tlie left 
wing. Major-General II. VV. Slocum commanding, 

J the Fourteenth and Tv.-entielh Corps. 

II. The habitual order of march will he, when- 
ever practicable, by four roads, as nearlj' parallel 
as po:*sible, and con vcrsinir at points hereafter to 
be indicated in orders. The cavalry, Brigadier- 
General Kilpatriek commanding, will receive 
special orders from the eonitnander-in-chief. 

III. There will be no genend trains of supplies, 
but each corps will have its ammunition and pro- 
vision train, distributed habitually as follows: 
Behind each regiment should follow onc^ wagon 
and one ambulance; behind each brigade should 
follow a due proportion of ammunition wagons. 
provision wasons, and ambulances. In case of 
danger, each army corps should change this order 
of march by having his advance and rear brigade 
unencumbered by wheels. The separate colufnns 
will start habitually at seven a. m., and make 
flbout fifteen miles per Oay, unless otherwise fixed 
in orders. 

IV. The army will forage Uherally on the 
country during the m'arcl;. To this end. each 
brigade commander will organize a good and sulti- 
cicnt foraging party, under ti.e command of one 
or more discreet otiicers, who will gather near the 
route travelled corn or forage of any kind, meat 
of any kind, vegetables, corn-meal, -ir whatever is 
needed by the command; aiming at all times to 
Iceep in the wagon trains at leimt ten days' pro- 
vixionn/or thecommand, and three dityif forage.. 
i^oUUerit mnxt not enter the dneUinga of the in- 
habitants, or commit any tresjiass <luriiig the 
lialt or a camp, they may be permitted to £.»ther 
turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables, and drive 
in stock in front of their camps. To regular forag- 
ing parties must be intrusted the /rathering "f 
j)rovisions an<i forage at any distance from the 
road trav( lied. 

V. To army corps commanders is intrusted the 
^wer to destroy mills, houses, coUon-gina, <£c., 



and for them this general pi1ncli>le is laid down : 
In districts and noiirhliorhoods icliere, the, army is 
■unmolested, no deKtruviion of such jiropcrty 
should bo permitted; but should guerrillas or 
bushwhackers molest our inarch, or should tho 
inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct roads, or other- 
wise manifest local hostility, then army corjis 
commanders should order and enforce a devas- 
tation more or lenn relentleas, according to the 
measure of such hostility. 

VI. As ibr horses, mules, wagons. &c., belong- 
ing to the inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery, 
may appropriate freely and without limit, dhscrim- 
inating, however, between the rich, who aro 
usually hostile, and , the poor or industrious, 
usually neutral or JViendly. Foraging parties 
m.ay also- take mules or horses to rei)lace the 
jaded animals of th'-ir trains, or to serve as p-ick 
mules for tho i egiments or brigades. In all for.ae- 
ing, of whatever kind, the parties engatred will 
refrain from .abusive or threatening language, and 
maj', when the otHcer in command thinks proper, 
give written certifieates of the facts, but no 
receipts; and they will endeavor to leave with 
each family a reasonable portion for their mainte- 
nance. 

VII. Kegroe^ who are alile hodied. and can be 
of service to the several eoluvais, may be taken 
along; but each army commander will be.ar if. 
mind that the question of supplies is a very im- 
portant one, and that his first duty is to see to 
those who bear arms. 

VIII. Theorganizaticnat onoeof a goodpionocr 
b.attalion for each corps, composed, if possible, of 
negroes should be attended to. This battalion 
should fidlow the advance-guard, should repair 
roads, and double them if possible, so that the 
columns will not be delayed after reaehiiig bad 
]>l.aces. Also, army conuuanders should stmly 
the habit of giving the artillery ami wagons the 
road, and marching their iroo]is on one sidi-; ami 
also instruct their troojis to assist wiigons at steep 
hills or bad crossinss of streams. 

IX. Captain O. M. Poe, Chief Engineer, will 
assign to each wing of the army a pontoon train, 
fully equipped and orL'sn'zed. and the command- 
ers tliereol will see to its being properly protected 
at all times. 

By order of M.ijor-Genersl W. T. Sherman. 
L. M. DxYTON, Aide-de-camp. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOl!?'. 681 

defensive works were levelled to the ground. On November 16th tho 
great march coranienced, and the army, thus cut loose from its base, 
moved in four columns on two general lines. The right wing, under 
Howard, marched through East Point, and, driving before it the enemy's 
mounted troops under Iverson, arrived at Jone^-boro' on the 16th. 
Leaving Jonesboro', it moved west, through McDoiiough and Jackson, 
to Moiiticello and Hillsboro', after crossing the Ocmulgee River, at 
Planter's Factory, on the 19lh ult. On the 21st and 2 2d, the column 
struck the Georgia Central, east of Macon iand between Gordon and 
Griswoldville, and immediately began to destroy the track. 

On the 20th, a body of Kilpatrick's Cavalry made a demonstration 
in the neighboriiood of Macon, to deceive the enemy, and on the 23d 
Walcott's Brigade, on the extreme right of the column, had a sharp 
encounter at Griswoldville, with a body of Georgia troops, under Gen- 
eral Phillips, whom they defeated Avith the loss of a thousand^or up- 
wards. On the 23d, the column reached the Oconee Kiver, having 
destroyed the railroad to that point. The opposite bank was protected 
by Generals Wheeler and Wayne Avith a cavalry force, and Howard's 
Cavalry made several ineftectual attempts to cross. But by a march 
down the river, our forces flanked the enemy, crossed, and dispersed 
all opposition. Oa Friday, the 25th, a part of our cavalry entered 
Sandersville, a town twenty-two miles cast of Milledgeville and of the 
Oconoe, and five miles north of the Central Railroad. This flanking 
move forced the abandonment of the Oconee River, and compelled 
Wayne to retire to Davisboro'. 

Meanwhile, the enemy had used the utmost exertions to rouse the 
people to the defence of the soil, and a series of appeals were made 
by different commanders and authorities. General Beauregard, at 
Corinth, issued the following : — 

"Corinth, N'ovembtr'iS, ) 

" Via Selma, Nuvtmher 18. J 
"TO THE PEOPLE OP GEORGIA. 

" Arise for the defence of your native soil 1 Rally around your patriotic governor and 
gallant soldiers. 0')struct and destroy all the roads in Sherman's front, flank, and rear, 
and his army will soon starve in your midst. Be confident. Be resolute. Trust in an 
overruhng Providence, and success will soon crown your efibrts. I hasten to join you 
in the defence of your homes and firesides. (Signed) G. T. Beauregard." 

This seems to have fallen upon indifferent ears, and the same fate 
attended the following from the Georgia delegation in the rebel Con- 
gress : — 

" RicnJiCND, Koi ember 19. 
"to the people op GEORGLi. 

"We liavehad a special conference with President Davis and the Secretary of "War, 
and are able to assure you that they have done, and are still doing all that can be done 
to meet the emergency that presses upon you. Let every man fly to arms. Remove 
your negroes, horses, cattle, and provisions from Sherman's army, and burn what you 
cannot carry. Burn ail bridges, and block up the roads in his route. Assail the in- 
vader in front, flank, and rear, hj night and by day. Let him liave no rest. 

"JULIAX HaRTRIDGE, * 

" Mark Blairford, 
"J. A. Reynolds, 
" General N. Lestek, 
"John S. Shewmaker, 
"James M. Smith." 



682 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

Still another appeal was made hj Senator Hill, which was published 
in the Augusta j)apers : — 

"Richmond, November 18. 

"to the people of GEORGIA. 

" You have now the best opportunity ever yet presented to you to destroy tlie enemy. 
Put every thing at the disposal of our generals, remove all provisions from the path of 
the invaders, and put all the obstructions you can in his way. 

" Every citizen with his gun, and every negro with his spade and axe, can do the 
work of a good soldier. You can destroy the enemy by retarding Ills march. Geor- 
gians, be firm I Act promptly, and fear not! B. II. IIiLu" 

" I most cordially approve of the above. 

James A. Seddon, Secretary of War." 
¥ 

These appeals came too late to produce any appreciable effect. Not 
an arm was raised to oppose the march of the Federal troo})S, except 
by the organized force under Wheeler and a few under Hartridge.- 

Meanwhile, Slocum's column, passing along the Augusta Railroad, 
and destroying it as far as Madison, moved thence in a southei'ly direc- 
tion upon Milledgeville, the capital of the State, which place it reached 
on the 21st and 22d. The Georgia Legislature and Gc^vcrnor Brown 
decamped at its approach in unseemly haste. On the 2Gth, Slocum was 
at Sandersville, east of the Oconee, and on the 27th and 28th both 
wings of the expe<litionary army were temporarily encamped between 
Sandersville and Irwin's Cross Roads, in the neighborhood of the 
Georgia Central Railroad. Four large rivers lay originally in the line 
of Sherman's march, all tending southeasterly — the Ocmulgee, Oconee, 
Ogecchee, and Savannah. The former is the most westerly, and unites 
lower down with the Oconee, to form the Altamaha. Macon is on the 
Ocmulgee, Milledgeville on the Oconee, Milieu on the Ogeechee, and 
Augusta on the Savannah. Thei-e were also many less considerable 
streams to cross, and much marshy country, especially between the 
Ogeechee and the Savannah. The Oconee had been passed by the 
right wing below the Oconee Bridge, and by the left at Milledgeville. 
The Ogeechee was passed by our troops at Fen's Bridge in the march 
from Sandersville, and the next m.ain stoppingi^lace was Louisville, 
fifteen miles from Fen's Bridge, in the centre of Jefferson County, 
wliich was reached by the Fourteenth Corps on the 29th. Thence the 
cavalry pushed out northeasterly in force to Waynesboro', a station on 
the Augusta and Savannah road, thirty-two miles south of Augusta. 

The main army remained ai'ound Louisville until December 1st. The 
time was employed in foraging and capturing mules and horses, and 
thorougldy breaking up the railroad. On the 2d the Seventeenth 
Corps reached Millcn, eighty miles from Savannah and fifty-three from 
Augusta. The route from Milieu to Savannah was well defended by 
natural obstacles on both flanks. On the night of Saturday, the 3d, a 
combat occurred, near Waynesboro', between the cavalry of Kilpalrick 
and Wheelei-, the latter being the attacking party, and being decidedly 
repulsed. The next morning, Sunday, ou% cavalry and a portion of the 
Fourteenth Corps attacked Wheeler in his breastworks, and drove him 
out of his works, capturing them and forcing him to retreat. 

From Millen the army pursued the direct route to Savannah, the 



mSTORY OF TIIE GEEAT KEBELLIOK 683 

Fifteenth Corps keeping on the west side of the Ogeeclieo, and the 
others on the east side. The march was almost entirely unobstructed, 
and on the 11th, Captain Duncan, dispatched by Sherman, after a 
hazardous voyage down the Ogeechee, entered Ossahaw Sound, and 
reached the flag-ship of Admiral Dahlgren, thus 0])ening up comrauni' 
cation between Sherman's army and the fleet before Savannah. When, 
on the 10th, Sherman reached Bloomingdale, fifteen miles north of 
Savannah, his line stretched across the 2:»cninsula formed by the Ogee- 
chee and Savannah Rivers. The next day, the left, under Slocum, 
moved down to where the Charleston Railroad crosses the Savannah 
River, ten miles from the city, and then pressed forward five miles 
nearer Savannah. • The right, under Howard, me.'inwhile also marched 
towards the city, and passed to the west of it, shirting Rocldngham, 
a station on the Savannah, Albany, and Gulf Railroad, on the ]2th. 
The same evening the army had readied the neighborhood of Fort 
McAllister, and made a careful reconnoissance of it, before nightfall. 
This is a very strong earthwork on the Ogeechee River, about six 
miles fiom Ossabaw Sound. It completely protected the rear of 
Savannah from the attack of our gunboats on the Ogeechee. Two 
severe engagements between the fort and our monitor fleet, one on the 
27th of January, 1863, the other on the 3d of March, 1863, had left it 
uninjui'ed and defiant. It mounted about ten heavy guns, but had 
ovAy abnit two hundred and fifty men in garrison. 

As the possession of this work was essential in order to open com- 
Tnuni'-ation witli the fleet, Siierman ordered Hazen's Division of the 
"Fifteenth Corps, to carry it by assault. At half past four o'clock on 
the afternoon of the 13th, the division went forward to the attack. The 
abatis and ditch were passed under a heavy fire from the fort, the 
parapets, ten feet high, scaled by our troops, and the fort carried by a 
regular assault. At five o'clock it was ours. We gained the strong 
fort, its garrison of over two hundred men, and its stores of ordnance 
and subsistence, with all its guns. We gained also the navigation of 
the Ogeeclice and communication with the fleet. No sooner was the 
fort taken than General Sheridan embarked in a I'ow-boat on the 
Ogeechee, and a few hours later was taken on board the steam-tug Dan- 
delion, from the deck of which he indited the following dispatch to the 
Secretary of War : — 

"Ox BOARD Dandelion, Ossabaw Sound, December 13 — 11.50 p. u. 

" To-day, at 5 p. M., General Hazeu's Division of the Mfteeath Corps carried Fort 
McAllister by assault, capturing its entire garrison and stores. This opened to us thj& 
Ossabaw Sound, and I pushed down to this gunboat to communicate with the fleet 
Before opening communication, we had completely destroyed all the railroads leading 
into Savannah, and invested the city. The left is on tlie Savannah River, three miles 
above tlie city, and the right on the Ogeechee at King's Bridge. The army is in splen^- 
did order, and equal to any thing. Tlie weather has been fine, and supplies were 
abundant. Our march was most agreeable, and we were not at all molested by 
guerrillas. 

" We reached Savannah three days ago, but, owing to Fort McAllister, could not 
communicate ; but now we have McAllister, we can go ahead. We have already- 
captured two boats on the Savannah River, and prevented their gunboats from coming 
down. 

"I estimate the population of Savannah at twenty-live thousand, and tho 'garrison at 
fifteen thousand. General Hardee commands. , 



684 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIf. 

" "We have not lost a wagon on the trip, but have gathered in a large supply of 
negroes, mules, horses, &c., and our teams are in far better condition than when W8 
started. 

" My first duty will be to clear the army of surplus negroes, mules, and horses. We 
have utterly destroyed over two hundred miles of rails, and consumed stores and 
provisions that were essential to Lee's and Hood's armies. The quick work made 
with McAllister, and tlie opening of communication with our fleet, and the consequent 
/niependence for supplies, dissipate all their boasted threats to head me off and starve 
tlie army. 

" I regard Savannah as already gained. 

"Yours truly, "W. T. Sherman, Jfa;or-(?e«erai." 

On the fall of Fort McAllister, Sherman turned his attention to the 
reduction of Savannah, wliich was held by General Hardee. The 
north, Avest, and south sides were invested, but on the east side of the 
city the enemy had command of the river, which was so obstructed 
with piles and sunken vessels that the fleet could not reach within sup- 
porting distance. The forts, Jackson, Lee, and Bartow, also swept, the 
east side, which was the more unapproachable by reason of a wide 
stretch of swamps and rice-fields, which, being flooded, doubly in- 
creased the difliculties of approach. On the 16th, General Sherman 
sent a formal demand for the surrender of the city, to which Hardee 
replied, that, as his communications were yet open, and as he was 
fully supplied with subsistence stores, he was able to Avithstand a long 
siege, and Avas determined to hold the city to the last. 

Sherman proceeded vigorously with the siege. By the lOlh, his base 
at Kingsbridge, tAventy-eight miles from Ossabaw Sound, on the 
right, was well established, and supplies came up freely from the fleet 
over a substantial corduroy road, built rapidjy through the almost im- 
passable SAvamp which intervened. Heavy siege-guns were thus trans- 
ported and fixed on the lines, and the whole city Avas soon in great 
danger. The line Avas said to be, by practicable roads, thirty miles 
long. Slocum's column held the left, as always, on the Savannah, and 
HoAvard the right, on the Ogeechee. The Twentieth Corps Avas on the 
oxtreme left, Avith the Fourteenth on its right. The Fifteenth Corps 
Avas on the extreme right, Avith the Seventeenth on its left. BetAveen 
the Seventeenth and Fourteenth Avas a Avide gap of swamps, and 
flooded rice-fields extended along a portion of our front. In the Savan- 
nah Kiver, the upper part of Hutchinson's Island had instantly been 
seized by Slocum on our reaching the city. But a canal divi<led its 
upper from its lower half, and the latter the enemy held. Below the 
island Avas the Union Otiuseway, running towards Charleston. 

The heavy guns taken from Fort McAllister Avere now in position, 
and our lines Avere clo-ing in on the left. On the afternoon of the 
20th, the enemy's iron-clads moved up the riA'er and opened a furious 
fire on our left, supported by many of his batteries. Under cover of 
their fire, continued all night, Hardee crossed his troops by steam- 
boats, smaller boats, and rafts to Union Causeway. The Navy Yard 
had been previously partially burned, and such stores as he could not 
take with him destroyed. The two formidable rams, Georgia and 
Savannah, Avere blown up at night. Early next morning, the 21st, 



HISTOIIY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION. 685 

Sherman entered the city, and received its surrender from the mayor. 
It was uninjured, the cannon never having been opened upon it. 

More than a thousand prisoners were taken from the enemy, many 
having been left on the hues till too late. The captures included one 
hundred and fifty guns, thirteen locomotives in good order, one hun- 
dred and ninety cars, a large supply of ammunition and materials of 
war, three steamers, and thirty-three thousand bales of cotton safely 
stored in warehouses. All these valuable fruits of an almost bloodless 
victory had been, like Atlanta, "fairly won." On the 21st, General 
Foster, commanding the Department of the South, opened commune- 
cations with the city with his steamers, taking up wliat torpedoes could 
be seen, and passing safely over others. Arrangements were also 
made to clear the channel of all obstructions. On the 22d, General 
Sherman sent the following dispatch to Washington : — 

" Savannah, Georgia, Decemher 22. 
" To His Excellency President Lincoln : 

" I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, tho city of Savannah, with one hundred 
and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-tive thousand 
bales of cotton. 

(Signed) "W. T Suerman, Jfajor-ffeTieraZ." 

A few days later he issued the following order for the government 
of Savannah : — 

" HEAD-QtiARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ) 

"In THE P'lELD, Savannah, GA.,i?ecCTi&er 2G, :)S64. \ 

"SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, NO. 143. 

" Tlie city of Savannah and surrounding country will be held as a military >post and 
adapted to future mihtary uses; but as it contains a population of some twenty thou- 
sand people, who must be provided for, and as other citizens may come, it is proper to 
lay down certain general principles, that all within its military jurisdiction may under- 
stand their relative duties and obligations. 

" I. During war, tlie military is superior to civil authority, and where Interests clash 
the civil must give way; yet, where there is no conflict, every encouragement sliould 
bo given to well-disposed and peaceful inliabitants to resume their usual pursuits. 
Families should be disturbed' as httle as possible in their residences, and tradesmen 
allowed the free use of their shops, tools, &c. Churches, schools, and all places of 
amusement and recreation should be encouraged, and streets and roads made perfectly 
safe to persons in their usual pursuits. Passes should not be exacted within the line 
of our pickets ; but if any person shall abuse these privileges, by communicating with 
tiie enemy or doing any act of hostility to the Gbvernment of the United States, he or 
she will be punished with the utmost rigor of the law. 

" Commerce with the outer world will be resumed to au extent commensurate with 
the wants of the citizens, governed by the restrictions and rules of tho Treasury 
Department. 

" II. The Chief Quartermaster and Commissary of the army may give suitable em- 
ployment to the people, white and black, or transport them to such points as they 
choose, where employment may be had, and may extend temporary relief in the way of 
provisions and vacant houses to the worthy and needy until such time as they can help 
themselves. They will select, first, the buildings for the necessary uses of the army; 
next, a sufficient number of stores to be turned over to the Treasury Agent for trade 
stores. All vacant store-houses or dwellings, and aU. buildings belonging to absent reb- 
els, will bo construed and used as belonging to the United States until such time as 
their titles can be settled by the courts of the United States. 

"III. The Mayor and City Council of Savannah will continue, and exercise their 
functions as such, and will, in concert with the commanding officer of the post and the 
Chief Quartermaster, see that the fire companies are kept m organization, the streets 



686 HISTOEY OF rHE GREAT EEEELLIOl^. 

deanod and lighted, and keep up a good understanding between the citizens anC 
Boldiers. They -will ascertain and report to tlie Chief Commissary of Subsistence, as 
Boon as possible, the names and number of worthy families that need assistance and 
support. 

" The Mayor will forthwith give public notice that the time lias come when all must 
choose their course, viz.: to remain within our lines and conduct tliemselves as good 
citizens, or depart in peace. He will ascertain the names of all who choose to leave 
Savannah, and report tlieir names and residences to the Chief Quartermaster, that 
measures may be talvcn to transport them beyond the lines. 

"IV. Not more tlian two newspapers will be publislied in Savannah, and their 
editors and proprietors will be held to the strictest accountability, and will bo punished 
eeverely in person and property for any libellous publication, mischievous matter, pre- 
mature news, exaggerated statements, or any comments whatever upon the acts of the 
constituted autliorities ; they will be held accountable even for such articles though 
copied from other papers. 

"L. M. Dayton, Aide-de- Campy 

"By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman. 



With the capture of Savannah ended the great march of Sherman 
to the sen, just five Aveeks from the day he had left Atlanta. Within 
that time the array had traversed a tract of country three hundred 
miles in length, and had destroyed over two hundred miles of railway, 
breaking up the track in such a way that immediate repair was out of 
the question. The Confederacy was practically cut in twain, and with 
a victorious and admirably organized army prepared soon to move 
northward, while Grant's great Army of the Potomac still held Lee 
at bay before Petersburg, it was no dilEcult matter to foresee the 
speedy collapse of the rebellion. Hood's army had been rendered use- 
less for offensive purposes, and at the commencement of 18G5 the only 
efficient forces of the Confederacy, comprising the army of Lee and va- 
rious scattered bodies of troops in the Carolinas and Southern Virginia, 
lay between Grant and Sherman. The march of the latter to the coast 
revealed the utterly exhausted condition of the South. Not only was 
the body of organized troops opposed to him utterly insignificant iu point 
of numbei's, but the inhabitants exhibited a remarkable degree of apathy 
and indifference. Their early enthusiasm for the rebel cause had by 
this time departed, and their sole desire seemed to be for peace 
and submission. Immense destruction of public property and cotton 
marked the track of the expeditionary army, and the troops fared 
sumptuously on the products of a well-stocked country. In spite of 
the orders of Sherman, there were many instances of the plunder of 
private property, the hiding-places of which were revealed to the 
Boldiers by the negroes, many thousands of whom joined the army on 
its march. 

While these events were happening in Georgia, an attempt was made 
on Wilmington, N. C, which had been the great centre of blockade- 
running during the year, and which, from the enoi-mous difficulties at- 
tending the enforcement of the blockade in its vicinity, seemed to bid 
defiance to any effort to abridge the immunity which it enjoyed. The 
extent of the trade carried on there, in spite of the blockade of the 
coast, may be estimated by the fact that the amount of ships and cargoes 
Bent in by English capitalists, from January, 1860, to Decevuber, 



niSTORT OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. G<S7 

1864, nearly two years, was sixty-six millions of dollars,* A joint 
naval and military expedition, having for its object the closing of this 
port by capturing its outer defence?, was organized early in August, 
under Admiral Porter ; but owing to the difficulty of obtaining a co- 
operating land force, the squadron remained in Hampton Roads nntil 
December 12th, Avhen, in connection with a force of six thousand 
five hundred men under General Butler, it sailed for its destination. 
The transports and war vessels numbered seventy-five in 'all. The 
latter, which included the New Ironsides and five monitors, were ar- 
ranged in five divisions, as follows : — 

First Division 16 sliip 164 guns. 

Second" U " 152 " 

Third " 11 " 119 " 

Fourth " 16 " 1G5 " 

Iron-clad 6 " 30 " 

Flag-ships 2 " 9 " 

Tugs for general service .... 7 " 14 " 

Tender to flag- ship 1 " 2 " 

13 655 

Commodore Porter's flag-ship v/as the Malvern, five guns. 

On the 15 th of December, the fleet arrived ofiT Wilmington and pre- 
pared for its work, but it was several days before wind and Aveather 
would allow the vessels to get into position, or the troops to be landed. 
Finally, at noon of Saturday, the 24th, the fleet got into position and 
opened a furious fire until niglit on Fort Fisher, the strong earthworks 
on the north side of New Inlet, tv;onty miles below Wilmington, firing 
an average of thirty shots per minute. Of the strength of this work, 
some idea can be obtained from the following description by a specta- 
tor of the fight : — ■ 

" The easterly front carries the main battery of the fort and covers the approach int« 
the channel from seaward. It forms a straight line across the point, its tarthor angle 
resting seemingly on the river. The main wall is about eight feet high, with a ditch in 
front, and is very thick. It carries not less than nine Brooks's rifled guns, of seven 
and eight inch bore. Between the guns are very deep and thick traverses of sand, be- 
neath which are bomb-proof quarters for the gunners. These traverses securely pro- 
tect the guns as well as the gunners, except in case of direct firing, and in that instance 
the guns are run far back, the gunners retire from their pieces, and a continuous can- 
nonading of hours does no harm. On the seavv'ard angle of the fort was a bastion cov- 
ering the ditch in front of the easterly wall, and also carrying heavy barbette guns. 



*The total ventures niado by Ensrlish capital- 
ists and speculators, counting the values of ships 
and cargoes, amounted to more than i?ixty-six 
millions of dollars (£13,241.000). The returns are 
made in six diflerent tables, covi'rins various 



blockade in fifteen months (October let, 1863, to 
December 81st, ISW) was 397. 

The averaire .imonnt of capital invested by 
Enslishmen in tradinjr \entures with Wilmington 
during a period of fifteen months (October 1st, 



periods, the shortest being ten months. Tho ]S03. to December 81st, 1SC4) is stated in detail 



general results are as follows: — 

The quantity of cotton exported from Wil- 
mington In twentv-two months (January 1st, 
1S63. to October Sist, 1804) was 137,93T bales— 
or 62,800.463 pounds, of which tho larger ^art 
was Sea Island. 

The value of the export and import trade of 
Wilmington in one vear (-Inly 1st, 1S63, to June 
80th, 1864) was $65,1 8.5,000; the rebel govern- 
jnent rating exchange five for one. 

Tho total number of vesBcls ■which i-an tho 



as follows :— 

Total 
Entrances. CUnriinces. Ventures. 
203 104 397 

Ships at 

£15.000 each... £3, 045,000 £2,910,000 £r),9C5,000 
Cartroes — InwM 
(£12.000), Out- 
ward (£25,000) 2,436,000 4,850,000 7.286,000 

ToUl £5,481,000 £7,700,000 £13,1i41,00« 



688' IIISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

This bnslion roncived tlio hottest of our firo during the first day's action. Tho seaward 
front of tlio fort is of very peculiar construction. Tho main wall appears to be from 
tax to eiglit feet higlier than the rest of tho work — in front of, and running parallel 
with it, and flanl<ing its outer wall, or cover, caseniated at its eastern end ai;d covered 
with railroad iron. Tiiis cover also protects a formidable battery facing towards the 
•xtremity of tho point. The main wall of the fort behind this cover carries an escarp- 
ment battery as well as several guns in casemates." 

Previous to making the attaclc, a torpedo vessel on a large scale, 
with an amount of powder on board supposed to be sufficient to explode 
the powder-magazines of the fort, was prepared AVith great care, and 
placed under the command of Commander A. C. Rhind, who had as- 
sociated with him on this perilous service Lieutenant S. W. Preston, 
Second Assistant Engineer A. T. E. MuUan, of the United States steamer 
Agawam, and Acting Master's Mate Paul Boyden, and seven men. 
This vessel, the Louisiana, disguised as a blockade-runner, was towed 
in on the 2od until Avithin two hundred yards from" the beach, and 
about four Hundred from Foi't Fisher. Commander Rhind anchored 
her securely there, and coolly went to work to make all his arrange- 
ments to blow her up. This he was enabled to do, owing to the block- 
ade-runner going in right ahead of him, the forts making the blockade- 
runner signals, which they also did to the Louisiana. The gallant 
party, on leaving the vessel, set her on fire \inder the cabin. Then 
taking to their boats, they made their escape off to the Wilderness, 
which put off shore with good speed, to avoid the explosion. At 
forty-five minutes past one on the morning of the 24th the explosion 
took place, but the shock was nothing like so severe as was expected. 
It shook the vessel some, and broke one or two glasses, but nothing more. 

At daylight on the 24th, the fleet got under way, and stood in, in 
line of battle. At half-past eleven a. m., the signal was made to engage 
the forts, the L'onsides leading, and the Monadnock, Canonicus, and 
Mahopac following. The other divisions of the fleet followed, opening 
fire as they got into position, and the whole throwing a shower of 
missiles upon the fort, which drove the defenders to their casemates. 

It was not until the 25th that the transports, which had been obliged, 
on account of a storm, to put into Beaufort, arrived, and it was then 
arranged that the troops should land under cover of a fresh attack by 
seventeen gunboats. While the attack was going on, about three thou- 
sand men landed five miles east of the fleet. A reconnoissance was then 
made by General Weitzel, second in command under Butler, who re- 
ported the place bo strong that, under the circumstances, it would be 
" butchery to order an assault." As this opinion coincided with that 
already formed by General Bntler, orders were given to re embark tho 
troops, and the transports thereupon returned to Hampton Roads. 

Tihe following correspondence between Butler and Porter explains 
itself:— 

" HbAD-QuAKTERS r»KPARTSrKNT OF VrRGINIA AND ) 

"North Carolina, December 2b, 18G4. ) 

" Admiral;— Upon landingthe troops and making a thorough reconnoissance of Fort 

Fisher, both General Weitzel and myself are fully of tho opinion that the place could 

not bo carried by assault, as it was left substantially uninjured, as a defensive work, 

by tho navy Cro. We found Bcvcnteen guns protected by travcraos, two only of which 



IIISTOKT OF THE GKEAT PwELELLIOX. GS? 

•were distnounted, bearing up tho boacli and crvcrinp^ a strip of land, the onlj practi- 
cable route, not more than wideenoug'li for a tliousand men in lino of battle. 

" Having captured I'^iag Pond Hill Battery, tlic garrison of \vhich, sixty-live men and 
tv/o commisKioned officers, were taken oft" ty the navy, we also captured Half Moon 
r>attery, and seven ofiiccrH and two hundred and eighteen men of the Third N. C. Ju- 
nior Reserves, ind'.iding its commander, from v.'hom I learned that a portion of Hoke's 
Division, consisting of Kirkhuid's and Haygood's Brigades, had been sent from tlio lines 
before Richmond on Tuesdaj'' last, arriving at Wilmington Friday niglit. 

"General Weitzel advanced his skirmish lino within lifty yards of the fort, wliilo tho 
garrison was kept in their bomb-proof by Die fire of the navy, and so closely liiat three 
or four men of the picket line ventured upon the paVapctand througli the sallyport of 
the work, capturing a horse, wliich they brouglit ofl', killing the order)}', who was the 
bearer of a dispatch from the chiefof artillerv of General Whiting to bring a light battery 
within tlie fort, and also brought away h\Aa tho parapet the flag of the fort. 

" This was done while tho shells of the navy were falling about the heads of the 
daring men wlio entered tho work, and it was evident, as soon as the fire of tho navy 
ceased because of the darkness, that tlio fort was fully manned again and opened with 
grape and canister ufjon our picket lino. 

" Fiuding that notliing but the operations of a regular siege, which did not come 
within ni}' instructions, would reduce the fort, and in view of tlie threatening aspect 
of the weather, wind arising from tho southeast, rendering it impossible to make further 
landing througli tlie surf, I caused the troops witli tlieir prisoners to re-embark, and 
pee notliing further that can be done by tlie land forces. I shall, therefore, sail for 
Hampton Roads as soon as the transport fleet can bo got in order. 

" My engineers and officers report Port Fisher to me as substantially uninjured as a 
defensive work. I have the honor to be, 

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Bex.tamin F. Bi;ti;ei!, Major- General Commavdmg. 

"To Rcar-Admiral rouTEit, commanding Nortli Atlantic Blockading Squadron." 

" North Atlantic Squadron, U. S. FLAfi-siiip Wai.vkrn, ) 
- "Off New Ini.et, Inxcmber 'li\ 18G4. ^ 

" General: — I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of tliis date, tlife 
substance of which was communicated to me by General Weitzel last night. 

"I have ordered the largest vessels to proceed off Beaufort, and fill up willi anmuirii- 
tion, to be ready for another attack in case it is decided to proceed with this matter by 
making other arrangements. 

" We have not commenced firing rapidlj' yet, and could keep any rebels inside from 
Eho'A'ing their iieads until an assaulting eoluuin vi'as witliin twenty yards of the works. 

" I wisli some more of your gallant lellows had followed the ofiicer who took thft 
flag from the parapet, an<l tho bravo fellow \\\\o brought the horse out from the fort. I 
think they would have Ibund it an easier conquest than is supposed. 

" I do not, however, pretend to place my opinion in opposition to General Weitzel. 
whom I know to be an accomplished soldier and engineer, and whose opinion hafe 
great weight v/itli me. 

" I will look out that tlie troops are all off in safety. We will have a west wind 
presently, and a smooth beach about three o'clock, when sufficient boats will be sent 
for them. 

"The prisoners now on board tho Santiago dc Cuba will be delivered to the Provost- 
Marshal at Fortress Monroe, unless you wish to take them on board one of tho t^an^- 
ports, which would be inconvenient just now. 

" I remain. General, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"David D. PoKTi;ii, Ktar-Adviiral. 

**To Major-General B. F. Butler, Commanding, &c., <te." 

The rebels, witli some reason, cLiimod tliat the rcsxilt of the expedi- 
tion was a triumith to their firms, as tlie fort, notwithstanding a hotn- 
hardinent i)crhaj)s unequalled in force in modern warfare, had received 
no tissenlial injury. The following is taken from a liichrnond paper : — 
41 



coo ni^^TOi:Y of the gkeat kebellion". 

" General Bragg baa iasuod a eongratulntory order on the defeat of the cnoray'a grand 
arniiuia bel'oro Wilmington, paying a niorilud compliment to Clenerals Wliiting and 
Kirklanil, (Colonel Lunib, and iho otlJcers ami men engaged. The enemy's alliick on 
the Ih'st day lasted live hours; on the t^eeond day, seven honrs — liring, altogetlier, 
over twenty lliousand shots from tifty kinds of vessels. The Confederates responded 
with six himdred and sixty-two shots on the first daj', and six hundred on tlio .second. 
Our losa is three kilh^l and tiity-live wounded. 'I'ho ground in front and rear of the 
fort is eovcM-ed with shells, and is torn in deep pits. Two guns in the fort liui'sl, two 
were dismounted by oursehes, and two by the enemy's tiro, yet the I'on is nnhurl." 

While tlie oxitcHlitiou was openitiner aj^jainst Wilinliioton, Cleneral 
Palmer made a c()-o[)erative move fiH)ml*lyiuoutli, North Carolina, lie 
sent, on the 9th, an expedition, niKJer eommand of Colonel Frankle, 
which jtroceedcd to (Jardner's Bridge, Leyon^l JamesioAvn, on the Ro- 
anoke Kivcr. The Niulh New Jersey charj^ed the hridge in column 
of platoons, and soon swept away the small force which held it. At. 
Spring (JrcHMi Chnrch, the Ninth New Jersey and Twenty-seventh 
Massaiiuisctts ngnin fiil upon the enemy, inflict ing considerable loss, and 
capturing fiv(^ olllcers and thirty men. On the 19th, our forces pro- 
ceeded to llainhow Kliilf, on the Ivoanoke, and found the enemy in 
force. Unfortunately, the gimhoats, whicli were to have co-ojierated, 
could not do so on ai'count of the torpedoes in the river. Colonel 
Frankle's expedition, therefore, returned to Plymouth. 



CHAPTER LXXIT. 

-MTaira at Petersburg. — Renewed Attempt to l''!ank the llebel Right. — Battle at 
llaieher's Run. — Fighting on tlie .Vorth 8ido of the James. — Review of the Year. — 
Iinportanoe of Slu-rman's Operations. — (Jalls for Tioups. — Relative Strength of 
Arunes. — iSceoiul Attaek on Fort l'"ishfr. — I'apturo of Fmt and (iarrison. 

TnK Army of the I'otomac, under Ceneral Grant, remained before 
Petersburg, occasionally operating in the front, while Sherman was 
pmsuing his Avay across Georgia, and Sheridan w:is jiciK'trating up the 
Shenando.ah Valley. It was very e\ ident that Lee was determined not 
to leave Richmond, and also that he could not be driven out of it by 
a direct attack on his front. The lienttMiant-gencral was therefore 
compelled to wait nntilthe operations of Sheridan and Sherman should 
bring those generals within striking distance of Lee's rear and thus 
comj>el the e\ acuation of KichmonJ. As it was certain that Lee would 
not commit the mistake of Hood at Atlanta, but Avonld follow the sys- 
tem of defence by whi(^h Johnston had so long delayed the advance of 
Sherman, it remained for (J rant to hold his enemy within his fortifica- 
tions, and to nudvC occasional attempts to ])enetrate the extended line 
of works which Lee ttpposed to him, in the hope of being able sooner or 
later to reach the available point. Accordingly, soon after the victory 
of Cedar C^reek by Sheridan, and when Shennan was ibllowing Hood 
into Northern Alabama, (5 rant determined on a renewal of the grand 
movement by liis left. Several days were consumed in preparation, 
and, with profoimd secrecy, all the sick, baggage, and encumbrances, 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. C91 

commissary stores, ttc, Avero sent to C\[\ Point xiiultM- protectlctii of 
the ujuuhoats. 'I'lirec days' rations and foraue were issued to the eav- 
alry, and four days' rations to the infantry. The long line of inlrench- 
ments was divested of men, except a sufficient rear-guard. 
'' The troops north of the James were to make an attack, wliilo 
those south of the river were to form a combined movement upon 
Ilalcher's Run. In accordance with tliis design, the Tenth and Eigh- 
teenth C^orps, on Thursday, the 27th of October, began operations on 
the right. The Tentli Corps early occuj)ied the ground hetwien the 
Darbytown and Charles CUty roads, the First Disision, under Ames 
(late Terry), liolding the right, the tSecond, Porter (late Turner), the 
centre, and the Third, Ifawley (late Jiirney), the left. The centre 
having been pushed on to Darbytown, lour and a half miles from 
llichmond, a shar[) encounter with the enemy's skirmishers soon took 
phice, the latter falling back upon a line of intrenclinients, from which 
a galling lii-e craused the Union troops to recoil with seven* loss. To- 
wards evening the attack was renewed, witli the same results. ]\Iean- 
while tlie Eighteenth Corps, Ceneral Weitzel commanding, took up a 
position on the Darbytown road, in the rear of the Tc^nth Corps, and 
then continued its route noitlierly to the Williamsburg road, in the 
neighborhood of the old Seven Pines or Fair Oaks battle-ground. At 
four o'clock Weitzel was across the Willianisljurg road, which the 
enemy's woiks commanded. Still's Pennsylvania JJattcry moved up 
the road and engaged the enemy's batteries, while a brigade of JMars- 
ton's Division, on tlit; riglit of the road, and one of Hecknum's, on the' 
left, advanced, supported by the r(;mainder of the divisions. The enemy 
niad(! but fee))le resistance until the troops reache<l the i'ocusof his fire, 
when a terrible <lischarge decimated them and broke the organization. 
To retire was as fatal as to advance, and the enemy completed the disaster 
by sallying out and capturing portiorihi of the two advanced brigades, 
and driving back Still's battery. ])usk ajjproac hing, the remainder 
of the troops diew back out of rang(!. Ilolman's colored division 
meanwhile had gallantly carried a two-gim redoubt, but the approach 
of night compelled him to al>andon it. 'J'lie whole force then returned 
to camp under orders from General Grant. The Federal loss was 
from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred men, and that of the enemy, 
according to his own account, about two hundred men. Thus ended 
the feint on the right. 

The attack on the left was undertaken by the Second Corps, aided 
by (Jregg's Cavalry, which was to marc-h round the enemy's right 
flank, turn it, and seize liis line of defences on Hatcher's Run, at the 
same moment that the Fifth and Ninth Corps by direct api)roach should 
attack these works in fiont. A(!cordingly, the Second Corps, on Wed- 
nesday evening, the 2Gth, marched across to the C/hurch roa<I, and at 
three and a half o'clock Thursday morning reached the Vauglian road, 
along which they proceeded, reaching Hatcher's Run at hali-i)ast seven 
A. M. The crossing was disputed by a small body of men, m ho were 
soon dispersed. Tlie corps then proceeded on the west side of the 
run to the Jioydton plankroad, wliich they reached at a quarter past 
eleven a. m. Here Gregg's Cavalry connected on the left, about the 



092 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLI01N-. 

same time that Generals Grant ana Meade arrived on the ground. 
Egan's Division was deployed on the right of the Boydton plaiikro;id, 
facing up towards tlie bridge over Hatcher's Run, and Mott's was 
deployed on the left of the road. Dc Trobriand's Brigade connected 
with Giegg, who held the extreme left. One brigade was left to take 
care of the enemy in oar rear. In Egan's advance was Rugg's Bri- 
gade, and his skirmishers, at the command, rnshed forward to Hatcher's 
Run, seized the bridge, and crossed the creek. 

The next movement was to cany the enemy's works beyond Hatch- 
er's Run. Pagan's Division was accordingly disposed "with Rugg's 
Bx'iirade on the left, Price in the centre, and Smyth on the right, 
Beck's Battery co-operating as before. McAllister's Brigade of JMott's 
Division was in RU|»port of Egan. The Fifih Corps was now heard 
firing rapidly on the right, and it Avns expected that they Avould sweep 
about and effe<;t a junction with the Second. But, owing to the ex- 
ceedingly perplexing charncter of the country, and the uncertainty as 
to the roads, they were unable to do so. Of course the enemy was 
prompt to seize this advantage; and about four o'clock, while we were 
pre]>aring to advance, Mahone's Division, of Hill's Corps, broke in on 
the right Hiuik of Hancock, and instantly swe]it off Metcalf's section of 
Beck's Battery, Avhich was there posted. Continuing his attack, he 
got across the Boydton road and bore down upon Egan's Di\ ision. 
With commendable energy and promptitude, Egan changed front with 
his own brigades and McAllistei's, and, with the aid of the three bat- 
teries, Beck's and Roder's Fifth and Fourth regular, and Sleeiier's 
Tenth Massachusetts (under Granger), succeeded in repulsing the 
enemy, after a hard and prolonged fight. In the fury of his first onset 
against Smyth's Brigade, it was driven back, sevei'al hundred piisoners 
cr.ptured, and our line so disordered r.s to allow the enemy to get upon 
the plankroad. A part of these prisoners were rec:ipture<l by being 
conducted by mistake into the Fifth Corps' lines. Hancock's prompt 
dispositions, and the firmness of Egan's troo])S, soon arrested the dis- 
aster likely to follow. In his turn falling upon the enemy's flank, 
Egan drove him back, Smith's and McAllister's Brigades behaving 
Landsoniely, while Mott piomptly co-operated with De Trobriand's 
Brigade. The enemy abandoned Metcalf's guns and began to retreat. 
But he left three fiags and five or six hundred prisoners — those who 
bad come over on the plankroad — in our possession. 

The Fedeial loss in this affair Avas nine hundred killed and wounded 
and four hundred prisoners. This repulse placed the column in a pre- 
caiious position, as the ammunition and rations were growing scarce, 
notwithstanding that sufficient for four days had been served out. The 
rain fell in torrents, and the troops retraced their weary stips to camp, 
leaving some of the Avoundel on the field. 

Meantiuie, the Fifth and Ninth C-orps left camp at daylight on the 
2Tth, and during the forenoon got into )>osition with the Ninth on the 
right and the Fifth on the left, confronting the enemy's works at 
Hatcher's Run. Here they made demonstrations and skirmished 
sharply during the day, returning to (;amp at night. The losses of 
the two corps were about four hundred. Thus the whole movement, 



inSTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION, 693 

which was to have had important results, terininatcfl in a return to 
camp, with the loss on both sides of the James of about three thou- 
sand men. The main attack was Hancock's, and in case of success the 
Fifth and Ninth were to join him in a genei-al advance of the whole 
line. It appenred that the enemy were accurately informed of the 
whole enterprise, and no surprise was effected. 

Skirmishini^ and small encounters were frequent after this alimg the 
line-. On the night of the 301 h, the Sixty-ninth and Ilundretf-and- 
fouitli Xew York were picketed before Fort Davis, being mostly raw 
troops. The enemy, in some force, passed into the rear, an*! the word 
having been given to the Federal troops to "fall in," as if they were 
to be relieved, the entire line was ca])tured. Enterprises of tliis nature 
interfered with attacks of greater or lesser magnitude — continued up to 
the first week in Kovember, at which time Sherman started on his 
grand march. On the night of November 5th, a rebel brigade which 
occupied a portion of the enemy's line on the plankroad, nnd running 
northeasterly therefrom, secretly advanced, and threw itself upon the 
picket, line of McAllister s brigade, Mott's Division, Second Corps, 
which held our intrenchments opposite the same point. The plan was 
so well devised and vigorously executed as to secure our entire in- 
trenched ]ncket line for half a mile, with the capture of thirty ]>rison- 
ers. The enemy immediately began to reverse our works, anc| to in- 
trench himself with tools brought for that purpose. At the same time, 
the Holcomb Legion of Wallace's Brigade carried our picket line op- 
posite the Crater, as the ruins of the fort exploded by the mine are 
called. The men soon rallied in force and recaptured the line of works. 

Early in December, most of Sheridan's force from the valley joined 
the Army of the Potomac — the six corps .'iri'iving between the 2d and 
5th of December. Early's troops :dso joined Lee in great numbers, 
and nff lirs in the valley were once more quiet, Sheridan remaining at 
Winchester, The negro troops were now consolidated in one corps, 
the Twenty-fifth, under the command of General Weitzel, and sent 
north of the James. 

The year 1864 had now reached its close, and, after a series of bril- 
liant campaigns, the prospect for the future was full of hope, notwith- 
standing a temporary lull in military operations. The on'y active 
movement then in progress was Sherman's campaign, on the results of 
which the success of the other operations seemed to depend. In the 
course of the year, the Army of the Potomac had, under Grant, fiuglit 
its way to the banks of the James, where it held the main rebel army 
asifinavice. The Union troops had, under Sheiidan, driven the 
enemy f u' up the Shenandoah, antl Hood had been forced out of Ten- 
nessee by Thomas with the miseraule wreck of an array. The enemy 
had abandoned Mi<;souri and most of Arkansas, and only held good 
his grasp u])on 'Western Louisiana and Texas. We had also cai)tured 
the defences of Mobile Bay. Tiie enemy confronted us in force chiefly 
in Virginia, and the only problem yet remaining to be solved was how 
long he would be able to maintain the defence. This was decided by 
the march of Sherman through Georgia to Savannah, which demon- 
strated that the people were unable or unwilling to resist, and that the 



694 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. 

rebel government had exhausted its powers. There was no force to 
oppose the free movement of Sherman on the rear of Lee, and the Army 
of the Potomac, which had done most of the fighting, and to the pub- 
lic eye achieved the least success, continued to occupy Lee, thus giving 
to others the opportunity to win the laurels of the year. 

Meantime, the President made a new call for three hundred thou- 
sand men. The whole number of troops hitherto called for, whether 
for temporary purposes merely, or for the v/ar, amounted in round 
numbers to two millions and a half; though how large a number of 
these rendered actual service it is not now and may never be possible 
to determine. It is very certain, however, that the men called for 
were all needed, and had they been obtained to as great an extent as 
the above figures would seem to indicate, there can be little doubt 
that the rebellion would have terminated much sooner than it actually 
did. The casualties of war, diseases inherent to a military life, and the 
necessity of garrisoning almost countless outposts and forts, as well as 
of guarding long lines of communications, drew largely upon each suc- 
cessive levy, so that the large armies, intended for active operations in 
the field, were barely kept up to their necessary strength, and often iell 
below it. The following is the President's call of December, 1864 : — ■ 

'•WASniNGTON, December 20. 
By the President of the Umited States. 
A PROCLAMATION. 

"Whereas, by the act approved July 4th, 1864, entitled ' An act further to rewnlate 
and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other pur- 
poses,' it is provided that the President of the United States may, at his discretion, at 
any time hereafter, call for any number of men as volunteers for the respective terms 
of one, two, or three years for military service, and that in case the quota, or any part 
thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a 
county not so subdivided, shall not be filled wirhin the space of fifty days after such 
call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota, 
or any part thereof, which may be unfilled ; and whereas, by the credits allowed in ac- 
cordance with the act of Congress on the call for five hundred thousand men, made 
July ISth, 18G4, the number of men to be obtained under that call was reduced to two 
hundred and eighty thousand ; and whereas, the operations of the enemy in certain 
States have rendered it impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troops 
under the said calls; and whereas, from the foregoing caiises two hundred and fifty 
thousand men have been put into the army, navy, aud marine corps, under the said call 
of July 18th, 18G4, leaving a deficiency on that call of two hundred and sixty thou- 
sand. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, 
in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency, and to provide for casualties in the military 
and naval service of the United States, do issue this my call for three hundred tliou- 
sand volunteers, to servo for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the States, dis- 
tricts, and sub-districts under this call, will be assigned by the War Department, through 
the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal-Geueral of the UnUcd States, and in case the quota, 
or any part thereof of any town, townsKip, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, 
or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled before the 15th day of February, 
1865, then a draft shall be made to fill such quota, or any pare thereof, under the calL 
•which may be unfilled on said 15th day of February, 1 805. 

'In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington this 19th day of December, in the year of our 

[l. s.] Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independenoo 
the United States of America tlie eighty-ninth. 

"By the President: "Abraham Lincoln. 

"^ " William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 



HISTOKY OF TnE GEEAT EEBELLIOIT. 



09.J 



The armies in the field, in the spring of 1864, numbered nearly six hun- 
dred thousand men ; * and so great were the hjsscs during the year, that 
at its close, notwithstanding nine htmdred thousand men had been called 
for, the numbers remained about the same. The military supplies pro- 
duced during the year included one thousand seven hundred and fifty 
pieces of ordnance, two thousand three hundred and sixty-one artillerv 
carriages and caissons, eight hundred and two thousand five hundred 
and twenty-five small-arms, seven hundred and ninety-four thousand 
and fifty-five sets o*f accoutrements and harness, one million six hun- 
dred and seventy-four thousand two hundred and forty-four projectiles 
for cannon, twelve million seven hundred and forty thousand one hun- 
dred and forty-six pounds of bullets and lead, eight million four hiui- 
dred and nine thousand four hundred pounds of gunpowder, one hun- 
dred and sixty-nine millions four hundred and ninety thousand and 
twenty-nine cartridges for small-arms. These wore complete articles, 
in addition to large quantities of the same kind of supplies partially 
made up at the arsenals. The ordnance sujiplies furnished to the mili- 
taiy service during the year included one thousand one hundred and 
forty-one pieces of ordnance, one thousand eight hundred and ninety- 
six artillery carriages and caissons, four hundred and fifty-five thou- 
sand nine hundred and ten small arms, five hundred and two thousand 
and forty-four sets of accoutrements and harness, one million nine hun- 
dred and thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-three projectiles 
for cannon, seven million six hundred and twenty-four thousand six 
hundred and eighty-five pounds of bullets and lead, four hundred and 
sixty-four thousand five hundred and forty-nine pounds of artillery am- 
munition, one hundred and twenty-five thousand and sixty-seven sets 
of horse equipments, one hundred and twelve million eighty-seven 
thousand five hundred and fifty-three cartridges for small-arms, seven 
million five hundred and forty-fom* thousimd and forty-four poiuids of 
gunpowder. These supplies were in addition to large quantities of 
parts provided for repairs in the field. 

The forces of the rebels at the commencement of 1864 did not mucli 
exceed three hundred and fifty thousand men, of whom they lost 
during the year jn'obably two hundred thousand. In the same period 
they were enabled, by strenuovis exertions, to recruit one hundred thou- 
sand men. Of these i^robably one hundred thousand were with Lee 
at Richmond, and the others detached under Hood, Beauregard, and 
other generals. Under these circumstances, the necessity of arming 



* These may be computed as follows: — 
Geneial Grant ha'l. iiicliKliii!; those uiuler Gen- 
erals Smith and Gillmore.on the James River, and 
those co-operatins with him under Siirel, iu the 

Shenandoah Valley "... 200,000 

Sherman had 120. 000 

At and near Wasliington there were 40,000 

General Banks in Lo~uisiana had 30.000 

In Kentueky and Tennessee there were... 80,000 

In Misso\iri and Arkansas there were 35,000 

On the line of the Upper Potomac and in 

Western Virjrinia 25.000 

On the Mississippi River there were 25,000 

At Charleston and on the coast of South 
Carolina 15,000 



At Fortress Monroe, Norfolk, &c.,there were 10,000 

In North Carolina there were 10.000 

On the Paeilie coast there were lO.OOii 

In the Indian Territory there were 10,000 

In Flori(hi lliere wei'e 5.000 

At various points in the North there were 40,000 

Total available force of the North in April, 

IsW 605.000 

Of course many of thes.' were on the sick list, 
many were employed on <luties which did not 
brin;; them into the field, and many also were ab- 
sent without leave, in other words, had deserted 
the service. Perhaps not more than tliree-fonrthu 
of them were available fm- offensive purposes. 



.696 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

the negroes or employing tliem as soldiers was apparent, and the head 
of the i'ebel government recommended that course with tlie advice of 
General Lee, but the measure was not pvonipily acted upon, and never 
liad any practical result. The year 1864, therefore, for the rebels, ap- 
proaciiedits close without any apparent means of raising more men to 
oifset the new h'.vies called for by President Lincoln to invigorate the 
movements of Thomas, Sherman, and Grant. 

The troops that had returned from the Fort Fisher expedition were 
re-enforced at Fortress Monroe, and, as the Government Avas by no 
means satisfied with the first aLtem])t, almost immediately prei)ared for 
a renewal of the movement. General Butler was, early in January, 
relieved from the command of the .\rmy of the James, and General 
Terry succeeded to the command of the expeditionary force, number- 
ing somewhat over eight thousand men, and comprising Ames's Second 
Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps, and Ilawley's Second Brigade (now 
under Abbott) of Terry's First Division, and Paine's Division of the 
Twenty-fifth (colored) Cor[)S, Avith Alyrick's and Lee's Batteries. These 
went on board transports, and on the night of tlie 5rh and the moi'n- 
ing of the Cth of January, left Fortress Monroe to co-operate with 
Admiral Porter's fleet, then oil Beaufort. After some detentions, oc- 
casioned V)y the weather, the fleet, on the lotli, moved upon Fort 
Fish'or in five divisions. 

Admiral Porter opened tlie bombardment by sending the iron-clad 
column, with tlie Kew Ironsides at its head, directly u])on Fort Fisher. 
At hall-past seven a. m., the forts opened on them as they approached, 
but they (piietly took up their old positions within one thousand yards 
of Fort Fisher, and began 1o fiio about half-past eight. The landing 
of the troops commenced at nine o'clock, from all the transports, some 
of the men eagerly jtunping into the water, waist deep. In about an 
hour, enough troops were landed to push out a skirmish line, and all 
the force designed for the attat-k was ashore before three v. m., Avhen 
they took ])Ossession of Half Moon Battery. 

Before four, the troops started down the beach towards Fort Fisher, 
with skirmishers out. At dnsk, they had paused, out of range of 
Fort Fisher. Under cover of the darkness, however, they moved cu 
again, and, at ten p. m., their camp-fires showed the long bivouac lino 
across the sand-S])it, about two miles from the fort. Their right flank 
Bcemed to be Avell covered by a sort of lagoon, running betAveen it and 
the Avoods beyond. The enemy's tAVO gunboats, the Tallahassee and 
the Chickamauga, shelled our lines from Cape Fear River. During 
the eight hours' action, the iron-clads shoAVered she Is upon the devoted 
■ fort at the rate of lour per minute. The Avhole nuriiSer of shells throAvn 
by iron-clads and wooden vessels Avas computed at four ])er second. 

During the night, the enemy was re-enforced and tlse place strength- 
ened. The l-fth Avas occupied by the Union troops in building breast- 
works between the Cape Fear River and the sea, and the 15th Avas 
fixed for the assault. As a force of the enemy, about five thousand 
Ktrong, imder Iloke, Avas threatening to relieve the place from Wil- 
mington, Abbott's Brigade AVas placed in the intrenchmenls facing that 
direction. Ames's Division Avas drawn up to assault the west end of 



TITJ 



:r.r or the ct^eat rebellion". 



G97 




the fort, the most difficult and arduous point. A column of fourteen 
hundred sailors and marines, under Captain Breese, was detailed fioiu 
the fleet to assault the sea front, which had been so terribly demolished 
by the bombardment that it was thought a lodgment might more easily 
be effected there. At daybreak, the iron vessels, the Brooklyn, and 
the eleven-inch gunboats commenced a terrible fire, under cover of 
which, Ames moved his men up to witliin one hundred and fifty yards 
of the fort. At ten, all the rest of the fleet joined in the tremendous 
cannonade, which was kept up, almost without intermission, until 
three P. M., Avhen the ships changed their fire from the path of the 
assaulting columns to other works. At lialfpast three p. m., the signal 
for the assault was made. The gallant column from the fleetdnshed at 
the sea i'ront with desperate energy, and gained the parapet. But after 
a short conflict and heavy loss it was checked and driven back in dis- 
order. When re-formed, it was sent to the defensive or Wilmington 
line, to take the place of Abbott's Brigade, which had joined Ames. 
The attack on the sea front, -though afailure, diverted a part of the 
enemy's attention, and made the attack of the main storming coliunn 
by so much the easier. 

Promptly at the word of command, our gallant column of between 
three thousand and four thousand men, principally of the old Tenth 
Corps, rushed upon the works. The enemy's force in the fort was over 
two thousand two hundred strong. Colonel Curtis led the attack, 



698 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIs^. 

and, after a splendid assault, effected a lodgment on the west end of 
the land ffont. Pennypacker instantly followed with his brigade, and 
then Bell with his. Every one of these leaders fell wounded, the 
former severely, the second dangerously, and Bell mortally. At five 
o'clock, after the most desperate fighting, foot by foot, and M'ith the 
severest loss, we got possession of about half the land front. Then 
Abbott came up from the defensive line, the marines taking his place. 
Once more the attack went on. At ten o'clock, after six and a half 
hours of splendid fighting, the last trenches were cleared of the enemy, 
and Fort Fisher was ours. 

Genei-al Whitney and Colonel Lamb, the commanders of the fort, 
with their officers and men — over eighteen hundred in all — surrendered 
unconditionally about twelve at night. All the works south of Fort 
Fisher fell also into our hands. The enemy's loss was, first. Fort Fisher 
and all its chain of outworks, with all their contents — seventy-two 
guns, some of large calibre and rifled, and one Armstrong gun — and 
the camp and garrison equipage and stores, including sixteen days' 
rations ; second, the loss of Cape Fear Kiver and its facilities for run- 
ning the blockade ; third, a garrison of two thousand two hutidred 
men, of whom four hundred Avere killed and wounded, and eighteen 
hundred captured. General Whitney .and Colonel Lamb were wounded. 
On our side, not a ship nor a transport was lost, and but little damage 
was (lone to the fleet. Our loss in officers nnd men Avas very large — 
something over one thousand in all, of which about nine hundred fell 
upon the army, and two hundred on the fleet. Among these were 
Colonels Bell and Moore, and Lieutenant-Colonel Lyman, killed, and 
Colonels Curtis, Pennypacker, and Lieutenant-Colcmel Coan, badly 
wounded. In the fleet, Lieutenants Preston and Porter were killed, 
and Lieutenants Lamson, Bache, and others wounded. 

By some mismanagement the magazine blew up, killing about three 
hundred of the garrison. 

The official numerical reports of casualties sustained by our forces 
in the fight are appended : — 

Killed. Wounded. Missinfr. 

Officers. Men. Officers. Men. Men. 

Curtis'S Brigade 2 35 18 16G 9 

Pennypacker's Brigade 1 . 24 15 183 72 

Bell's Brigade 2 15 4 105 — 

Abbott's Brigade — 3 2 18 11 

Total U 77 39 472 92 

Aggregate , . , G91 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLION". 699 



CHAPTER LXXIII. 

Capture of Remaining Defences on Cape Fear River. — Schofield Ordered from Tennes- 
see. — Fort Anderson Taken. — Occupation of "W ilmington. — Movement on Kinston. — ■ 
Goldsboro. — Gillmore before Charleston. — Evacuatiou of the City by Hardee. — Flag 
Restored to Fort Sumter. — Sheridan in the Valley. — His Raid. — Great Destruction 
of Rebel Property. — Joins Meade. 

The holding of the ports on the Cape Fear Rivei was regarded by 
General Lee as of vital consequence to his position at Richmond ; never- 
theless, on the fall of Fort Fisher it became apparent that the other 
places could not be defended. On the 16th of January, the enemy 
blew up Forts Caswell and Cam))bell, and abandoned them and the 
works on Smith's Island, also those at Smithville and Reeves's Point, 
which were occupied by the navy. The whole number of guns cap- 
tured exceeded one hundred and fifty. A large number of suiall-arms 
also fell into our hands, besides quantities of ordnance and commissary 
stores. 

On the 18th, General Paine reconnoitred in force towards Wilming- 
ton, and found the enemy about two miles distant. After a slight 
skirmish he fell back to his iutrenchments. On the 19th, one of our 
dispatch boats was severely handled by the guns of Fort St. Philip, on 
the south bank of the river, and forced to return. The same day, Gen- 
eral Paine made another reconnoissance, found the enemy as before, 
two miles distant, had another severe skirmish, and retired. 

The forts which fell into the hands of the navy, up to January 21, and 
subsequently to the fall of Fisher, Avere ofiicially reported as follows : 

Reeves's Point — Two ten-inch guns. 

Above Smithville — Two ten-inch guns. 

Smithville — Four ten-inch guns. 

Fort Caswell — -Ten ten-inch guns, two nine-inch, one Armstrongs 
and four thirty-twos (rifled), two thirty-twos (smooth), throe eight- 
inch, one Parrott (twenty-pounder), three rifled field-pieces, three guns 
(bored) ^twenty-nine guns. 

Forts Campbell and Shaw — Six ten-inch, six thirty-twos (smooth), 
one thirty- two (rifled), one eight-inch, six field-pieces, two mortars 
— twenty-two guns. 

Smith's Island — Three ten-inch, six thirty-twos (smooth), two thirty- 
twos (rifled), four field-pieces, two mortars — seventeen guns. Reported 
at the other end of Smith's Island, six guns. 

Total captured, eighty-three guns. 

Wilmington, to which the enemy had gradually fallen back, as the 
force accummulated in their front, was defended by General Bragg. 

While these events were occur ling. General Schofield, who, with 
the Twenty-third Army Corps, was on his way to Eastport, Missis- 
t^ippi, received orders to proceed with his troops to North Carolina. 
At that time the Department of North Carolina was created, and 



VOO HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOK 

Scnofield assigned to its command, "with orders to occupy Goldsboro' 
and open up communication with the coast, and unite with Sherman. 
In pursuance of this plan, he Lnided at the mouth of the Cape Fear 
River, February 9th, with the Third Division, Cox, near Fort Fisher. 
At that time, General Terry, with eight thousand men, held a line 
across the peninsula, formed by the ocean and the Cape Fear River, 
occupying Smithville and Fort Caswell, with his flanks covered by the 
fleet, under Admiral Porter. The enemy occupied Fort Anderson, on 
the west bank of the river, with a collateral line running to a large 
swamp about three-fourths of a mile distant, and a line opposite Fort 
Anderson, running across the peninsula from Cape Fear River to 
Masonboro' Sound. His position was impregnable against direct at- 
tack, and could be turned only by crossing Masonboro' Sound above 
his left, or passing around the swamp which covered his right. On 
the 11th of February, Schofield pushed forward Terry's line, supported 
by Cox's Division, drove in the enemy's pickets, and intrenched in a 
new position, close enough to the enemy's line to compel him to hold 
the latter in force. 

The weather presented many obstacles to a combined movement 
with boats on the enemy's left. Hence General Schofleld directed his 
attention to the enemy's right, where he would not have to contend 
with the difiiculties of both land and sea. Cox's and Ames's Divisions 
were crossed over to Smithville, Avhere they Avere joined by Moore's 
Brigade of Couch's Division, which had just debarked, and advanced 
along the main Wilmington road until they encountered the enemy's 
position at Fort Anderson and adjacent works. Here two brigades 
were intrenched to occupy the enemy, while Cox, with his other two 
brigades and Ames's Division, started around the swamp, covering the 
enemy's right, to strike the Wilmington road in rear of Fort Ander- 
son. The distunce to be travelled was about fifteen miles. The enemy, 
warned by his cavalry of Cox's movement, hastily abandoned his works 
on both sides of the river, during the night of February 19th, and fell 
back behind Town Creek on the Avest, and to a corresponding position, 
covered by swamjjs, on the enst. Possession was thus gained of the 
main defences of Cape Fear River and of Wilmington, with ten pieces 
of heavy ordnance and a large amount of ammunition. Our loss Avas 
but trifling. 

On the following day, Cox pursued the enemy to Town Creek, be- 
hind which he was found intrenched, having destroyed the only bridge. 
Terry also encountered the enemy in superior force in his new position, 
and, in consequence, Ames's Division Avas brouoht over to the east bank 
during the night of the 19th. On the 20th, Cox crossed Town Creek 
below the enemy's position, and, reaching the enemy's flank and rear, 
attacked and routed him, capturing two pieces of artillery and three 
hundred and seventy-five prisoners. The next morning he pushed on 
toAvards Wilmington without opposition. Terry Avas xmable to make 
any further advance, but occupied the attention of all of Hoke's force, 
so that he could not send any to replace that which Cox had destroyed. 
On the 21st, Cox secured a portion of the enemy's ])ontoon bridge across 
Brunswick River, Avhich he had attempted to destroy, put a portion of 



1 



niSTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 70l 

his troops on to Eagle Island, and threatened to cross tlie Cape Fear 
above Wilmington. The enemy at once set fire to bis steamers, cotton, 
and military and naval store?, and abandoned the town. Our troops 
entered without opposition early in the morning of February 22d, and 
Terry pursued the enemy across Northeast River. Our total loss in 
the operations from February 11th to the capture of Wihnington was 
about two hundred officers and men killed and wounded. That of the 
enemy was not less tlian one thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners ; 
fifty one pieces of heavy ordnance, tiftcen light pieces, and a large 
amount of ammunition fell into our hands. 

Meantime a force of five thousand troops had been ordered forward 
irom Newbern, under General Palmer, to occupy Kinston, with the 
view of moving thence upon Goldsboro' and tapping tbe main railway 
line bctw^cen Ilichmond and Savannnh. As soon as Wilmington was 
secured, Schofield sent Ruger's Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, 
which was then arriving at Cape Fear Inlet, by sea to Morehead City, 
to r9-enforce the column moving from Newbern. On the 25th, finding 
that Palmer had not moved, as was expected, he sent Cox to take 
command at Newbern and push forward at once. The divisions of 
Couch and Cox were also sent thither, but owing to great difficulty of 
transportation, it was March 6th before the movement upon Kinston 
was coramenc(!d. On that day, Couch marched from Newbern with 
the Second and Third Divisions of the Twenty-third Corp, and on the 
8th, General Cox advanced to Wi<e\s Forks, where he was joined by 
Schofield in person. The force in front of the Union troops, consisting 
of Iloke's Division and a small body of reserves, had f Jlen back be- 
hind Southwest Creek, and General Cox had sent two regiments, under 
Colonel Upham, Fifteenth Connecticut Infantry, to secure the crossing 
of the creek on the Dover road. The enemy, having been re-enforced 
by a portion of tbe old Army of Tennessee, recrossed the creek some 
distance/ above the Dover road, came down in rear of Colonel Up- 
ham's position, and surprised and captured nearly his entire command, 
about seven hundred men. The enemy then advanced and endeavored 
to i)enetrate between Carter's and Palmer's Divisions, occuj^ying the 
Dover road and the railroad respectively, but was checked by Ruger's 
Division, which was just arriving upon the field. 

On the 9th the enemy i)ressed our lines strongly, and felt for its 
flanks. Heavy skirmishing was kept up during the day, but no assault 
was made. On the 10th, the enemy, having been largely re-enforced, 
and, dou!)t!ess, learning of the approach of Couch's column, made a 
heavy attack upon Cox's left and centre, but was decisively repulsed, 
and with heavy loss. Both attacks were met maiidy by Ruger's Divi- 
sion, a portion of that division having been rapidly transferred from 
the centre to the left, to meet the attack there, and then returned to 
the centre in time to repel the attack on that portion of the line. The 
enemy retreated, leaving his killed and wounded, and, during the 
night, foil back across the Neuse, and burned the bridge. Our loss in 
this engagement was about three hundred killed and wounded ; that 
of the enemy probably about fifteen hundred in killed, wounded, and 
missing. Couch efi'ected his junction with Cox on the following day 



702 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLIOjS^ 

Having uo pontoon train, Schofield couLl not cross the Ncuse nntil 
tlie 14th, when the enemy, having abandoned Kinston, moved rapidly 
towards Smithfield to join the force under Johnston, which was con- 
centrating to oppose the advance of Sherman from Fayetteville. Im- 
mediately upon the occupation of Kinston, Schofield put a large force 
of troops to work upon the raih'oad, in aid of the Construction Corps 
under Colonel Wright, rebuilt the wagon bridge over the Neuse, and 
brought forward supplies preparatory to a further advance. He moved 
from Kinston on the morning of the 20th, and entered Goldsboro', with 
but slight opposition, on the evening of the 21st. The portion of the 
command which had remained at Wilmington, under Terry, moved 
from tliat point March 15th, reached Faison's Depot on the 20th, and, 
in compliance with Sherman's orders, moved from that point to Cox's 
Bridge, and securcil a crossing of the Neuse on the 22d. 

On the 8tli of February, General Gillmore succeeded to the com- 
mand of the Department of tlie South, with head-quarters at Hilton 
Head. The city of Charleston was then held by General Hardee with a 
force of twelve thousand to fifteen thousand men, ccmiprising the regular 
garrison and the troops wliich liad retreated from Savannah. The city 
had withstood during nearly three years all attempts to reduce it. 
This, on account of its enormously stiong natural position, had been 
comparatively easy. But now it became exposed to a series of opera- 
tions of an entirely different nature from those which had formerly 
been undertaken against it. Sherman, from Savannah, was penetrating 
into North Carolina, and was, on February 11th, at Branchville, on the 
South Carolina Railroad, thus cutting Charleston off" from communica- 
tion with the interior. The defences of Cape Fear River below Fort 
Anderson had fallen into the hands of the Federals, and although 
General Bragg professed himself able to hold Wilmington, grave 
doubts of his ability to do so were entertained, and with the fall of 
Wilmington, communication with the North would be threatened. 
Under these circumstances. General Gillmore was no sooner in com- 
mand than he landed a considerable force upon James Island, and after 
some sharp fighting established himself within two miles of the city. 
With Savannah and its communications in the hands of the Union 
troops, with Sherman and his large force holding the North Carolina 
Railroad at Branchville, with Wilmington virtually in the hands of 
Schofield, and Gillmore established M'ithin two miles of the city on 
James Island, it became veiy evident that Hardee had no alternative 
but to leave. If he could carry off his garrison it would be, under the 
circumstances, as much as he could hope for. This he succeeded in 
doing. The evacuation commenced on the 16th, and by the next night 
the last of the troops had left. About midnight the enemy fii-ed the 
upper part of the city, burning up the railroad buildings and several 
thousand bales of cotton. The buildings contained, besides the cotton, 
a large quantity of rice and two hundred kegs of powder. About 
half-past three o'clock the powder blew up, with a terrific explosion, 
killing or mutilating about oiie hundred of the )>oor people, who were 
getting the rice. At daylight, the rebel rams in the harbor, near the 
city, were blown up. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOJ^". 703 

On the morning of the 1 Stli, the mayor of the city sent a note to 
General Gillmore statmg that the Confederate military authorities had 
departed, and at nine a. m, the city of Chark^ston, with Fort Sumter, 
Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, and all its defensive works, and all 
its contents, were surrendered to us. Nearly all the rebel troops had 
gone, and only a few men remained. Our forces were promptly moved 
up to the city, and, amid deafening cheers, the national flag once more 
streamed from the })arapet of Fort Sumter. In the fort were nine 
guns — four columhiads, and five howitzers. The cruel firing of the city 
by the enemy, and the explosion of its magazines, spread devastation 
far and wide. Our troops were at once set to work to (juell the flames, 
but probably two-thirds of the place were destroyed. Tiie lower part of 
the city within reach of our guns was in effect a ruin, and was almost 
uninhabited. Comparatively fiew persons dared to remain there. Some 
of the houses were knocked down. Bricks and timbers were lying 
everywhere, and the streets in particular were strewn with the frag- 
ments, in many places entirely obstructing travel. Shells Avere lying 
among the ruins. The appearance of the city, the lower ])art unin- 
habited and the upper part in flames, is described as dreary and desolate 
in the extreme. Among our captures were over two hundred pieces 
of good artillery and a supply of fine anmiunition. Tlie enemy burned 
his cotton warehouses, arsenals, quartermaster stores, railroad bridges, 
two iron-clads, and some vessels in the ship-yards. Some of the 
enemy's troops remained to plunder, and succeeded in tlieir object. 
Several hundred deserters were concealed in the bouses in Charleston, 
and when our troops entered tjjey surrendered. The mtiin army 
moved off northward, in numljers conjectured to be about fourteen 
thousand strong. There remained in the city only about ten thousand 
persons of the poorer classes, who had had no means of making their 
escape, and wlio were now suffering from want of food. 

The surrender of Cliarleston took place on the fourth anniversary 
of the inauguration of Jefterson Davis as p)resident of the "Southern 
Confederacy." The actual siege of the city was commenced July 
10th, 18G3, when Gillmore landed on Morris Island, and Iiad thus 
lasted five hundred and eighty-five days. The city had actually been 
under fire five hundred and forty-two days. The capture of the city 
was thus officially reported : — 

"Head-Quarters Department op the South, ) 
"Charleston, S. C, February 2G, 18fi5. j 
"Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, and Major-General Halleck, Chief of Staff, Wasli- 
ington : 

" An ins[)ection of the rebel defences of Charleston shows that we have taken over /our 
hundred and jifly (450) pieces of oi-dnance, being more tlian double what I first reported. 
The lot inchides eight and ten incli columbiads, a great many thirty-two and forty-two 
pounder riHes, some seven-inch Brooks rifles, and many pieces of foreign mai<e. 

"We also captured eiglit locomotives, and a great number of passenger and platform 
cars, all in good condition. 

" Deserters report that the last of Hardee's army was to have crossed tlio Santee 
River yesterday, bound for Charlotte, N C, and it was feared that Sherman had al- 
ready intercepted their march. 

"It is reported, on similar authority, that the last of Hood's army, twelve thousand 
strong, passed through Augusta last Sunday, the 19th, on the way to Beauregard. 



704 lUSTOKY OF THE CHEAT REBELLION. 

" Geor<i:eto\vn has been evacuated by the enemy, and is now in our possession. 
"Deserters are coming in constantly. Wo have over four hundred already 
(Signed) "Q. A. Gillmoke, 

"Major- General Com »: anding." 

As tlie surrender of Sumter had produced iin impression on tho 
public mind too deep to be readily forgotten, the Piesidrnt, with a 
view of commi'Tnorating its restoration to the national authority, di- 
rected Major-General Robert Anderson to raise the stars and stripes 
on the battlements of Fort Sumter on the 13th of Api-il, 1865, the 
anniversary of the day he consented to evacuate it, after a protracted 
and gallant resistance, vhen his ammunition and provisions were ex- 
hausted. 

The next seaport destined to fall was Mobile, which was, early in 
March, oceupird by the Confederate General Dick Taylor, an ith Maury 
commanding the defences of the city, and F. II. Gardner in the field. 
His forces numbered about fifteen thousand men. The defences of Mo- 
bile were strong. Beauregai'd and Taylor had been at work upon 
them for months, employing thousands oi' negroes in intrenching, 'i he 
garrison, however, was inadequate to man the elaborate works in- 
tended to protect the phice. Not only had the operations of Lee and 
Johnston heavily drained the old army of Ho(>d, but a cavalry demc)n- 
stration of Wilson through Alabama :ind ]Mississipi)i. then in progress, 
distracted the attention of the foice which remained. Few but raw 
Alabama troops were around Mobile. Among the harbor defences waa 
Sj)anish Fort, an irregular hastioned work, with fortifications five miles 
in length, commencing at D'Olive's Creek and running to Minetta Bay. 
It was built by De Soto in 1510. The gims were in eml.rasures. Tlie 
main defence of Mobile was at this point. From the land side, on the 
right of Sj)aiiish Fort, were two bastions, encircled with rifle-pits, 
chcvaict'-de-frise, tienchcs, and torpedoes. The fortifications on tho 
extreme right were covered by the works on the left of Blakeley. 
Pinto Island, to the right, covers Spanish River, and commands Chris- 
tian Pass. Mobile Bay, beyond Blakeley River, was filled with tor- 
pedoes. A hxrge number of torpedoes were also buried in the earth 
in front of Spanish I'ort, near the rebel rifle-pits. Foiis lluoer, Brad- 
ley, Tracy, Battery Gladden, Spanish River Battery, Blakeley, and 
other rebel strongholds, were in front and to the left. 

Preparations for attack had been in progress some time. Granger's 
Thirteenth Corps had long been concentrated on Alobile Point. A. J. 
Smith's Sixteenth Corps was sent by transjjort from New Orleans to 
Dauphin Island, opposite IMobile Point, the greater part arriving at 
Fort Gaines on the 12th of IVIarch. All the cavalry Avere under Grier- 
stin, and — recently largely re-cnforccd from the Army oftlie Cumberland 
— had left for Mobile Point, crossing Pontchartrain. (leneral Steele's 
negro division Avas near Pensacola. On the 18th of Mai'ch, IVIoorc's 
First Ib-igadc of Carr's Third Division of tho Sixteenth Coips, ai)Out 
two thousand strong, left Dauphin Island to effect a landing on Cedar 
l*oint, above Fort Powell, and to clear the way for the rest of tlK< 
corps. On the day previous, Bertram's Brigade oftlie Second Divisio?'. 
of tho Thirteenth Corps, which had been transported across from 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 705 

PaupTiiii Island to Mobile Point, the mainland, foi* that purpose, ad- 
vanced on Mobile along that side of the bay. In order to make tbo 
movement of all three columns simultaneous, on the 18th, General 
Steele's column started from Pensacola and Barrancas, on a march to 
Blakeley Landing, at which point they were to unite with Granger's 
column starting from Fort Morgan and marching up the east side of 
the bay. Granger's whole corps followed the advance brigade, march- 
ing by land along the shore of Bon Secour Bay, wliich forms the 
«outheastern corner of Mobile Bay. 

The rendezvous for the army was on Fish River, at Donnelly's (or 
Danby's) Mills, situated about six or eight miles u)-> the river, tAventy 
or more from Fort Gaines, and thirty from Mobile. The next day 
Smith's Corps moved on transports to the same ])oint, McArthur's 
First Division in advance, Garrard's Second following, and Carr's Third 
in the rear. On the 20th the corps began to arrive at the appointed 
place, and were all disembarked by night of the 21st. On the 22d and 
23d, Granger's Corps got in. The roads were wretched, and the 
troops often forced to great labor in extricating the artillery and trains 
from the mire. Bertram's advance easily drove away the enemy's 
cavahy vedettes. 

On the 25th, the advance through the pine forests was commenced, 
from Fish River towards Blakeley, McArthur's Division skirmishing, 
and Colonel Marshall, commanding its Third Brigade, being amongst 
the wounded. On the 26th, the forces advanced from Fish River, the 
Sixteenth Corps moving on the right, towards Blakeley, and the 
Thirteenth on the left, towards Spanish Fort, which commands 
Minetta Bay. The Thirteenth drove the enemy's cavalry back to the 
fort. The Sixteenth compelled the force in its front, also, to fall back^, 
until Sibley's Mills was reached. On the 27th, the enemy in front of 
Spanish Fort attempted to surprise the pickets of the Thirteenth Corps. 
After a few moments' brisk tiring the rebels were repulsed. Wo lost 
four men wounded. Both corps now marched into position, to, invest 
Spanish Fort, the enemy falling back to Blakeley. The Sixteenth 
formed the right, and the Thirteenth the left, the divisions being posted 
in the line as follows, from right to left : Carr, McArthur, Veach, 
Benton, Bertram's Brigade. . Garrard was in the rear, guarding the 
trains. The artillery was brought to within five hundred yards of the 
fort, and opened a heavy fire. About eleven o'clock the fleet got 
under way, and proceeded up the bay as far as Newport and Howard's 
Landings, below Spanish Fort, on the same, i. e., the easterly shore of 
the bay. The Metacomet, Stockdale, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Albatross, 
Winnebago, and Genesee opened fire at a quarter to one p. m., doing 
considerable damage. They ceased firing at twenty minutes past five 
p. M., and returned to Great Point Clear to anchor for the night. 

It was necessary that the fleet should attack Spanish Fort on th« 
water side, while the army invested it on the land side. On the 28th 
the Milwaukee exploded a torpedo, and instantly filled and sank. 
Only one man was injured, however, and as the water was but eleven 
feet deep, the crew were all saved. Next day, the 29th, the Chicka- 
saw, Kickapoo, Winnebago, and the Octorara,: being in line, the Osage, 

4S 



YOS HISTOPwY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOI^'. 

■vvMch was a short distance astern, struck a torpedo on the starboard 
bow, and instantly sank. Six men were killed or mortally wounded, 
and four others wounded. The rest of the officers and crew wer« 
saved unhurt. 

Bombardment and skirmishes continued, with more or less loss, imtil 
April 3d, when the place, by the arrival of Steele's force, which was to 
have joined Granger on the 22d, was finally invested. Just before 
nightlall of the 8th, the final preparations were completed. Within 
half a mile of the fort over thirty heavy Parrott guns and mortars had 
been mounted, and three light batteries were thrown forward several 
hundred yards nearer. The entire artillery, siege-guns and field-pieces, 
then opened a terrific fire on the fort, Avhich was completely hemmed 
in by our lines, while the gunboats, which had done the same office by 
water, cutting off commmiication with Mobile, added their contribution 
to the general roar and flame. Simultaneously, the skirmishers crept 
forward from trench to trench and ridge to ridge, until they had soon 
got within a hundred yards of the fort, and prevented, by the accuracy 
of their fire, the rebel artillerists from managing the unsheltered guns. 
The enemy responded briskly and heavily at first to our bombardment; 
but, as the battle went pn, he was gradually driven from his guns by 
the hot fire, and replied more and more feebly, until, at midnight, he 
was silenced. An hour afterwards the enemy surrendered, our troops 
pressing upon his intrenchments, and entering them about two o'clock 
on the morning of the 9th. 

The capture of Mobile was now assured. The enemy commenced 
evacuating it on the 10th, and continued to do so on the 11th, at which 
time the work was complete. At half-past ten o'clock on the 12th, our 
troops planted their colors on batteries Porter and Mackintosh, and, 
four hours later, in Mobile, the second seaport of the Confederacy. 
General Granger's forces occupy the city. The tugboat Allena was 
blown up by torpedoes on the same day. The total loss of our fleet 
is said to have been two iron-clads, two tin-clads, and one transport, all, 
or nearly all, blown up by torpedoes. The loss of men in the fleet was 
less than fifty. That of the army about two thousand five hundred. 

While these events were culminating at the South, Sheridan was 
once more in motion at the North. That general, who had retained 
his head-quarters at Winchester with a moderate force, Avas contem- 
plating a renewed movement up the valley. The concentration of the 
enemy's troops around Lee had left but a small rebel force in the 
valley. Accordingly, towards the close of February, preparations 
were made for an extensive cavalry raid, and General Hancock was 
installed in command of the Middle Military Division, as General 
Thomas had been in Tennessee, on the departure of Sherman. The 
enemy, under Rosser, were scattered at various places in the 
valley, viz., Waynesboro', Woodstock, Edenburg, and Staunton ; 
the main body was at the latter-named place, Neal's and Woodson's 
guerrillas in Hardy County, Gilmor's Battalion in Pendleton County, 
Imboden's command in Bath, and adjacent counties. 

At eight A. M., on February 27th, the troops began their march 
from Winchester, reaching Woodstock, thirty-three miles distant, by 



HISTORY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOX. 70 7 

dark. • The enemy were not encountered iu any force until the com- 
mand ^-cached Lacy's Springs, March 1st, where about four hundred 
men, under Rosser, made some show of resistance, but soon retired. 
The same day the bridge over Middle River was secured, Rosser's 
men falling back before the Union advance to Waynesboro', where 
Early had concentrated his men, about one thousand four hundred in 
number, to give battle. A portion of his command had lallen back the 
day before trom Fishersville, to strengthen the post there. The posi- 
tion was on commanding ground — a ridge of hills skirting the front of 
the tovni — and was protected by breastworks made of earth and rails. 

The advance of Sheridan's force arrived in front of the })osition at 
noon on the 2d of March, and, after a brief reconnoissance by General 
Custer, an attack was ordered, and the place carried by a flank move- 
ment, which induced the enemy to give way. The greater part of the 
force were captured, including Generals Long and Lilly. Sheridan's 
force pushed on, and reached Charlottesville on March 4th ; thence 
on the 6th it again moved in two columns, one of which, under 
General Devin, took the direct southern route to Scottsville, destroying 
all mills, merchandise, and property on the line of march along the 
Rivanna River to Columbia. 

The other column proceeded dovra the railroad to Lynchburg, de- 
stroying it for the distance of forty miles to Amherst. From Scotts- 
ville, Devin's Division proceeded westward along the James to Dugalds- 
ville, twenty miles from Lynchburg. On the 10th of March, Shei-idan 
was at Columbia, and, not being able to cross the James on account of 
high water, he moved, with a view of ultimately joining the army 
before Petersburg, in a northerly direction from Columbia to the Cen- 
tral Railroad, striking it at the same time at several dift'erent points 
between Louisa Court-House and Beaver Dam Station. 

A portion of two days was consumed in the thorough destruction of 
the Central road between Saxton's Junction and Gordonsville. The 
next move was to jioints on the Fredericksburg road, below the junc- 
tion. General Devin marched his column to the bridges on both ronda 
across the South Annn, one of which was defended by a detachment 
of infantry, posted behind earthworks, with three pieces of artillery. 
The Fifth Cavalry, under Devin and Cook, charged the position, sup- 
ported by the Second Massachusetts, capturing a number of prisoners, 
and the three guns. The only man killed on our side was a scout, and 
there were only three wounded. Custer, at the same time, moved 
towards Ashland Station. 

By this time it was known in Richmond that the northern defences 
of that city were threatened. Longstreet, with the whole of Pickett's 
Division and some other troops, moved up to within five n.i!cs of Ash- 
land. On the following morning, when a detachment of the Fifteenth 
New York entered Ashland as an advance-guard, the advance of Long- 
street's column was encountered, and drove them back. Subsequently, 
Sheridan moved eastward, crossing the Fi-edericksburg Raih-oad at 
Chesterfield Station, and on the 19th his entire command arrived at the 
White House, whence it crossed the James, and joined Meade on the 
25th'. Sheridan's operations resulted in the destruction of the James 



70S niSTOKT OF TITE GKK\T REBELLION. 

River Cnnal, Avliioh was tlio main depend enoe for tlio support oi Tiich- 
nuMul, and also ot" all railiMads and oilior means of coinnumicatuni with 
the Sontlnvest. Tluis gradually was the metaphor, so ofloii employed 
in the early history of the war, and so greatly ridieuled, of the Union 
armies pressing around the robel eapital, as the anaronda tightens itt» 
folds about the body of its victim, bcgmuiug to have force and signifi- 



oaiice. 



CII.VrTER LXXIV. 

Oencml Phcrnian at Savannah. — Tho Advance Northward. — Poeotalipn. — Salke- 

hatohie. — Movoment on Cohnnbia. — Oontia^ration in Oohimbia, and its Origrin 

Beaiu-os::ard at Charlotte. — J.ee phicod in Cliiet" (.'onnnand of tlio Rebel Armies 

Johnston Koinstated. — Fayettoville. — Rebel Strength. — .Vvorysboro'. — Bentonville. 
— tu^ldsboro'. — Jnui'tiou of Thrco L'niou Armies. — Objective of the CiUDpaigu 
Gained. 

At Savannah, General Sherm;m had not merely to reenjH^rate his 
forces and prepare a tiew base for further operations into the interior, 
preparatory to a concentration upon Uichmond, but he was also 
compelled to provide for the local government, and to arrange the 
means of feeding the people. To this end the following notice was 
issued : — 

" He-vp-Qu-vrters Mn^iTAPa' PivisiON op the Mississippi, | 
'•In the I'ield, 8av.\nnah, Georgia, ^Tayinanj 14. J 

" It being represented that tlie (.'ontodenue army and armed bands of robbers, acting 
professedly vmder the authority of the Confederate government, are harassing the peo- 
ple of Georgia, and endeavoring to iutinudate them in the etlbrts they are making to 
secure to themselves provisions, clothing, seonrity to life and property, and the restora- 
tion of law and good g<iverninent in the State, it is hereby ordered and made public: 

" Fin'-t. — That the tarmers of Georgia may bring into Savannah, Fernandina, or 
,racksonvillo, Fla,, marketing, such as beef pork, mutton, vegetjibles of any kind, fish, 
Ac,, as well as wtton in small quantities, and sell the same in open market, except the 
cotton, which nuist bo sold by or through the Treasury agents, and may invest the pro- 
ceeds in family stores, such as bacon and flour, in any reasonable quantities, groceriea. 
shoes and elotliing. and articles not contraband of war, and carry the same back to their 
families. No trade store will be attempted in tho interior, or stocks of goods sold for 
tiiem, but families may club together for mutual assist;ince and protection in coming 
and gomg. 

" Second. — The people are encouraged to meet together in peaceful assemblages, to 
discuss measures looking to their s.-ifety and good government, and tho restoration of 
Suite and National authority, and will be protected by the National army, when sso 
doing: i\i\d sill peaceable iuhabitauis who satisfy the commanding officers that they 
are earnestly laboring to that end, must not only be left undisturbed in property imd 
person, but mu.-st be protected as far as possible, consistent with the military opera- 
tions. If any farmer or peaceable inhabitant is molested by the enemy — viz.. the Con- 
federate army of guerrillas — because of his friendship to the National Government., the 
jiorpetrator, if caught, will be summarily punished, or his family made to sutler for tlie 
iHitrage ; but if the crime caimot be traced to the actual party, then retaliation will bo 
made on the adherents to the cause of the rebellion. Should a Union man be mur- 
dered, then a rebel, selected by lot, vaW be shot : or if a Union ftimily bo persecuted 
cni account of the cause, a rebel family will be banished to a foreign land. In aggra- 
Tated cases, nnaliation will extend as high as five for one. All commanding oflicer* 
"will act promptly in such cases, and reptirt their action after the retaliation is done. 

'*B7 order ofilajor-General W. T. Sherman. 

"L. M. Daytox, Assistant A(^ut(ini-Gen€raL" 



HISTORY OF THE GliEAT liEBELLION. 709 

In relation to the political status of people, the following letter wjui 
published by General Sherman, in wliicb he states ex[»licitly, in his cus- 
tomary clear and vigorouB btyle, that the only condition of )>eace would 
be to lay down arms and submit to the authority of ilie Gcucral Gov- 
ernment : — 

"IlEAD-QlfAIiTERS MiLITAUV DIVISION OF THE MiK.SIS.SIPI'J, } 

''In thk Field, Savannah, Ga., January 8, W,:,. ^ 
"N. W. , Ksq., County, Ga. : 

"Dear Sir: — Yours of the 3d instant is re(;civcd, and, in nna^or to your inquirioB, I 
hep to state I am merely a military commander, and act only in tliat capacity; nor can 
I give any ashuranccB or pledges affecting civil matters in the future. Thoy will be 
adjusted by Congress when Georgia ia again represented there as of old. 

" Georgia is not out of the Union, and, thorcfoie, the talk of 'reconstruction ' appears 
to me inappropriate. Some of the people have jjeen, and still arc, in a state of revolt, 
and as long as they remain armed and organized, the United States must pursue them 
with armies, and deal with them according to military law. But as soon as they break 
up their armed organizations and return to their homes, I take it they will be dealt 
with by the civil courts. Some of the rebels in Georgia, in my judgment, deserve death, 
because they have committed murder, and other crimes, which are punished with 
death by all civilized governments on earth. I tliink this was the course indicated by 
General Washington, in reference to the Whiskey Insurrection, and a like jjrincipl* 
Beemed to be recognized at the time of the Burr conspiracy. 

" As to the Union of the States under our Government, we have the high authority 
of General Washington, who bade us be jealous and careful of it, and the still more 
emphatic words of GeneralJackson, 'The Federal Union, it must and shall be pre- 
served.' Certainly Georgians cannot question the authority of such men, and should 
not suspect our motives, who are simply fulfilling their commands. Wherever neces- 
sary, force has been used to carry out tliat end, and you may rest assured that tlie 
Union will be preserved, cost what it may. And if you are sensible men you will con- 
form to this order of things or else migrate to some other country. There is no other 
alternative open to tlie people of Georgia. 

" My opinion is that no negotiations are necessary, nor commissioners, nor conven- 
tions, nor any thing of the kind. Whenever the people of Georgia quit rebelling 
against their Government and elect members of Congress and Senators, and these go 
and take their seats, then the State of Georgia will have resumed her functions in tba 
Union. 

" These are merely my opinions, but in confirmation of them, as I think, the people- 
of Georgia may well consider the following words, referring to the people of the rebel- 
lious States, which I quot« from the recent annual message of President Lincoln to 
Congress at its present session : 

" ' They can, at any moment, have peace simply by laying down their arms and sub- 
mitting to the national authority under the Constitution. After so much, the Govern- 
ment could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would not 
sustain or allow it If questions should remain, we would adjust them by the peace- 
ful means of legislation, conference, courts, and votes. Operating only in constitu- 
tional and lawful channels, some certain and other possible questions are and would 
be beyond the Executive power to adjust, as, for instance, the admission of memberg 
into Congress, and whatever might require the appropriation of money.' 

" The President then alludes to the general pardon and amnesty offered for more 
than a year past, upon specified and more liberal terms, to all except certain de.-;igaated 
classes, even these being still within contemplation of ' special clemency,' and adds : 

" ' It is still so open to all, but the time may come when public duty shall demand 
that it be closed, and that in lieu more vigorous measures than heretofore shall be 
adopted.' 

" It seems to mo that it is time for the people of Georgia to act for themselves, and 
return, in time, to their duty to the Government of their fathers. 
•• Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" W. T. Sheeman, ifa;6»r-(?enerai** 



710 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



Having employed several weeks in refitting his army at Savannah, 
Sherman was, by the 15th of January, 1865, ready to resume opera- 
tions. On that day Fort Fisher was captured and the road to Wil- 
mington opened. The Twenty-third Corps, Schofield, was also on its 
way from Tennessee to co-operate with Generals Tei-ry and Palmer in 
North Carolina, and prepare the way for Sherman's coming, and to 
enable Sherman to move in full strength. Grant had sent Grover's 
Division of the Nineteenth Corps to garrison Savannah. As Sherman 
proposed to march directly upon Goldsboro', Colonel Wright was 
sent to ifewbern to be ready by the middle of March to open the rail- 
road to the former place. On the 18th January the command of Sa- 
vannah was transferred to Foster, with instructions to co-operate on 
the coast, in conjunction with the fleet, with the interior movement. 

On January 15th, Howard, commanding Sherman's right wing, com- 
posed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, and other troops, num- 
bering forty-five thousand in all, had eifected a lodgment on the 
Charleston Railroad, near Pocotaligo, with the view of demonstrating 
against Charleston, and opening communications with Hilton Head. 
The left wing, under Slocum, was ordered to rendezvous at Roberts- 
ville and Coosawattie, South Carolina, but was prevented for weeks 
by the flooded state of the adjoining country from moving. Finally, 
on the 29th January, finding that the roads were so far improved as 
to admit of the movement of the left wing, Sherman ordered the Seven- 
teenth Corps to River's Bridge, on the Salkehatchie, and the Fifteenth 
Corps to Beaufort's Bridge". On the 2d February the two corps 
reached their destinations. Here General Sherman admonished Slo- 
cum, still struggling with the floods of the Savannah River, to hurry his 
crossing at Sister's Ferry and overtake the right wing on the South Caro- 
lina Railroad at or near Midway. The enemy held the line of the Salke- 
hatchie in force, with artillery, at River's and Beaufort's Bridges. The 
Seventeenth Corps was ordered to carry the former, which was promptly 
done by Mowei-'s and Smith's Divisions on the 3d February. The 
weather was bitter cold, and Generals Mower and Smith led their di- 
visions in person, on foot, Avaded the swamp, made a lodgment below 
the bridge, and turned on the brigade which guarded it, driving it in 
confusion and disorder towards Branchville. Our casualties were one 
oflicer and seventeen men killed, and seven men wounded, who were 
sent to Pocotaligo. The line of the Salkehatchie being thus broken, 
the enemy retreated at once behind the Edisto, at Branchville, and the 
whole army was pushed rapidly to the South Carolina Railroad at 
Midway, Hamburg (or Lowry's Station), and Graham's Station. The 
Seventeenth Corps, by threatening Branchville, forced the enemy to 
burn the railroad bridge, and Walker's bridge below, across the 
Edisto. 

General Kilpatrick * had, meanwhile, come up with his cavalry, and 



♦Judson Kilpatrick was born in New Jersey 
nboiit 1S40, and graduiitcd at West Point in 1S61. 
He was immediately commissioned as captain in 
the Fifth New York Volunteers (Duryea's 
Zouaves), and, during the summer of 1861, became 
colonel of a New York cavalry regiment. In the 



sncceedino; year he was appointed to command 
a cavalry brigade, and in June, 1803, was commis- 
sioned a brigadier-general of volunteers. In this 
year he became noted as one of the most dashing 
cavalry otiicers of the army, distinguishing him- 
self in the campaign of Gottysbiu-g, and in th« 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 



711 



proceeded to threaten Augusta, skirmishing sharply with Wheeler's 
Cavalry. General Slocum reached Blackville on the 10th. The rebels 
at this time occupied Augusta, Aiken, Branchville, and Charleston, 
When, therefore, the army on the 11th was on the railroad from Mid- 
way to Johnson's Station, the enemy's forces were divided, and he 
could no longer hold Charleston. The Seventeenth Corps now pushed 
for Orangeburg, while tlie Fifteenth Corps, in support, proceeded to 
Poplar Springs. The left wing had orders to move to the Edgefield 
road, and there await the result of the movement upon Orangeburg. 
That point was occupied, with little opposition, at four o'clock on the 
12th. Branchville, the point of junction of the South Carolina and 
Columbia Railroad, being turned, like Charleston, it fell of itself, and 
Sherman' marched direct upon Columbia, which was held by Beaure- 
gard. The Seventeenth Corps moved by the State road, and the Fif- 
teenth Corps by a road which united with the State road at Zeig- 
ler's. The enemy were encountered at Little Congaree Bridge on 
the 15th, but retired after a brief encounter, burning the bridgo 
behind them, so that the column was delayed, and did not reach 
the Congaree Bridge, in front of Columbia, until early on the 16th, 
too late to save the fine structure which there spans the river. 
Howard was accordingly directed to cross the Saluda, which joins the 
Congaree at Columbia, three miles above, so as to approach Cohunbia 
from the north, while Slocum was ordered to march direct upon 
Winnsboro', twenty-five miles north of Columbia. On the iVtli, while 
Howard was preparing to cross, the mayor of Columbia came out and 
made a formal surrender of the city. 

In anticipation of the occupation of the city, orders had been given 
to Howard to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not 
needed for the use of the army, as well as all railroads, depots, and 
machinery useful in war to the enemy, but to spare all dwellings and 
harmless property, whether of a public or private character. General 
Wade Hampton, who commanded the rebel rear-guard, had, in anticipa- 
tion of the ca})ture of the place, ordered all the cotton to be moved 
into the streets and fired. A violent gale was blowing as the advance 
of the Union army entered Columbia, and, before a single building had 
been fired by Sherman's order, the smouldering fires, set bj^ Hampton's 
order, and which soldiei's and citizens had labored hard to extinguish, 
were rekindled by the wind, and communicated to the buildings 
around. A whole division of troops was called out to stay the prog- 
ress of the conflagration, but the flames had now become imnianage- 
able, and, until four a, m. of the 18th, they pursued their devouring 
course, laying a large portion of the city in ashes. It was not until 
the wind began to subside that the fire could be controlled. Sherman, 
with many of his generals, w^as up all night laboring to save hoiises 



operations in Virginia during: tlie autumn. After 
conducting a daring raid towards Riciimond in tiio 
early part of 1S64, ho was appointed, in tlie spring, 
to command a cavalry division in Slierman's 
army, and on May l;3tli was wonnded in a skir- 
misil near Resaca. I:i August he returned to 
duty, accompanied the army into Atlanta, and, du- 



ring Sherman's march to the coast, commando4 
the cavalry of the exi>cditi<)nary force. He held a 
similar command in the succeeding campaign from 
Savannah to North Carolina; at the conclusion of 
which lie wiw bruvettod a major-general of vol- 
untecra. 



71 '2 IIISIVKY OF THE OllKAT REBELLION. 

an^l protect nunilios thus siulilonly tloprived of sholtor mul hottio. ** I 
disi'hiim.'" ho says in his otVioial report, "on the part of my army, any 
HiTOiu'v ill tlio tiro, but, on tho ooiitrary. ohvim iliat wo saved \vliat of 
Oohimbia remains imeonsumoil. Aiul without hesitation I ehargvi 
^Vade llamptoii witii haviuo- Inirned his own city i>f I'ohimbia, not 
■with maUeious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly ' Koman stoW 
cism,' but from folly and want of sense in tilling- it with lint, cotton, 
mid tinder. Ciir ortieers and men on duty worked well to extinguish 
the flames ; but others not on duty, including tho otlicers Avho had 
long been imprisoned there, rescued by i;s, may iiave assisted in sproa«.V 
ing tlie tire after it liad onco begun, and may have indulged in m>- 
conccaled joy to poo tho ruin of tlio capital ot' South Carolina." Thi« 
may bo taken as a tinal and coni]^leto refutation of the many moi»- 
dacious reports, originating chiefly in the South, that tho city of 
Goluiiibia was wantonly flred by Sherman's troops. 

General Slocuni reached ^Vinnsbol•o' on the "Jlst, dostroved the rail- 
road, and reached Kocky Mount on the 2;nl, on which day he was 
joined by the 'Twontieth Corps. Kil[iatrick toUowcd and demonstrated 
on Charlotte, to. which point Heauivgard had retreated from Columbi;\ 
and where he was expecting to be joined by Cheatham's Corps of 
Hood's old army. The rains continued very heavy until the 'JiUh, 
wlieu tho Twentieth Corps was at Catawba waiting: t"or tho Fourteenth 
Corps to cross tlie Catawba. In tho mean time the right wing had 
destroyed tho railroad to Winnsboro', and thence moved upon Cheraw, 
whcnco a force w^-as sent to burn the bridge over "the Wateree, al 
Camden, and anotlier to Florence, with a view of breaking up tlie 
railroad between that place and Charleston. The latter was beaten 
back by the enemy's horse. On the- 3d of ^larch the Seventeenth 
Corps entered Cheraw, the enemy retreating across the Pedee. 

While these events were occurring, the jnvceedings of the rebel 
Congress had begun to give signs of the speedy dissolution of tho 
*' Confederacy." The want of men was urgent, and the question of 
ai'ining slaves was warmly discussed. j\lueh dissatisl'aciion with thw 
Government and the leading generals had sprung up, and the tinancea 
were in a deplorable condition. Continued disaster had at last 
brought the Kxecutive into a degree of ilespair from whii-h nothing 
seemed likely to rescue it. In accordance with a resolution of tlw 
rebel Congress, and as a last means of making head against the rapidly 
advancing armies of the I'nioii, Jofl'erson l^avis had appointed tieneral 
Loe to the chief command of tho entire military force. Ia^c's order 
announcing that he assumed this post is dated Fel)ruary 0th. General 
Joseph E^ Johnston, between whom and Jefl'erson Davis a deep 
animosity had long existed, had been virtually retired from the army 
after the fall of Atlanta. Public opinion so strongly demaiulcd his 
restoration that Davis was forced to yield, and ho w:;s reinstated, and 
placed in immediate command of the forces opposed to Sherman, in 
the place of l>eauregard, who wrote to tho rebel President that tho 
general sentiment of the public, and particularly that of the Army 
of the Tennessee, was so urgent for Johnston's restoration to command 
that ho was induced to join bis wish to ihoirs ; but ho did not wish 



niSTORY OK TilE (illEAT lUCBELLION. 7 1 ."> 

to he roniovod from liiw proKOiiL field of <>|)(M:irKMirt, Iml, pniftMroil to 
Borvo uiid(!r liiw <jld (',(jiiirud<;. JoIiikhLoii'h order :isHHiniiiL( Uie cotniriuti'i 
of the "Army of tlu! 'rciiiuiKHCM!, iiiid :ill llic; troops iti the; l)('p;irliru!nl,ii 
of Soiitli (J;iroliM;i, iio.()rjj;\ii, iirid Flori<l.'x," is d.-itcd at (Jiiurlott(!, North 
Carolina, February !,ir)th, wlicii it vvuh too lute for liiiii, or (>crliapH any 
general livinj^, with the mcuiis then at hiw disposal, to op[>oK(! the prog^ 
ress of She ri nan. 

The movenicnt of Slierrnaii was continued without d(jlay upon Fay- 
etteville, North ('aroliiia, on tlie (ya|)e Fear Kiv(!r, which point Wiirt 
roaelKsd March 11th l)y the l^'ouilciwith and .Scjventecnth (-or[)H, after 
fikirmishinjjf with WatJe Ilanipton'H Cavalry, ihat covered the rear of 
IfanhMi's retrealint^ ''^''''y, which had croniied ('ape l*'ear Itiver, l>iirninj^ 
llie hriilLce. Durinj^ the inarch I'rom tlie I*e<h;e, Kilpatriclc had kept 
liis cavalry w(;ll on the left and ex[)OK(Ml ilank. Durnij^ the nif^ht of 
the 9th of Marcli, liiK three; hrij^ades W(;r(! divided t(j j/K-ket the roadH. 
Hampton, det(!e(,iii^ this, daHluMl in at daylij^ht, and gained poHKesHJon 
of th(! can)p of (/olonel S|)encer'H l>ri{j,ade, an<i the houHe in which KiU 
Patrick an<l S[)enc(!r had their <piarterH. ""I'he Kurprine waH cotnplete, 
out Kilpatii(;k (juickly HU(!cee<hMl in rallying liiH men, on loot, in a 
HWanip near by, and, by a proinpt attack, well followed up, regained 
liihi artillery, horses, <'.amp, and every thing save some prisoners whom 
tlie enemy (iarried off, leaving thciir dead on the groun<l, Sev<!ra] days 
were spent in Fayetteville destroying projn;rty. The aiany tug lJavi(i- 
BOn here came up the river from Wilmin<fton, and earrierl back dis- 
patcher's I'rom Sherman to Teiiy anci Scholield. The gunboat -Zl^jolug 
also arrived at Fayetteville. 

At this tinn; Johnston, tlu; old antagonist of Sherman, Jiad begun tr» 
get his forces well in hand, and to conc(;nti-ate them at ilaleigh, on 
Sherman's Hank. Jjcaurcjgard, falling back from (Johnnl>ia, had be<!n 
re-enforced by Chc-atham's (.orps from the West, and the garrison of 
Augusta, and amj)le time had been given to move these troops to 
llaleigh. Hardee had also sitece«ided in getting across ('ape Fear 
Itiver, and could therefore complete the junction with the other rebel 
troops in iXorth ('an^lina. The whole, under tin; command of the skil- 
ful and experienced Johnston, made up an army superior to Sherman's 
in cavalry, and f^;tinidable enough in artillery and infantry to justify 
him in extrcune caution in making the last step necessary to complete 
the niai-ch he had undertaken. He could no longer move at will with 
an overwlnilming foi-ce, regardless of the enemy. 

Kilpatrick was ordered to'move up the plankroad to and beyorul 
Averysboro', to be folhjwed by four divisiejus of the left wing. In 
like manner, Howard waH ordered to hold four divisions ready to g/j 
to the aid of the left wing if attacked while in motion. The eolunma 
moved out from (Jajjc Fear Uiver on Wednesday, the 15th of March. 
Slocum, jiieceded by Kiljiatrick's (Javalry, moved to Kyle's Landing, 
Kilpatrif;k skirmishing lieavily with the enemy's rear-guard about three 
miles beyond, near Taylor's Iloh! (Jreek. At Kilpatiick's request, Slo- 
cum sent forward a brigade of infantry to hold a line of barricades. 
Next morning the column advanced in the same order, and developed 
the enemy, with artillery, infantry, and cavalry, in an intrenched posv 



714 HISTOPwY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLIOIS". 

tion, in front of the point where the road branches ofl" towards Golds- 
boro', through Bentonville. 

Hardee, with twelve thousand men, in retreating from Fayetteville, 
halted in the narrow, swampy neck between Cape Fear and South 
Kivers, in hopes, by checking Sherman, to save time for the concentra- 
tion of Johnston's armies at some point to his rear, namely, Raleigh, 
Smithfield, or Goldsboro'. It was necessary to dislodge him, that we 
have the use of the Goldsboro' road. Slocum was therefore ordered 
to press and carry the position, only difficult by reason of the nature 
of the ground, which was so soft that horses would sink everywhere, 
and even men could hardly make their way over the common pin© 
barren. 

The Twentieth Corps, "Wilhams, had the lead, and Ward's Division 
the advance. This was deployed, and the skirmish line developed the 
position of a brigade of Charleston heavy artillery armed as infantry 
(Rhett's) posted across the road behind a light parapet, with a battery 
of guns enfilading the approach across a cleared field. Williams sent 
a brigade (Case's) by a circuit to his left, that turned this line, and by 
a quick charge broke the brigade, which rapidly retreated back to a 
second line, better built and more strongly held. A battery of artillery 
rVYinniger's), well posted, under the immediate direction of Major 
Reynolds, Chief of Artillery of the Twentieth Coi-ps, did good execution 
on the retreating brigade, and, on advancing Ward's Division over 
this ground, Williams captured three guns and two hundred and seveur 
teen prisoners. As Ward's Division advanced, he developed a second 
juid stronger line, when Jackson's Division was deployed forward on 
the right of Ward, and the two divisions of JeiF. C, Davis's (Foui\- 
teenth) Corps on the left, well towards the Cape Fear. At the same 
time, Kilpatrick, who was acting in concert with Williams, was ordered 
to draw back his cavalry and mass it on the extreme right, and, in 
concert with Jackson's right, to feel forward for the Goldsboro' road. 
He got a brigade on the road, but it was attacked by McLaws's rebel 
division furiously, and was driven back to the flank of the infantry. 
Tlie whole line advanced late in the afternoon, drove the enemy well 
within his intrenched line, and pressed him so hard that he retreated 
during the night to Smithfield. Slocum reported Ifis aggregate loss in 
this afiair, known as that of Averysboro', at twelve officers and sixty- 
five men killed, and four hundred and seventy-seven wounded. Leav- 
ing Ward's Division to keep up a show of pursuit, Slocum's column 
was turned to the right, built a bridge across the swollen South River, 
and took the Goldsboro' road. 

In the mean time, Howard's column was moving towards Goldsboro', 
via Bentonville, and on the night of the 18th was at Lee's Store, ten 
miles south of Slocum, who Avas on the road, five miles from Benton- 
ville, and twenty-seven miles from Goldsboro', at a point crossed by 
the road from Clinton to Smithfield. General 8herman, anticipating no 
further opposition from the enemy, directed Howard to move his right 
wing by the new Goldsboro' road, which goes by way of Falling 
Creek Church. General Slocum's head of column had advanced from 
its camp of March 18th, and first encountered Dibbrell's Cavalry, but 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 715 

» 

soon found Lis progress impeded by infantry and artillery. Johnston 
had moved by night from Smilhfield, with great rapidity, and without 
unnecessary wheels, intending to overwhelm the left liank before it 
could be relieved by its co-operating columns. 

The enemy attacked the head of the Union column, gr.ining a tem- 
porary advantage, and took three guns and caissons of Carlin's Division, 
diivhig the two leading brigades back on the main body. Slocum 
promptly deployed the two divisions of the Fourteenth Corps, and 
rapidly bronght up on their left the two divisions of the Twentieth 
Corps. These he arranged on the defensive, and hastily prepared a 
line of barricades. Kilpatrick also came up at the sound of artillery, 
and massed on the left. In this position the left wing received six dis- 
tinct assaults by the combined forces of Hoke, Hardee, and Cheatham, 
under the immediate command of General Johnston him"^4f, without 
giving an inch of ground, and doing good execution on the enemy's 
ranks, especially with artillery, the enemy having little or none. 

General Sherman, immediately on receipt of a dispatch from Slocum, 
sent him orders to call up the two divisions guarding his Avagon trains, 
and Hazen's Division of the Fifteenth Corps, still back near Lee's 
Store, to fight defensively until he could draw up Blair's Corps, then 
near Mount Olive Station, and with the three remaining divisions of 
the Fifteenth Corps come upon Johnston's left rear from the direction of 
Cox's Bridge. At the same time he received couriers from both Scho- 
fieUl and Terry. The former reported himself in possession of Kinston, " 
delayed somewhat by want of provisions, but able to march so as to 
make Goldsboro' on the 21st, and Terry was at or near Faison's Depot. 
Orders were at once dispatched to Schofield to push for Goldsboro', and 
to make dispositions to cross Little River, in the direction of Smith- 
field, as far as Millard ; to Terry to move to Cox's Bridge, lay a pontoon 
bridge, and establish a crossing ; and to Blair to make a night-march 
to Falling Creek Church ; and at daylight, the right wing, Howard, less 
the necessary v/agon guards, was put in rapid motion on Bentonville. 

At daybreak on the morning of the 20th, Hazen's Division of the 
Fifteenth Corps, Geary's of the Twentieth Corps, and Baird's of the 
Fourteenth Corps, reported on the field, having marched all night, from 
the new Goldsboro' road, Avhere the trains were moving. Howard, 
with Logan's and Blair's Corps, came up on the right, by way of Cox's 
Bridge, and on moving forward the Fifteenth Corps, General Logan, 
found that the enemy had thrown back his left flank, and had con- 
structed a line of parapet connecting with that towards Slocum, in the 
form of a bastion, its salient on the main Goldsboro' road, interposing 
between Slocum on the Avcst and Howard on the east, wliile the flanks 
rested on Mill Creek, covering the road back to Smithfield. Howard 
was instructed to proceed with due caution until he had made strong 
connection on his left with Slocum. This he soon accomplished, and, 
by four p. M. of the 20th, a complete and strong line of battle con- 
fronted the enemy in his intrenched position. Sherman ordered all 
empty wagons to be sent at once to Kinston for supplies, and all other 
impediments to be grouped near the Neuse, south of Goldsboro', hold- 
ing the rebel army in close contact with the enemy, ready to fight him 
if he ventured outside his parapets and swampy obstructions. 



Thus m«Hor?» j»tv»vHl j^bout l»ouU>uvHlo uu ^Mnt tvf Mwrv^h. On (l><» 
Mkivvo vl>>v, UvMiovul Soluvtlv»Ul oo(v>\^^l (u»Klsbovv>' >vith Uttio ov nv> i»|>j>vw 

Uiivl^siW tou \ui!v\< abv>vv\ with h j>vM\u>vni U»'ul^^» bu^l mul n biivijula 
ttVM\v>wt, s^" th«t tht* thivo uttuio«i >voit> \n }>otuHl ouunootivM\, juwl tho 
gvviU v^bjov't v>t* tlu> oamj'iuuu wan nvvvmplisluvl. 

v>l' Uu» Sovv^uUvMih i\Mj>s, on tho o\ti\>u<o v\j:^Ut, hsul >voik\\i woll to 
tho »i^ht tviN'uuvl tho ouotUY*s ttanK, mul h.ul iu\u1y rwu-hovl tho bvivluv 
Aorvv>i!t Mill r»>vk, tho vMtlY Uno wt* tvti'wkt t»|>ou iv» iho omouiy. Uf 
ivur«iO> thv^v wj^s o\tivu\o vluM^^vr thut tl»o ououiy womIvI turn on \\n\\ 
^{ hU tt^^tu'vos, ivuvi, it tulj-tht K\ U'>{ g\> his jnurtjvis to ovorwhohu 
Mowow A\^v^^Un^lY, Shonujuv vM\Un\H\ i\{ \m\oo h j»x>uoi"}>i niinok 1>y 
tht> s^kirmlsh Uuo t\\vi« Wd to vi^^^ht, Quito u uoisv bntth^ tntsiunl, 
vluiin^j whivh Mowor >yus ^M\}\UU^^l to tVi;\Vm his in^imootion with hit* 
v»\vu o\»r^>.>s, bY uvoYiiv^ tv» hi»i U>tX »v»r, Thwl ui^^ht tho o«»t^u\Y u^tn^vtinl 
vu\ SuuthtioUK 

Tho loH.^iOiS wf th<^ lort winjj abvn\t UoutwuYiUo >yojv i\im> oiVun^rs mul 
mio hvnuivvvl nvul fortY tlYO luou kilUnl. titlx v>uo v»tUvovs uuvl ois^;!*! liiiu 
ilusi «uvl !S.i\t\vu n\ou wvnuulovl. ;ukI thivo othvHU's {u»d t\vv» huiu^iwi juul 
twoutV'thiw luon luisMUij, takou jMisvuun^ In tho ououvv ; toi;il. out* 
llrtHiSHnvi t\vv> huuvhvd aiul tortv so\ou. SKvuuv huviovi on tho tioKl ono 
huu\lvovl juul si\tV'*ovoii u'lvl ao;ul. niul tvH»k ihivo huuvlix-vl nivvl ihirt^' 
txi^^ht fn isonot^ 

VvouovhI llo\\jw\l wovM'tovl tho hv'ijsov'i ot'lho iij;l»f NYiu^;' n( two v'tVuvt"* 
juvvi thirty livo u\on killovl, twoUo v»tVuHMs nuvl (wo hiiuvlrvHi niul oijihtY- 
uino uunx WAuiuviwi, ;«ul <>uo vvthwc ntui ^^ixtY n\on luussiii^;; tv>tiU, 
Uvi\\» h«uvli\Hl ju\vl ninot wuuo. Ho }Um> hvu iovl ouo huiulivU donvl v>f 
tho onoiuY, juul tvHxk o«o thou?»Juul twv> hviuvliwl nuvl oighiY sSv^vou 
tmsivMioi^ Tho v'rtYJiloy v>t' Kil(»i>iviok \v;>s hohl iu iv«*orvo, juui U»>it but 
f^\v» it' Huy, Our atfgJX'^^'ktv^ Kv^js at lioutvuuiUo yyus* v»uo thovissiuivl sdx 
Uttuviiwl nuvl tort \ -XI \. 

11\us tho iM*it wf Mjux-h touuvl 5\l>oru»rtU »« virtujvl pv»sj5tWuui v>f 
Uwhlshv^N^', tho iw^i v»hJootiYo vt' tho vv'uuoaiiiu* tv\viVthor with its twi» 
raihw^vU tv» NV ihuiuijtvMi juul l»v»aut\n't, w hiol\ k'uyt* w vxrkiug jKvrtU^s \voi>' 
thou |»uttit>^^" In vvuvph>(0 ivi^ivir, lu >;pito vt' « viov<po»JUo ououiy in his 
t\vnt^ juui vvt" iwuls vvnvioiwl nojvrly itum!<j5;^hU» by «u :»huv>s( uujuv^h^- 
vlont^Hity wot sv\\>vn» tho ui'uvy huvl, witu iuv\>njtiviornbU> loss, nuvvovJ. in 
lwv» luoutlis* (imo, thi\n»^i;:h tho hojirt of tho 0\»t»lVvU>r}>vy» thvM\>uvihly 
\io«ti\\Yinjy tl>o nuhvjuls Wtw^vn i\oUlsbot\>' jwul S,>v;uui;;h, iuui woiv 
now {viYjKUxsl tv» oi^ioy, in tho onuxjvs .HvViiijtvovl tv» thotu ;u\nnul iJv^Ivl?^ 
Ih«i\>\ a |vriod ot' «uuoh uvwivsi tvst, :u»d ;\i\ op(»v>rttuuty to tv{>K-nis.U 
thoir wv»ruv»ut oK'thuijf huvI iN^uijmouts, Tho tolKnvin^ vSMtvjt'^kt'ikv 
Ivxry vuxloi' by iJottorul 5^hort\uui jMuuntuvVvl tho u^^ttiU ot" his oan^^vi^,'— 



" Uu 



"IX VMS t\»-'U\ MS.V» I'SNAVNXUIK, N, C, > 



«V>4v), \A V ■ ..( SHUT UAttt^)^ MM WokUUV^ tu4 U'Vvl^^VA «.^U UU (VU>Mt 



lUHTnUY Oil 'JIJI', OltKAT lii'.i'.MAJtHi. 717 

**<))i tho atiiin: liny, Muj'/r'<u»((/.ru) Hi]tti1U\>l, tt'nn W«v/l/«»)»( t^f^t^ivl lut't in->iiii/\t^i 
tlnUitiU'iii/, uit'i Mill'*/ 'i»i//<;/«) 'I'uity, tinin W)l»*i((Kl//((, wj'OM J '/'</»'« iJd'Ji^K /;;'/ttttjy((^, 
Mi<l lni'J M f/';((^/'7»j I// I'l^'i iu;iit>.n tiititm Hiv^f, «'> Ui"l mir <mniiiiiyji ha* in uliAfi iit m 
Kl>>ij</u.i Kii'/(i!M«, A('U',r ti, nimi'.h of Urn «)'/«t '(»tni/>('J)//)t)y I'tnnwiA:!) i)>uriy hvn it»i^ 
<)r<;'l (;()l<;t^, <ivi;r nv/iiin\iii mil] rivurn tit-.ainn^ itiiiMKHii\tUi Ui >A}tuiv,, ui iUnintMi Uu'.\uiuitn% 
»K)(t«(»i) 'tf !,)(« y'fur, ni)i\ i\in,'H))i'/^ our i.itmt Kupjdiijs from <* i*'/'// «///! wunWi '/hthUy, 
W'i n-it/h our (iu^iiiinduiit in n'ltA imxhU tt/*'J 'nni'ilUon. 

" I Utitiik Uk» nriiiy, uitii «.«bi<;« it Udtt'/u/' ')'/y<;;7)»<'rf<(. h-ini j^>'/(/I*j )/'/;w/; U//!>/; /i'// thin 
imvf <lj«)/)(iy '/f Uj<; iihynir.itl uh'i uifiru\ 'jii<t)il)'}« w)*l/;Ji ri'Mii''X lionor m/oit Umj w)/>yl*» 

;jiUi';») 

" V'yii hl.all «'/v/ )jiiv«i reel, *»*/! nil U»« mi^iWm iUni tun )m Uromfjti from Um rU'h 
l[>ti.iih,)U;ti ii»(<l HM/x-./i'/uwjtt Qf our miMfjiiiiit^Di "//unUy, htifont «</«.)/' t-inhnrUUit/r on n»w 

" W 7' J^^KXMAtf, /H"^i/r <h(U'/riiX iIi/iiviiumMiuj" 



CMfAITKU /,XXV. 

'5r;ti/t'« I'fopamtiorw f'/f A i'l/vul \Ao^irAm'.ni ~^\'>M\i<S AWtt'M on K'/rt H^MH/imnri IHmttt 
l)'/ij« JUji;iii!'/»!. •<>(yj</,i '/ //;<;. -Moviimftiil oo Unt IMl t'/'iiitini'.itrA.A A/t»ir </ 
(;2ii-tb';r Jt'^ii/J,- H';h,vy l^iifJiiUiif; on IUfyii/)i) H/M/i ih.'univi H:Mi>; of i^v*-, i^orliii, 
— lU-Ml lAifl 'i'urnc'i. -Amm'iii on i'tMrfhury. KvwMniU/n '/f l'':Ufrv,hiiri(uini liWh' 
mtnA. — i'lirenjt of Um.—HSvi 'iynrt*tnii.tir t/j <ifuni.- KuA of iMiiim'^n, 

(Jrufit i'ov tliJtt i/iHinl tnovtumuti on ilic, t-nt'/ity'n ir^Ui, it'iH t'h'u^i' viilm?r» 
■a\iU: point, wfjich w-'i« f/> j/JV<; (j!< p/«)'/<!«f>:/';/< </f I'ttiAirfhHi'i/, an'i iti''!*' 
;;i'>(i'l, caj>lii/'<5 or <l<f«troy tli<; anuy of l><'.<^, iut'i iiu<l iUi', w.tr i>y n 
Kut^'U; it\>>w. 'Vim f/trt:\y ir'n'A Army of iUc J'ot'/ojjw;, h/y oiU'it tU'.U:i.uA 
an'J i\\n:i]tu' nuU'A , \)Hi imsi'.r <ii«Jiono/<''l, wah ul/'/ot at Uaii/ni'Miiiim', 
f'riiit of ulJ if,!^ <ix<;rt!on», Jifci •/> it'Ai'A'Jit (h<; \n<iui\>A', of it« <;ar)y \itiiiU'i. 
/Kni'u'Ay.iiAU'/^ if/at Uj<; 'l/'/5ii-;iv<{ tn'/iimni WM ttl intn'i, mt^i 'i/<'/juJ)>«j( Utf» 
fy;tttl<i whi';l» t'nwii witfi VM]ti',ni)r i'nf'A'M WJtw tthoni 1» off';/' l^i"«, i><'i* 
|j;i<J alKi'i/ly c/jtiuimitt'AA |;r<^p;t^^A^io*)^. l/; <;va/;u;tl<i l*i:U'nh>ir'/, 'Mi'i Ui<-h- 
tftoii'l, ari'J ino'/ti vouiUwuri] t/t t-Jft'A^ a ytwAlou with ,lolth>A^/>>. To 
r/,vi',r i\tt'i mowituu'Mi km oiymir/jA a iii'i(hi HiUiA'M ii\»oh i\m iln'um 
Wimv, in fVont of I't^Uuahnr'y^ — 4. 'U'.)i\mr'/iUi t',xfH'/ii«*Jii, t'/crinUily, "A/it^Ui'-r- 
iii'jj^ i\itur tiin:n'/i\i, but tUn only oim wlt'mit uh<Uir tim t{ir"Mfo^,Uun-A'M wa« 
j>r'!i<;tix;{tbl'<. (haui hii/l anticipaWJ Um^ <;v«/;uiitivn, «^j'J t'svi t<*k<f»« 
uuyAUH to }>r<;v<^rjt tij/'. <^j5i|><i of t)j/i f<it/<;) aitny, M*.nnwhtU'. iJm himy 
not*'/ of )yr<'.j>«.ratio« wa<!» Utumd aioita lim l/nion Ji;»<;«, Ji/cl fii'A^tutt$t 
r(;vi(iwti iff t'/)r]tv, und «iib-'iivj«tonK, wUh-.U wet's wiUtti^atA \iy JV<^!-i')<'Ht 
Liiu$oln Jin/l ji <liKtw.}/ui;ih<;<J j/urty </f vmiA/ia, i^av^i iint c/MinrH » f< ; « 
ap|;<;;ir«n'}<i. 

At 'UyW'yThi ^/n tiix^ ii/Jtfi of Mardt, Oofi^/n''. r-fct^cJ Cor//*, t^/uahtlMtif 
of ihrt'j; i\'t;'i JifiiH, wti,n fn^«M'>l fi/r a 'jbarj^*? n/^iiinni our Uu'tU, tu front 
*/i' K'/?t ;:l'rvJf/j;tu, Jt M|ua/<5 fon, ^y/Vi^ring ab'/^Jt <<n a/;/'; of j<»o«if»'i, 
aud c/'tnyUii/ nhm i/^tiim^ zit'i fopi^jtU'/i hy uio)i/^r >/ < tl><5 

n;^tit a/j'j J<ift. (t wa« tl)<; va'A'/)U'\ n-z/A'Ar fon in o'lf Jij ■ t'o/n 

th<f rivt^f, tl/<; fjrsit J><iin'^ Kort M'j^rilvr<;^ J'i*>i h'.yowS y o I ;. ,v;/ni*n. 
and sthoMt tbr"/*-^;ij<fjiJi>. of a mil'; 'JJ>t{/'nl, v a* Kort Hn>\n'M ; iui/l 



718 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOIf. 

with this disposition of Gordon's Corps, the rest of Lee's army was 
arranged to co-operate in an attack farther down towards our left. 
Our lines at this time extended over the enormous distance of thirty 
miles, from right to left. The extreme right was terminated by Foi t 
Harrison, north of the James, on Chapin's Farm, and by the outposts 
of Kautz's Cavalry. Thence it crossed the James, and, passing in front 
of Bermuda Hundred, crossed the Appomattox, and so extended around 
Petersburg as far southwest as the hither bank of Hatcher's Run, ou 
which the left rested. The Army of the Potomac occupied the whole 
of the ground south of the Appomattox, and that of the James, under 
Ofd, the remainder of the lines. Besides covering his retreat by a 
sudden and strong attack, Lee had an additional object to gain, whicli 
was to break through our lines at Hare's Hill, on which Fort Stead- 
man was situated, by a bold dash, to turn the guns he should capture 
upon us, to wheel his troops to the right and march down the line, 
taking Forts Haskell, Morton, Meikle, and the rest in reverse, strip- 
ping off the guns and garrisons from the forts and batteries, nnd threat- 
ening the whole line. While one column should accomplisli this work, 
another, in its rear, crossing through the gap, would get upon our 
military raih'oad and destroy it, and perhaps march to City Point and 
burn our depots and supplies at that point. The seizure of our base 
.would have effectually cut off the army of Ord from the army of 
M^ade ; and, in short, if successful, the move might have entirely 
broken up the famous campaign against Richmond, and have thrown 
a new aspect over the war. 

At daybreak, Gordon's troops rushed to the attack. The space be- 
tween the opposing lines was but one hundred and fifty yards wide, 
and once having cleared his own abatis, he charged across the inter- 
val and up the acclivity to Fort Steadman, Avorked his way through 
our abatis, and carried the fort almost instantly. Our line here was 
guarded by McLaughlin's Brigade of Willcox's (First) Division of the 
^inth Corps. In the fort were the Fourteenth New York heavy 
artillery, and so skilfully and boldly was this assault executed, that 
tlie garrison, numbering about five hundred men, was captured Avith 
scarcely a show of resistance. The enemy at once turned the cap- 
tured guns against the rest of the line, and speedily occupied mor- 
tar batteries 9, 10, and 11, adjoining Fort Steadman. His onward 
rush, however, was now checked by Fort Haskell, ami the rest of Will- 
cox's Division having been rallied, a stubborn resistance began to 
be offered to him. At this juncture Hartranft's Third Division of 
the Ninth Corps came up to the support of Willcox, and our batteries 
from all quarters were massed upon Fort Steadman. A tremendous 
cannonade burst from our artillery, to which the enemy replied briskly 
from the guns he had captured. Under the terrific fire, Hartranft's 
Division ]n-essed up towards the captured fort to retake it. The 
enemy at first lesisted obstinately, and checked Hartrant't's iirogress, 
indicting on the latter a loss of nearly two hundred men killed and 
wounded. But soon the concentrated fire of our artillery, and the 
determined advance of Hartranft on all sides, were too much for him. 
He fell back into the fort, and then beyond the fort, down the hill, 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION". 719 

leaviug all the guns he had captured, and endeavored to regain his own 
lines. But our own guns opened upon hini with such severity as to 
prevent a large part of the retreating force from escaping from the 
fort, and seventeen hundred and tifty-eight prisoners fell into our 
hands. The enemy's total loss at this point could not have been less 
than two thousand five hundred. Our own loss was a little over nine 
hundred. The enemy did not fight with his accustomed fierceness. 
Many of the rebel soldiers were only too glad to be captured, and 
many, breaking through all rules of discipline, began to plunder the 
officers' quarters in the captured fort, thus preventing such a following 
up of their first success as was essential to a final victory. 

By ten a. m. the fighting in front of Fort Stoadmau was over, but 
the Second and Sixth Corps were now under arms, in anticipation of 
an attack upon our left; and with a view of reaping some advantages 
from the enemy's -signal repulse by Hartranft, they were at eleven 
o'clock pushed out against the rebel hitrenched picket lines, wliich 
extended some distance beyond their main line of works. The move- 
ment was entirely successful, and although the^ enemy made de.>perat« 
eiforts in the afternoon to drive our troops from the captured intrencli- 
ments, night closed upon our lines still advanced. The following are 
extracts from General Meade's congratulatory order : — 

" Tlie Major-General Commanding announces to the army the success of the oper- 
ations of yesterday. 

" The enemy, with a temerity for which he has paid dearly, massed his forces, and 
succeeded, through the reprehensible want of vigilance of the Third Brigade, First 
Division, Ninth Corps, in breaking through our lines, capturing Fort Steadman, and 
batteries 9, 10, and II. 

" The prompt measures taken by Major-General Parke, the firm bearing of the troops 
of the Ninth Corps in the adjacent portions of the line held by the enemy, and t)ie 
conspicuous gallantry of the Third Division of this corps, for the first time under fire, 
together with the energy and skill displayed by Brigadier-General Hartranft, its leader, 
quickly repaired this disaster; and the enemy were driven from Fort Steadman and 
our lines, with heavy losses in killed and wounded, leaving in our hands eight battle- 
flags and over nineteen hundred prisoners. 

•'The enemy being driven from the front of the Ninth Corps, the offensive wa« 
assumed by the Sixth and Second Corps ; the enemy by night was driven from his in- 
trenched picket line, and all his efforts to recover the same, which were particularly 
determined and persistent on the Second Corps' front, were resisted and repulsed 
with heavy losses, leaving with the Sixth Corps over four hundred prisoners, and with 
the Second Corps two battle-flags and over three hundred prisoners. 

********** 

"The result of the day was the thorough defeat of the enemy's plans, the capture 
of his strongly intrenched picket line under the artillery fire of his mam works, and 
the capture of ten Imttle-flags and about two thousand eight hundred prisoners — a 
result on which the Major-General Commanding heartily congratulates the army. 

" Two lessons can be learned from these operations : one, that no fortified line, how- 
ever strong, will protect an army from an intrepid and audacious enemy, imles-s 
vigilantly guarded; the other, tliat no disaster or misfortune is irreparable, where 
energy and bravery are displayed in the determination to recover what is lost and to 
promptly assume the offensive. 

"The Major-General Commanding trusts these lessons will not be lost on this army." 

The total loss of the enemy in the several encounters of the 25th 
must have reached five thousand ; that of the Union army was offi- 
cially stated at two thousand three hundred and ninety. 



720 HISTOKY OF TnE GKEAT EEBELLIOK 

The design of Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Riclmiond was noTV 
BO apparent, tliat Sheridan was hurried forward to the lefl of our Hnea, 
wliere he arrived on the 2()tl). It was Grant's object to strike the ene- 
my before he should succeed in getting away from his capital. On 
the morning of tlie 29th the army Avas at last in motion, the movement, 
which it was about to undertake being a simple repetition of what it 
had many times before fruitlessly attemi)ted, viz., to turn the enemy's 
right by overlapping it, and t« seize the Southside Railroad. The Sec- 
ond and Fifth Cor})S with the cavalry under Sheridan were selected 
for the Hanking movement, the Sixth and Ninth Corps remaining in 
their works until the time should come for them to co-operate ; and 
in order to preserve the lines in front of Petersburg intact, the works 
evacuated by the Second and Fifth Cori)8 were immediately filled 
by detachments from the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-lifth Corps, com- 
prising the Army of the James, under General Ord, draAvn from the 
extreme right of our lines. 

At six A. M. of the 29th, Sheridan, with his command divided into 
two wings, the riglit under Ci'ook and the left under Merritt, pro- 
ceeded_ by the Jerusalem plankroad to Reauis's Station, on the Wel- 
don road, and thence to Dinwiddie, which was reached on the same 
day. Meanwhile, the advance by the Second and Fifth Corps waa 
progressing favorably. The Sixth Corps had its left on Hatcher's Run- 
Tlie Second Corps, extending down'the run from the left of the Sixth, 
formed a line nearly at right angles with it to the crossing of the 
Vaughan road. The Fifth Corps was in reserve, extending in rear of 
the Sixth, at a right angle from the left of the Second. At three 
o'clock on the moi'ning of the 29th the Fifth and Second advanced 
towardg DiuAviddie. The Fifth Corps crossed Hatcher's Run without 
opposition, and moved along the old stage-road towards Dinwiddie 
until the Quaker road Avas reached, Avhen it turned to the right. At 
about nine o'clock, a connection was formed between the left of Milcs's 
Division of the Second Corps and the right of the Fifth Corps, the 
Ime of the latter extending across the Quaker road and Avithiu two 
or three miles of DiuAviddie Court-House. At Gravelly Run, the Fifth 
Corps encomitered opposition for the first time. Very soon our troops 
were drawn up in position, aAvaiting attack. The preparations were 
soon completed, and, at about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, 
Bushrod Johnson's Division of Anderson's Corps came down and 
attacked our skirmishers, Sickles's Brigade of Griffin's Division. 

The Fifth Corps was now on the Quaker road. The enemy soon 
drove in our skirmishers and burst with great fury upon Griffin's Divi- 
sion, threatening to overwhelm it, but Crawford and Ayi'cs coming into 
position, he withdrew, after a sharp skirmish, with a loss of about five 
hundred. That of the Fifth Corps was not less. On the morning of 
March 30th the Fifth occupied a position near the junction of the 
Quaker and Boydton roads. The Second Corps, on the right of the 
Fifth, had rested its right on Hatcher's Run. A portion of the Twenty- 
fourtli Corps was on its right, Avith the two divisions of the TAVcnty- 
fifth on the right of the latter. The Sixth and Ninth Corps were to 
the right of the Twenty-fifth. Early in the morning, Sheridan connected 



HISTORY OF THE GllEAT EEEELLION. 721 

his right with Warren's left, near the Boydton phmkroacl. The enemy 
was found to have a very strong hne of intrenehments already erected 
to cover the position known us Five Forks. His right was com- 
manded by Anderson, and Pickett's Division of Anderson's Corjjs held 
the extreme right. His intrcnchmeiits completely covered the White 
Oak road, whicii runs Iroin the Eoydton road to the Southside Rail- 
road. From the White Oak road up towards Hatcher's Run the ene- 
my's troops were in strong Ibrce. Ho baffled all our attempts on 
Thursday, tlie ;]Oth, to turn him by cavalry, as his works, maimed by 
infantry, checked us at all points. 

During the day the Fifih Corps pushed on nearly due west about 
three-fourths of a mile, and lay fronting northward, with the pickets of 
Ayres's Division within five hundred yards of the Wliite Oak road, at 
a point between two and three miles west of its intersection with the 
Boydton road. On the right of ihe Fifth Corpslay the Second, which 
now had its right near Hatcher's Run, while its left rested on the 
Boydton plankroad, near Burgess's Tavern, abf)ut om mile south of 
the bridge across Hatcher's Run. Sheridan continued to cover our left 
flank, and remained at Dinvviddie. 

On Friday, the 31st, began a movement having for its object the pos- 
session of the strategic ])Osition known as Five Forks. The success of 
the movement would involve the turning of the enemy's flank. At 
this point five roads meet in the woods, and as tliree of them lead back 
to the Southside Railroad, the carrying of the jariCtion would give us 
a choice of advance towards tlie railrcad. The Yv^hitc Oak road 
at this point was thoroughly fortified with logs and earth, its ap- 
proaches blocked by felled trees, and sliarj^shooters stationed to contest 
any advance. Early on Friday morning the Fifth Corps began by a left 
flank movement to advance upon the White Oak road, Ayres* having 
the advance. The enemy fell back, skirmishing, upon his main works, 
a mile and a h;df below White Oak road, wheiice he delivered a fire 
which compelled Ayres's Division to break and fall to the rear. The 
enemy immediately rallied from his woi-ks and charged Ayres's Division, 
with all his old 6lan. Our troops resisted stubljornly, and suifered 
severe losses before they would yield. But nothing could resist the 
impetuous onset of the enemy's columns, which, handled with great 
skill, swx'pt the field. Ci'awford, next attacked, followed the fate of 
Ayres, and Griflin followed the fale of Ci-awford. The whole Fifth 
Coi-ps was driven back to the Boydton road, and anxiety was at onco 
thrown over the grand movement. 

Meanwhile, the enemy, having driven back our inf mtry advance so 
far, turned his forces towards the task of cutting off the cavalry. The 
failure ol'the Fifth Cor))S to advance greatly exposed the cavalry, and 
checked the intended movement on Five Foiks. About noon the ene- 
my attacked the cavalry, and by five o'clock had driven them also back 
several miles to the Boydton road. 

But now he had encountered our entire force. JVIerritt's troops were 
re-formed, and Custer's Division, with Capohart on the left and Pen- 
nington on the right, held a firm position. The enemy, who had been 
re-en'brccd with apart of PickcLt's and Johnson s Division^ — the troops 
4G 



722 HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOI:^'. 

employed against the Fifth Corps — came clown with a furious charge, 
cheering and gallantly advancing. Very hard fighting took place here. 
But our artillery in position and our very large force of cavalry now 
rallied, and eventually forced him to desist. A few desperate charges 
left our men immovable, and the enemy, well content with his day's 
work, drew off to the woods. Our forces immediately intrenched. 

Meantime the Fifth Corps, having re-formed again, advanced as the 
enemy retired. Following up the advance, they carried an earthwork, 
and took position on the White Oak road, east of Five Forks. Si- 
multaneous with this movement, the Second Corps swung forward in 
support, followed by the Twenty-fourth Corps, the troops making a 
general advance of about three-fourths of a mile. The results of the 
day were, npon the whole, a success to the enemy. He had driven us 
back from our advanced positions and liad foiled our plans. Thanks, 
however, to our well-served batteries and preponderance in numbers, 
he had been checked in turn. The Federal losses were about three thou- 
sand. The enemy's loss was less severe, and included several hundred 
prisoners. The left flank of the Federal army was now at Dabiiey's, on 
the White Oak road, three-fourths of a mile from Five Forks, and 
held the road one mile eastward, from which point the line ran in an 
irregular semicircle to the Second Corps near Burgess's Farm. The 
troops were busy all night erecting works, and at four o'clock on the 
morning of Saturday, the 1st of April, three brigades of Hill's Corps 
charged the Twenty-fourth Corps, which, being taken by surprise, im- 
mediately broke to the rear, and the enemy planted his colors on the 
works. The men were, however, soon rallied, and drove tlie enemy 
out. Heavy skirmishing ensued for several houi's. Our loss was small. 
Soon afterwards the grand movements of the day commenced. 

Upon hearing of the disaster of Friday, Grant had placed Sheridan 
in command of all the cavalry and also of the Fifth Corps, so that he now 
controlled upward of thirty thousand men. Tliis large force was su- 

{)eriorto any thing the enemy could oppose to it at Five Forks fiora his 
ong line, renching from Petersburg to Dinwiddie. The plan of Sher- 
idan was to penetrate the enemy's lines so as to envelop Five Forks 
and capttire it. The cavalry started for their appointed positions at 
daybreak of Saturday, Custer and Devin slowly driving the enemy to- 
wards the left of their works on the White Oak road. These divisions 
now dismounted, and fought with carbines. The brigades of Gregg 
and Mackenzie \^ere kept in the saddle, so as to move rapidly on the 
flank of the enemy. In this way Sheridan worked his men steadily up 
to the enemy's intrenchments on all sides. The enemy fell slowly back 
through the broken country to his main position, delivering a terrific 
fire upon our men, who fell in great numbers. Still, however, Sheridan 
kept his men up to their work, and gradually got all his forces well into 
position, with a division or more upon the enemy's flank and roar, and 
the rest of his troops pressing slowly and with much loss upon tlie 
front of the works. At three o'clock the P^'ifth Corps, which was on the 
road towards Ford's Station, was ordered to advance on the right and 
support the cavalry. The enemy fell back stubbornly for some distance. 
and then made a decisive stand. Strongly intrenched, and with a bat- 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION". 723 

tery in position, they raked the advancing columns of Griffin, "Warren 
being superseded by order of Sheridan, leading the Fifth Corps on the 
right and the cavalry on the left. Several times the blinding sheets of 
fire which poured from the rebel works were too mucli for the men, 
and they staggered l)ack appalled. Their high courage, however, did 
not fail to tell in the long run. Encouraged by Sheridan, who was by 
turns in all parts of the field, cheering and exhorting, they rushed on 
again and again, mitil the enemy, surrounded and exhausted, could no 
longer drive back the assailants that swarmed over his works. He 
finally gave way, and Sheridan's forces rushed in. After another fierce 
struggle the position was ours, and Sheridan stood, at half-past one 
o'clock, p. M., upon the blood-stained works, master of from four thou- 
samd to six thousand prisoners, eiglit guns, and several thousand mus- 
kets, having sustained a loss of about thirty-five hundred dead and 
wounded. 

Sheridan being thus in possession of the works on the enemy's 
right, at four o'clock on the morning of Sunday, April 2d, orders for 
the assault of Petersburg were issued. The troops had been held in 
readiness for the movement since Sheridan's first advance on the left. 
The loss of his position on the extreme right had forced upon the 
rebel general the necessity of abandoning Petersburg. It also enabled 
General Grant to shorten and greatly re-enforce his lines, so that the 
environment of Petersburg upon the south side was perfect, and so 
strong as to repel any attempt of the enemy to break through. The 
extension of the left across the Southside road sealed the fi^te of Peters- 
burg, and rendered it valuable to the enemy only as an outpost to 
Richmond. Lee consequently prepared to withdraw his army from 
Petersburg. At four o'clock, however, on Sunday morning, the Sec- 
ond, Sixth, and Ninth Corps were formed for the attack, the Sixth 
being in front of Forts Welch and Fisher. The Second Corps was in 
advance, with its three divisions arranged in numerical order from 
right to left. A portion of the Twenty-fourth Corps was brought up 
in support of the Sixth. Wiiile the formation was going on, a terrific 
cannonade showered missiles upon the columns. It was early dawn 
when the troops pushed forward, Getty and Wlieaton, of the Sixth 
Corps, after being once checked by the terrific fire of the enemy, 
rushed forward again, and carried the two forts in their front, whOe 
Seymour, after a sharp fight, broke through to the Southside Railroad, 
and commenced tearing it up. Here he found the Twenty-fourth 
Corps, which, between the Sixth and Second, had been equally fortu- 
nate. The right division of the Second Corps and the two divisions of 
the Twenty-fourth had captured about one thousand prisoners and many 
guns, and carried the works up to the i-ailroad. The whole line was 
now swung in towards Petersburg, the Twenty-fourth marching in to 
the support of the Sixth, and Wheaton pressing over to the aid of the 
Ninth. The enemy, from a strong position in the rear of the captured 
forts, opened a hot and destructive fire upon our men, but, after a hard 
struggle, succumbed, their leader, A. P. Hill, being killed, with many 
of Ills ofiicers. By eleven o'clock the hardest fighting was done, and,' 
with brief pause, our lines were once more gathered up, and the 



724 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 

Twenty-fourth, Second, and Sixth Corps once more formed for a final 
attack on Petersburg. The battle raged through the afternoon. At 
night, the Sixth Corps rested its left close to the Appomattox, south of 
the city. It had captured about two thousand prisoners, and about 
twenty guns. 

During the attack of the Sixth Corps, the Ninth, on tlie right, ad- 
vanced against Fort Mahone, one of tlie strongest positions on the 
enemy's lines, which had been weakened, hov^ever, in order to resist 
the advance of Sheridan. After a desperate struggle. Fort Mahone 
and neighboring works, carrying fourteen guns, were taken. But the 
position was too important to be so sacrificed. Commanding Fort 
Mahone was an interior Avork, from-v/hich the enemy opened a murder- 
ous fire on our troops. The latter advanced to carry the new position, 
but were repeatedly driven back with great loss. Hill's troops then 
charged in turn to retake Fort Mahone, and, by the desperate valor of 
his few troops, nearly succeeded in doing so. But, fortunately, the 
Sixth Corps now coming up on the left, once more the enemy were 
driven back, and the Ninth Corps lield tlie position. At the close of 
the fight, the eneniy had lost, perhaps, not more than half as many as 
we in killed and wounded, as our troops had charged elaborate breast- 
works under a galling fire — works so strong that, had not their gar- 
risons been fatally weakened by the necessity of sending troops against 
Sheridan, they might never have been carried by storm. 

The results of the conflict had been anticipated by Lee, who on Sun- 
day afternoon began transporting troops to Richmond, and thence be- 
yond. On Monday morning both cities were found to be evacuated. 
General Weitzel, temporarily commanding the Army of the James, 
learned at three a. >r. that Richmond was being evacuated, and at day- 
light moved forward, first taking care to give his men breakfast, in the 
expectation that they might have to fight. He met no opposition, and 
on entering the city was greeted with hearty welcome from the mass 
of the people. The mayor went out to meet him and to surrender the 
city, but missed him on the road. General Weitzel found much suifer- 
ing and poverty among the population, who numbered only about 
twenty thousand, half of them of African descent. Previous to evacu- 
ating the city the enemy fired it. All the business part of Main Street 
"was destroyed, and also the bridges over the river. 

Weitzel took one thousand prisoners, besides the wounded, who 
numbered live thousand, in nine hospitals. He captured cannon to the 
number of at least five hundred pieces. Five thousand muskets were 
found in one lot, also thirty locomotives and three hundred cars. All 
the rebel vessels had been destroyed except an unfinished ram. The 
Tredegar Works Avere unharmed, and the machinery was taken under 
General Weitzel's orders. Libby Prison and Castle Tiumder, whicii 
had escaped the fire, were immediately filled with rebel prisoners of 
war. 

Meantime, on the morning of the 3d, Sheridan pressed the pursuit. 
Lee, in retreating from Richmond, reached Amelia Court-House on the 
4th, and on the 5th Sheridan was at Jetrersville, whence he sent word 
to Grant that he could sec no escape for Lee. The cavalry and tho 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 725 

Fifth Corps lay across the railroad, and in the rear was tlic Second 
Corps, with the Sixth supporting. The two hist were under General 
Meade. On the 4th, two divisions of the Ninth Corps marched from 
Petersburg to Ford's Station, on the Southside road, abovit twenty 
miles west of Peteisburg. On the 5th it started again, and, still mov- 
ing on the Cox road, towards Burkesville, along the railioad, camped 
at night at Wellesville, twenty-one miles distant from the latter point. 
The next day, the 6th, it pressed on along the same road, nnd en- 
camped at night about ten miles from Burkesville, with one brigade 
of the Second Division thrown forward to the junction. 

Thus on the night of the 5th the army lay in line of battle, stretch- 
ing across three or fotir miles of country, and ficing substantially 
northward. Custer's Division of cavalry lay on the right flank, and 
McKenzie's on the left. The infantry line was formed with the Sixth 
Corps on the right, the Fifth in the centre, and the Second on the left. 
On the 6th began our final manoeuvres. The Sixth Corps was trans- 
ferred from the right to the left, and the whole army had, before noon, 
marched about five miles in the direction of Amelia Court-IIouse. Soon 
after moving, trustworthy intelligence was received that the enemy was 
moving towards Farmville. 

Tiie direction of the Second and Fifth Corps was immediately 
chnnged from a northerly to a northwesterly direction, the directing 
corps, the Second, moving on Deatonville, while the Fifth, heretofore 
in the centre, moved on the right of the Second, and the Sixth, fachig 
about and moving by the left flank, took position on the left of the 
Second. Th.e cavalry were directed to operate on the extreme left. 
The charg' s were promptly made, the Second Corps soon becoming 
engaged with the enemy near Deatonville, driving him across Sailor's 
Creek to the Appomattox. The Fifth Corps made a long march, but 
its position preventetl its striking the enemy's column before it had 
passed. The Sixth Corps came up with the enemy about four r. m., 
and, in conjunction with the Second on its right, and cavalry on its 
left, attacked and routed the enemy, capturing n:any prisoners, among 
them Lieutenant-General Ewell and General Custis Lee. 

After this defeat, Lee retired upon Barnesville, sixteen miles west 
of Burkesville. Here h.e was sharply engaged, on the 7th, by the 
Second Corps, and, after inflicting some loss, again retired across the 
Appomattox at High Bridge, where he captured some troops stationed 
theie to hold the bridge, which he destroyed, and retreated upon 
Lynchburg. The position of Lee was now hopeless. His army had 
dwindled "to a small force, and this was now almost surroimded by 
troops gicatly superior in numbers and flushed with victory. Han- 
cock's column had left Winchester on the 4th, for a m;irch up the 
Shenandoah Valley, well equipped and in good spirits, and ready to 
seize Lynchbarg ; "but their services were not required. Stoneman's 
column "had ah^eady reached 'Boone, North Carolina, and would have 
aided in the ca]:)ture of Lee's army, were not Sherman's grand army 
already advancing in overwhelming numbei'S uj)on Johnston's army, 
and the hour of surrender had struck. On the 7th April, after the 
battle of Barnesville, Grant opened correspondence as follows : — 



726 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOK. 



GENERAL GRANT TO GENERAL LEE. 

"Aprill. 
" General R. E. Lee, Commanding 0. S. A. : 

" C4ENERAL : — The result of the last week miist convince yon of the hopelessness of 
further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginin in this struggle. I 
feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of 
any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the 
C. S. army known as the Army of Northern Virginia. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, 
" Lieutenant- General Commanding Armies of the United States." 



GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRANT. 

" April T. 
"General: — T have received your note of this date. Though not entirely of the 
opinion you express of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army 
of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and 
therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer, on condition 
of its surrender, 

"R. E. Lee, General. 
"To Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies of the United States." 



GENERAL GRANT TO GENERAL LEE. 

"Aprils. 
" To General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Army : 

•' General: — Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of the same date, asking 
the conditions on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, 
is just received. 

" In reply, I would say that peace being my first desire, there is but one condition 
that I insist upon, viz. : 

" That tlie men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms against the Gov- 
ernment of the United States until properly exchanged. 

" I will meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the 
same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely 
the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be re- 
ceived. 

Very respectfullv, your obedient servant, 

"U.S.Grant, 
" Lieutenant- General Commanding the Armies of the United States.^' 

IV. 

GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRAKT, 

" April 8. 
General : — I received at a late hour your note of to-day in answer to mine of 
yesterday. 

"I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army^of Northern Virginia, but 
to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has 
arisen to call for the surrender. But as tlie restoration of peace should be the solo 
object of all, I desire to know whether your proposals would lend to that end. 

"I caiuiot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, but so far as your proposition may affect the Confederate States forces under my 
command, and lead to the restoration of peace, I sliould be pleased to meet you at ton 
A. M., to-morrow, on the old stage-road to Richmond, between tlie picket lines of the 
two armies. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" R. E. Lee, 
" General Confederate States Armies. 
"To Lieutenant-General Grant, Commandmg Armies of the United States." 



HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 727 



GENERAL GRANT TO GENERAL LEE. 

" April 9. 
" General R. E. Lee, Commanding C S. A. : 

"General: — Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no authority to treat 
on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed ten a. m., to-day, could lead to no 
good. I will state, however, general, that I am equally anxious for peace with your- 
self; and the whole North entertain the same feeling. Tlie terms upon which peace 
can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten 
that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of 
property rot yet destroyed. 

'■ Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another 
life, I subscribe myself, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, 
" Lieutenant- General U. S. A." 

YI. 
GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRANT. 

"Ap7il9, 1865. 
"General: — I received your note of this morning on the picket line, whither I had 
come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposi- 
tion of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. 

" I now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of 
yesterday for that purpose. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" R. E. Lee, General. 
"To Lieutenant-General Grant, Commanding United States Armies." 



GENERAL GRANT TO GENERAL LEE. 

" April 9. 
" General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Armies : 

" Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A. M.) received. 
" In consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg road to 
the Parmvilie and Lynchburg road, I am at this writing about four miles west of 
Walter's Church, and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. 

'• Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview to take place will 
meet me. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- GeneraV 



THE TERMS. 

" Appomattox Court-House, April 9. 
"General R. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A. : 

"In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose 
to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virgmia, on the following terms, to 
wit: 

" Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to 
an officer designated by me, the other to be retair.ed by such officers as you may 
designate. 

" The officers to give their individual paroles not to take arms against the United 
States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a 
like parole for the men of tlieir commands. 

" The arms, artillery, and pul)lic property to be packed and stacked, and turned over 
to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms 
of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. 

"This done, each officer and man will b° allowed to return to their homes, not to be 
disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their parole and the laws 
in force where they may reside. Very respectfully, 

" U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 



728 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS". 

THE SURRENDER. 

" Head-Quarters Army of Northern Virginia. ) 
''April 9, 18G3. J 

"Lieutenant General IT. S. Grant, Commanding U. S. A.: 

"General: — I have received your letter of this date, containing tlie terms of sur- 
render of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you ; as they are substanti- 
ally the same as those expressed in your letter of tlie 8th instant, they are accepted. 
I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. 
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" R. E. Lee, General." 

On Sunday, the 9th day of April, 1SG5 — a date which will ever 
hereafter be memorable in American annals — in a fiirm-honse nenr 
Appomattox Court-House, the capitulation was signed, by which the 
remnant of the once famous army, so often led by Lee to victory or 
invasion, passed out of existence. In the ecclesiastical calendar for the 
year, this Sunday was known as Palm Sunday — tlie day which com- 
memorates the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Hereafter it 
is destined to be a patriotic as Avell as a pious anniversary. The result 
was hailed with unbounded delight by the Union soldiers, and for half 
an hour or more the air resounded with their cheers, although many 
expressed their dissatisfaction, not only at the unprecedented liberality 
granted to the rebels, but at the manner in which they were paroled 
and allowed to go their way, without our men being permitted to enjoy 
the results of their long struggle in the passage through the lines of 
Lee and his army. But it v/as urged that this would have been hu- 
miliating to General Lee and his officers, and that it was not the wish 
or desire of the Government or the Union commanders to act to's\'ard 
them in any way that would tend to irritate tlu'ir feelings, or make 
their position more intolerable than it actually was. During Sunday 
night and Monday, large numbers of the rebels, officers as well as pri- 
vates, made their escape from the lines, and scattered through the 
woods, many of whom returned at once to their homes. Although 
Lee probably had upwai-d of fifty thousand men when our forward 
movement began, not above eighteen thousand, including teamsters, 
hospital men, .and camp-followers of all descriptions, were surrendered 
by liim. As only ten thousand muskets and about thirty pieces of ar- 
tillery were surrendered, it is fair to presume that the available rebel 
force on April 9th did not exceed fourteen thousand men. Upward 
of ten thousand had been killed and wounded in battle, and consider- 
ably over twenty thousand had been taken prisoners or had deserted. 
Our total captures of artillery, during the battles and pursuit, aud at 
the surrender, amounted to one hundred and seventy pieces. 

The surrender of Lee was followed by the voluntary surrender of 
most of the regular troops of the enemy in the Shenandoah. On the 
15th, Lieutenant-Colonel Farrell, of Mosby's command, came, under 
flag of truce, to our picket lines on the Kernstown road, and arranged 
with General Hancock to surrender the forces of Mosby on the terras 
accorded to General Lee, his troops being recognized as a part of 
the Army of Northern Virginia. On the iVth, at noon, Mosby sur- 
rendered his forces to General Chapman, at Berryville, receiving tbo 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLIOIS'. 729 

terms granted to Lee. General Rosser was also permitted to have 
liis connnand included in the cartel. The exact nmnber of men in 
Mosby's command did not vary much from seven hundred. 

With the announcement of the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, 
and tlie capitixlation of Lee, the loyal population of the country sui'- 
rendered itself to rejoicing, and it seemed os if one universal jubilee 
Avas being held. Those who had beeq from the outset in favor of a 
vigorous prosecution of the war were not le<s thankful for the speedy 
approach of peace than those who had since'-ely deprecated hostilities 
and advocated peace on principle. Both parties had gained their end, 
and both, disregarding for the time the manner in which it had been 
gained, were brought into close sympathy. The war party, however, 
by tlie very extravagance of its delight, showed how severe had been 
the eiiort to rema'n true to its often avowed purpose of conquering a 
peace. During the advance movement of Grant, President Lincoln 
remained at the head-quarters of the latter before Petersburg, a deeply 
interested spectator of the closing act of the great drama, which had 
been protracted through four years of varying fortunes. A few miles 
only separated the two presidents. On Saturday, the 1st of April, was 
fought the decisive battle of Five Forks; and on the succeeding morn- 
ing, while Davis was attending service at the Moiumiental Church in 
Richmond, an orderly, splashed from head to foot with mii-e, entered 
the building, strode hastily up the aisle, and handed liim a dispatch 
from Lee. It announced that all was over, and counselled the rebel 
chief to take his immediate departure from the city. A few hours 
later found Davis a fugitive on his way to Danville, leaving behind 
liim the capital he had so frequently boasted his ability to hold against 
the utmost po\ver of the Union, and two days afterwards, Mr. Lin- 
coln entered Richmond in triumph, amid the acclamations of thou- 
sands, and held a levee in the rebel presidential mansion. This inci- 
dent formed a significant and fitting close to the great campaign 
against Richmond. 



CHAPTER LXXVI. 

Raids in Kentucky and East Tennessee.— Defeat and Death of Morgan.— Successes of 
Stoneman and Burbridge.— Destruction of Works at Saltville.— Stonemaii's Last 
Eaid. — Capture of Salisbury. — Negotiations between Slierman and Johnston.— Agree- 
ment for Surrender by Johnston disavowed at Washington.— Reasons Assigned. — 
Final Surrender of Johnston.— Wilson's great Raid in Alabama and Georgiu —Cap- 
ture of Selma, Montgomery, and Macon.— I'^xchanges of Prisoners.— Cruel Treatment 
by Rebels of Union Prisoners.— Horrors of Andersonville.— Rebel Plots in Canada. 
—The St. Albans Raid.— Execution of Beall and Kennedy.— Attempts to Fire Amer- 
ican Cities and Introduce Pestilence. 

It is now necessary to go back a few months, and notice briefly 
several events which had an indirect, though not unim]x-)rtant, bearing 
on the gi-and result related in the previous chapter. It had long been 
a favorite theory with many experienced military men, that, in the 



730 HISTOET OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIO]!^. 

event of disaster before Ricbmond, Lee Avoiild retire with his army 
into Southwestern Virginia, and thence pass into East and Middle 
Tennessee, where the remainini^ forces oif the Confederacy would be 
concentrated. He would then be in a position to threaten Chattanoo- 
ga, Nashville, or Louisville, and it was predicted that the decisive bat- 
tle of the war would be fought somewhere in Tennessee, Accordingly, 
as long as the rebels kept any considerable force in East Tennessee, 
Avhich forms the doorway to the Valley of the Mississippi, a Union 
army of corresponding strength was retained there. Knoxville was 
rendered doubly strong, and outlaying bodies of infantry and cavalry 
were pushed well up the railroad and the Holston River Valley, towards 
the Virginia line. But by May, 1864, both sides were so much occu- 
pied with the great Richmond and Atlanta campaigns, that affairs in 
East Tennessee lost nearly all their interest. Nevertheless, the pres- 
ence of scattered bodies of irregular rebel cavalry in Southwestern 
Virginia proved a source of constant alarm to the comparatively un- 
protected inhabitants of Eastern Kentucky. Darting unexpectedly 
through the gaps of the Cumberland IMountains, these rough riders 
would occasionally fall upon some isolated post, capture its garrison, 
and, after killing, burning, and robbing throngli the adjoining country, 
would be back in their mountain fastnesses before pursuit could over- 
take them. Early in June, 1864, tlie noted guerrilla chief, John 
Morgan, entered Kentucky through Pound Gap, at the head of two 
thousand five hundred mounted men, and jnished directly towards Lex- 
ington, plundering and destroying on the way, and spreading conster- 
nation on every side. On the 8th, Paris was captured ami plundered 
by a portion of his forces. The next day, however, General Bui-bridge, 
who had been on Morgan's track from Virginia, came up Avith him 
near Mount Sterling, having marched ninety miles in twenty-four 
hours, and defeated him. By moimting his troopers on stolen horses, 
Morgan got rapidly away from Burbridge, and on the 10th entered 
Lexington, Avhere he burned the railroad station, and plundered the 
stores and private dwellings. The Union garrison, however, held the 
fort. Thence he proceeded to Cynthiana, attacked and defeated two 
Ohio regiments under General Hobson, and captured tl^e entire force, 
besides burning a considerable portion of the town. On the 12th, 
Burbridge, following hard on Morgan's traces, overtook him at Cyn- 
thiana, and attacked him at daylight. After an hour's hard fighting, 
the enemy were completely routed, losing three hundred killed, about 
as many wounded, nearly four hundred prisoners, and one thousand 
horses. Burbridge also recaptured one hundred of Hobson's men. 
The total Union loss did not exceed one hundred and fifty. A few 
days later, Ilobson and his stafl;' were recaptured. By this defeat, the 
enemy were so completely broken up and demoralized, that they were 
glad to make their escape, in small scattered parties, into Virginia. 

Morgan subsequently rallied the remnant of his force, but for some 
time no enterprise of consequence was undertaken by either side. The 
restless guerrilla could not, however, remain long unoccupied, and by 
the beginning of September his band was again in motion, with the 
view of striking at the town of Greenville, East Tennessee, on the 



HISTOEY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION". 



731 



line of railroad connecting Lynchburg with Knoxville. lie occupied 
the place on September 3d, and on the same night was surprised and 
killed by a Union force, under General Gillem, Avhich had made a 
forced march thither from Bull Gap, sixteen miles distant. The death 
of Morgan * was followed by another comparative cessation of hostili- 
ties in East Tennessee, both sides merely watching each other. Public 
attention at that time was concentrated on the operations arop.nd Atlanta. 

About the 1st of October, however, an attempt was made by 
General Burbridge to capture Saltville, in Southwestern Virginia, 
and destroy the large salt-works there, which were of great imporl^ance 
to the rebels. He found himself confronted by a superior force 
under Breckinridge, who had been placed in command of the rebel 
troops in that quarter, and after pushing the enemy inside of his defen- 
sive works, was compelled, through tlie faihire of his ammunition, to 
retire, with the loss of three hundred and infty men. 

On October 28th, Gillem suddenly attacked the rebel brigades of 
Vaughan and Palmer, at Morristown, near Bull Gap, defeating them 
with a loss of three or four hundred men, and four pieces of artillery. 
Soon after this affair, Breckinridge, re-enforced by the return of ab- 
sentees and the arrival of new recruits, attacked Gillem on the night 
of the 13th, near Bull Gap, and defeated him. Our cavalry gave Avay 
in the greatest confusion, a large number throwing away their arms in 
their flight. Gillem lost all his artillery (one battery), and liis trains 
and baggage. Owing to the darkness his casualties were small, two 
hundred and twenty being the total imported. Subsequently, Gillem 
retreated to Knoxville, where he arrived on the 20th. The repulse of 
Gillem excited some apprehension for the safety of Eastern Kentucky, 
and Burbridge began to concentrate troops beyond Lexington. 
Breckinridge assumed the air of a conqueror in East Tennessee, issu- 



* John H. Mor<ran was bnrn near Lexinaton, 
Kentucky, nbout iS2T. IIo Sfi-veilin the Mexican 
war first as private, then as second lieutenant in a 
regiment of Kentucky volunteers, and subse 
quently was engaged a number of years in the 
manufacture of domestic goods. In thelalloflSGl 
he declared for secession, and raised an independ- 
ent company of mounted men, which, in the suc- 
ceeding spring, had increased to a regiment. He 
was now commissioned a colonel in the rebel ser- 
vice, and. after the commencement of military 
operations in Tennessee, in 1802, showed so much 
activity in har.assing the Union rear, cutting otf 
trains, and interrupting railroad and telegraphic 
communication, that he became the terror of the 
country through which he raided. The stories 
of his exploits at this time savored more of ro- 
mance than re.ality. On May 5th he was surprised 
and routed at Lebanon, Tennessee, by General 
Dumont, and in consequence took refuge for a 
while in East Tennessee, where he recruited his 
force. In July and August he was particularly 
active in independent raids against Union out- 
posts. During the invasion of Kentucky by 
Bragg, his command was attached to the rebel 
army, and helped to cover the retreat, but soon 
afterwards resumed the irregular warfare most 
congenial to his tastes. Abnut this time he 
made a dasli into Iluntsville, capturing a number 
of prisoners. Iw April. 1S6:3, he was again sur- 
prised, and barely eti'ec'ted his escape. In the lat- 
ter part of June, at the head of four thousand 



mounted men, and a Kattery of horsf artillery, ho 
crossed the Otimberland liivrr, at Uurksville, and 
passing through Lebanon and IJardstown, reached 
Brandenl)urg,''on the Ohio, on July Tth. Seizinga 
couple of steamboats, he trausjiorted his men 
across the river, and started on :; raid through 
Southern Indiana and Oiiio. At lirst tlie unarmed 
populiition, taken completely by surprise, could 
otter little resistance, but as the bold raider ad- 
vanced, home guards and n.ational troops bei'an to 
environ his path, until finally it became necessary 
to m.akc good his escape into Kentucky. He 
moved towards Pomeroy, on the Ohio, wilh that 
object, but was foiled in his attemi>t to ford the 
river, by the opi>ortune arrival of Union gun- 
boats, sent to he.ad him off. On the 21st his force, 
already greatly depleted by skirmisliiiig and cap- 
tures, was routed by General Hobson. near Ky- 
ger's Creek. Morgan, with five hundred men, 
succeeded in escaj^iing; but, on the 20ih, this 
remnant was surnMinded and captured near New- 
Lisbon, Ohio, by Colonid Sh.ackleford. In retalia- 
tion for the barbarous treatment of C(doneI 
Strei-ht, who was captured by the rebels while 
on a r.-.id through Northern Georgia, Morgan was 
confined in the Ohio penitentiary, whence, in tho 
Bueeeeding December, ho succeeded in escaping. 
i Larlv in January, 1S64. he repaired to Richmond, 
! was promoted to be a major-general, and received 
j a command in Southwestern Virginia. Tho »e- 
I mainder of his career is narrated iu tUo text. 



732 nisTORT OF the great rebellion. 

ing a pvoclamntlon granting protection to all who might wish to lay 
down their arms and become peaceable and quiet citizens. His 
appointment to tlie command in this part of the country was identical, 
it Avill be remembered, with the invasion of Tennessee by Hood, and 
it was expected by the rebel authorities that the two generals would 
form a junction somewhere between Knoxville and Nashville. Had 
this been effected, serious consequences might have ensued, and the 
consummation of the well-laid plans for the overthrow of the rebel 
power been delayed, or possibly prevented. 

With a view of stopping the progress of Breckinridge, General 
Stoneman was early in December appointed to command in East Ten- 
nessee. On the 10th he left Knoxville with three cavalry brigades, 
\mder Burl^ridge and Gillem, and moved with great rapidity u2:)on Bris- 
tol, one hundred and thirty miles from Knoxville, where he arrived on 
the 14th, having severed communication between the rebel brigades 
of Vaughan and Duke, and left the former far in the rear. At Bristol, 
three hundred prisoners and several railroad trains laden with supplies 
were captured. Fifteen miles more brought the command to Abing- 
don, where many supplies and quartermaster and ordnance stores were 
destroyed. By very heavy forced marching, Vaughan had succeeded 
in getting on the pike to the left of Bristol. One of our columns had 
preeedecl him, and burned the depots at Marion and Thomas's Furnace, 
but had then turned off to the right. Vaughan, on reaehing Marion, 
set liis brigade at work intrenching; but in a few hours, Gillem, who 
had pursued in a hard march of twenty-nine miles, came upon him, at- 
tacked him instantly, and, after a very hot and hard light, drove him 
back to Wytheville, thirty miles, killing twenty men, wounding a 
proportionate number, and capturing three hundred and nine prison- 
ers, and eight pieces of artillery. This running fight was conducted 
with the greatest vigor. Vaughan was attacked once more fifteen 
miles east of Wytheville at the great lead mines, the most important 
■works of the kind in the Confederacy, where our forces destroyed all 
thebuildings and machinery. Up to this time, Gillem had captured, 
besides wdiat has been recorded, several extra caissons, with large 
quantities of pack-saddles, ammunition, wagons, and other property, 
worth oyer a million of dollars. A large Avagon train was captured at 
Wytheville. Our forces remained in Wytheville but a few hours, and 
then retired towards Seven-Mile Ford, one hundred and sixty-seven 
miles from Knoxville. Gillem, however, pushed on to Max JMeadows, 
destroying railroad bridges and tracks, and other species of public prop- 
erty to a large amount. 

Meanwhile, Burbridge's forces, retiring from Wytheville, weie en- 
counteioil near Marion and repulsed by Breckinridge, who had moved 
his troops out from Saltvillc for that purpose on liearing of our with- 
drawal from Wytheville. But, fortunately, Gillem came up with his 
brigade, on returning from Max Meadows, just as our troops were 
giving way, restored the fortunes of the day, cai)tured eleven pieces 
of artillery, two hundred prisonei's, one hundred and fifty negroes, and 
ninety-three wagons, and Breckinridge's own head-quarters, and di-ove 
that general back on Mount Airy. The whole action of the 18th at 



HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT EEEELLION. 733 

Marlon, wliich was the principal battle of the campaign, lasted more 
than a day. Our loss was between fifty and one huudied, and that of 
the rebels quite as great, besides the prisoners we captured. On the 
morning of the 19th, Breckinridge pushed over towards North Caro- 
lina. One detachment of our troops, meanwhile, had moved on Glade 
Springs, one hundred and fifty-eight miles from Knoxville, and Salt- 
ville, nine miles beyond. At three o'clock p. m. of the 20th, our 
troops entered Saltville with a mere show of resistance. Soon after, 
the public buildings and all the machinery and works were fired and 
totally destroyed. Great quantities of salt were destroyed by tram- 
pling it in the mud. The immense works, which could turn out, it was 
Baid, over five thousand bushels a day, and are anjong the largest in 
the world, were very seriously injured. Nearly all the kettles were 
destroyed by punching out their heavy bottoms, and the vats, engines, 
and boilers demolislied. With the defeat of Breckinridge ended his 
attempt to threaten East Tennessee. The disaster to Hood's army 
before Nashville destroyed the well-devised scheme of the rebels to 
create a diversion in that quarter, and thenceforth they had quite 
enough to do to act on the defensive in Virginia and the Carolinas. 

Matters remained quiet in East Tennessee for a number of weeks 
after the events just described, but when the m.arch of Sherman north- 
ward gave the signal to the other Union generals to close in upon 
Lee, Stoneman was directed to equip a heavy cavalry coluniu at Knox- 
ville for a co-operative movement into Vii'ginia and North Carolina. 
Starting on March 10th, he moved rapidly to Boone, North Carohna, 
and thence passing into the Yadkin Kiver valley, pushed northward for 
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, which he destroyed between 
WythevUle and Salem, Virginia. On April 6th he moved via Jack- 
sonville and Danbury into North Carolina again, and on the 12th 
reached the vicinity of Salisbury, where about three thousand troops, 
under the commantl of General Gardiner, and fourteen, pieces of artil- 
lery, under command of Colonel (late Lieutenant-General) Pemberton, 
vv^ere drawn up to oppose him. The v.diole formed behind Grant's 
Creek, about two miles and a half from Salisbury. As soon as a prop- 
er disposition could be made, Stoneman ordered a general charge 
upon the entire line, and the result Avas tlie capture of the whole four^ 
teen pieces of artillery, and one thousand three hundred and sixty-four 
prisoners, including fifty-five ofiicers. The remainder of the force was 
chased through and several miles beyond the town, but scattered and 
escaped into the woods. 

During the stay of Sherman at Goldsboro', a considerable number of 
promotions took place, and the united forces, after being recruited and 
refitted, were reorganized in accordance with the following order : — 

" Head-Quarters Military Division of the Mississippi, in the Field, | 
"GoLDSBOKo', North Carolina, April 1, 1865. J 

special field orders, no. 44 — extract. 
" 1. The following is announced as the organization of this array: 
" Right wing — Army of tlie Tennessee, Fifteenth and Nineteenth Corps, Major-Oen. 
eral 0. 0. Howard, commanding. 

"Left wing— Army of Georgia, Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, Major-Gci-^ 
A. Slocum, commanding. 



734 HISTOEY OF TIIE GEEAT EEBELLIOIST. 

"Centre — Army of Ohio, Tenth and Twenty -third Corps, Major-General J. W. Scho- 
field, commanding. 

" Cavalry — Brevet Major-General J. Kilpatrick, commanding. 

"8. Each of these commanders will exercise the powers prescribed by law for a gen- 
eral commanding a special department or army in the field. 

"9. Major-General Jos. A. Mower is hereby, suliject to the approval of the President,, 
appointed to command the Twentieth Corps, vice Slocum, promoted to a command of 
an army in the field. 

" 10. Brigadier-General Charles Walcott is hereby transferred from the Army of the 
Tennessee to the Army of Georgia, for assignment to the command of a division made 
vacant. 

" 11. Brigadier-General Charles Ewing, having been promoted, is hereby relieved 
from staff duty at these head-quarters, and will report to Major-General Howard, for 
assignment to duty according to his rank. 

"By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman. 

"L. M. Dayton, Assistant Adjutant- GeneralV 

Finally, on April 10th, Sherman started his road-worn veterans once 
more on the track of his old antagonist, Johnston. On that day, Kil- 
patrick moved his cavalry out on the road to Raleigh, and next day, 
the 11th, the infantry started in light marching order. The march 
was, however, quite deliberate and easy, as the railroad, broken up by 
the enemy between Raleigh and Goldsboro', was to be repaired. The 
troops were well suppUed with provisions. On the 13th, Raleigh was 
reached and occupied, with only a slight skirmish on the outskirts, 
Johnston falling back upon Hillsboro'. On the following day a con- 
ference with Sherman was asked for by Johnston, througli a flag of 
truce, with a request for an armistice and a statement of the best terms 
on which Johnston would be permitted to surrender the army under 
his command. General Sherman answered immediately that if "tlie sur- 
render of the rebel army was the object of such a truce as was re- 
quested, he would accede to it, but if any thing else was desired, he 
wished to know it, in order to decide whether or not it would be neces- 
sary to send for the Lieutenant-General. He stated his readiness to 
meet Johnston at any time to confer on the subject of his wants. This 
offer was promptly accepted, and, through Wade Hampton, the point 
of meeting was agreed upon. At Mr. Janies Bennett's, a little hut ou 
the left of the Cha})el Hill road, five miles from Durham's Station, and 
thirty from Raleigh, the meeting took place. Sherman was accompa- 
nied by his chief engineer. Colonel O. M. Poe, and General Barry, 
with others of his staff, and met General Johnston, with Major John- 
ston and Captain Hampton, of his staff. Both generals were accom- 
panied by their cavalry generals, Kilpatrick and Wade Hampton. 

At the first meeting between the generals no arrangement was per- 
fected, but at a subsequent meeting on the 18th, at which Breckin- 
ridge, then liolding the office of Secretary of War in the Confederacy, 
was present, an agreement for a suspension of hostilities, together with 
a memorandum for a basis of peace, was signed in the following 
terms : — 

"Memorandum or basis of agreement, made this 18th day of April, A. D. 1865, near 
Durham's Station, and in the State of North Carohna, by and between General 
Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate Army, and Major-General Wilham 
T. Sherman, commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina, boLh 
present. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOl^T^. 735 

"■First. The contending armies now in the field to maintain their statu quo, until 
notice is given by the Commanding General of either one to its opponent, and reason- 
able time — say forty -eight hours — allowed. 

" Second. The Confederate armies now in existence to be d'sbanded and conducted 
to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the 
State arsenals, and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from 
acts of war, and abide action of both State and Federal authority. The number of 
arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordnance at "Washington City, 
subject to future action of the Congress of the United States; in the mean time, to be 
used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively. 

^^Third. The recognition bj^ the Executive of the United States of several State Gov- 
ernments, in their officers and legislatures, taking oath prescribed by tlie Constitution 
of the United States, and where conflicting State Governments have resulted from the 
war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supremo Court of the United 
States. 

^^ Fourth. The re-establishment of all Federal courts in the several States, with 
powers as defined by the Constitution and laws of Congress. 

^^ Fifth. The people and inhabitants of all States to be guaranteed, so far as the 
Executive can, their political rights and franchise, as well as their rights of person and 
property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of States respectively. 

'^ Sixth. The Executive authority of tlie Government of the United States not to 
disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and 
quiet, and abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey laws in existence at any place 
of their residence. 

"In general terms, war to cease; a general amnestj', so far as the Executive power 
of the United States can command, or on condition of disbandment of the Confed- 
erate armies, and the distribution of arms and resumption of peaceful pursuits by 
officers and men as hitherto composing the said armies, not being fully empowered by 
our respective principals to fulfil these terms, we individually and officially pledge 
ourselves to promptly obtain necessary authority, and to carry out the above pro* 
gramme. 

"W. T. SUKRMAX, 

" Ilajor- General Commandinfj the Army of the United States in North Carolina. 

'•J. E. Johnston, 
^^ General Commanding Confederate States Army in North Carolina.''^ 

Upon tlie reception of this memorandnm in Washington, on April 
21st, a Cabinet meeting was held, at Avhich the action of General Sher- 
man was disapproved by the President, by the Secretary of War, by 
General Grant, and by every member of the Cabinet. General Sher- 
man was ordered to resume hostilities immediately, and was directed 
that the instruction.s given in the following telegram, which was penned 
by Ml-. Lincoln himself, at the Capitol, on the night of the 3d of March, 
should govern his action: — * 

""Washington, March 3, 1865—12 p. ir. 
" Lieutenant-General Grant . 

" The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to liave no conference 
with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army, or on soma 
minor and purely military matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, 
discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in 
his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. 
Meantime, you are to press to the utmost your military advantages. 

"Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 



* On the nisht of the 3d of March, while Presi- I pondering a few minutes, took up his jien and 
(lent Lincoln and his Cahinet were at the Capitol, wrote with his own hand the .ihove reply, which 
a telesrani from General Grant was brought to the he submitted to the Secretarj' of Mate and tho 



Secretary of War, informing him that General Lee 
liad requested an interview or conference, to make 
an arrangement for terms of peace. General Grant's 
leiegram was submilted to Mr. Lincoln, who, after 



Secretary of War. It was then dated, addressed 
and signed by tlie Secretary (>f War, and tele- 
graphed to General Grant. 



VoG HISTOEY OF THE GEE AT EEBELLION". 

Tlie following are the reasons given by Secretary Stanton for disap- 
proving the proceeding of Sherman : — 

^^ First. It was an exercise of authority not vested in General Sherman, and on its 
face shows that both he and Jolmston knew that he (General Sherman) had no autlior- 
ity to enter into any such arrangement. 

" Second. It was a practical acknowled.ojment of the rebel government. 

" Third. It vmdertook to re-establish the rebel State Government, tliat had been 
overthrown at tlie sacrifice of many thousand loj-al lives, and an immense treasure, and 
placed arms and munitions of war in the hands of the rebels at their respective capi- 
tals, Avhicli might be used as soon as the armies of the United States were disbanded, 
and used to conquer and subdue the loyal States. 

^'■Fourth. By the restoration of the rebel authority in their respective States, they 
would be enabled to re-establish slavery. 

" Fiflh. It miglit furnish a ground of responsibility by the Federal Government to 
pay the rebel debt, and certainly subjects loyal citizens of the rebel States to the debt 
consummated by the rebels in the name of the State. 

^' Sixth. It put in dispute the existence of loyal State Governments, and the new 
State of Western Virginia, which had been recognized by every department of the 
United States Government. 

'^Seventh. It practically abolished the confiscation laws, and relieved rebels of every 
degree, who had slaughtered our people, from all pains and penalties lor their crimes. 

'•Eighth. It gave terms that had been deliberately, repeatedly, and solemnly re- 
jected by President Lincoln, and better terms than the rebels had ever asked in their 
most prosperous condition. 

'' Ninth. It formed no basis of true and lasting peace, but relieved rebels from the 
pressure of our victories, and left them in condition to renew their efforts to overthrow 
the United States Government, and subdue the loyal States, whenever their strength 
was recruited, and any opportunity should offer." 

General Grant immediately started for Raleigh, Sherman's head- 
quarters, where he arrived on the 24th. From that point, he sent a 
dispatch dated at nine o'clock on the same night, stating that he had 
delivered to General Sherman the reply to his dispatch announcing his 
terms of negotiation with the rebel General Johnston, and that John- 
ston was immediately informed by Sherman that the truce was termi- 
nated, that civil matters could not be di-scussed in any convention be- 
tween military commanders, and that the terms accorded to General 
Lee Avere the only ones that would be entertained by the United States 
Government. On the 25th, Johnston replied, and, on the 26th, the 
surrender of the rebel anny was made in an interview between Sher- 
man and Johnston at Durham Station. It included every thing east 
of the Chattahoochee River not previously surrendered by Lee. Then, 
tlie articles being signed, the Lieutenant-Gener.al intervened to put his 
approval upon them. Over fifty miles of territory lay between the two 
main armies, the picket lines, however, closely approaching. John-- 
Eton's force was collected nearly as far back as Greensboro', and 
at this latter point, thert'fore, the paroling took place. The number 
of men surrendered and paroled Avns in the neighborhood of twenty- 
five thousand. One himdred and eight pieces of artillery were parked, 
with limbers, caissons, &c., complete ; little ammunition was captured. 
About fifteen thousand small-arms were given up. JMore than ten 
thousand men strayed off with their guns and horses, mnlos, or wngonn. 
There Avas no discipline in the army at the end, ami Johnston Avns 
Baid r.ot to have been responsible for the marching away of his pien 



HISTORY OF TITE GEEAT BEBELLION. 737 

without parole. The same thing happened, also, in the paroling of 
Lee's army. 

In the latter part of 18G4, General James 11. Wilson, who had 
gained a reputation in the Army of the Potomac as an able cavalry 
officer, was dispatched to Nashville to reorganize that branch of the 
service in the West. Having accomplished this duty, lie was directed 
to concentrate a force at Waterloo and Gravelly Springs, on the Ten* 
nessee, in tlie northwestern corner of Alabam^a, with tlie view of un- 
dertaking in the spring an expedition through Alabama and Southern 
Georgia, a region never yet penetrated by Union troops, and which 
furnished large quantities of food and munitions to the rebel armies. 
This was intended as an auxiliary movement in sujiport of the opera- 
tions against Lee and Johnston in the East. On the 22d of March, 
Wilson broke up his camp, and, at the head of twelve thousand cavalry, 
accompanied by three horse batteries and a pontoon train, took up his 
march for Elytown,in Central Alabama. The general command of the 
rebel troops in Alabarna and Mississippi was then held by General 
Dick Taylor, who, however, being needed at Mobile, had left Forrest 
at Tupelo with abody of cavalry to guard against such raids as Wilson 
was about to undertake. Forrest finally assumed conmiand of all 
Northern and Middle Mississippi and Alabama, and set vigorously to 
work to reorganize the cavalry in his department. But it ^\•as l)eyond 
the power of even so energetic a commander as he to infuse life into 
the torpid body of the rebellion ; and notwithstanding he issued orders 
declaring that illegal oi-ganizations of cavalry must be placed regularly 
in the service or lV:,vo "the country, the border swarmed with roving 
bands of deserters, stragglers, hoi'se-thieves, and robbers, whose acts 
of lawlessness and crime put a stop to travel, and made life and prop- 
erty alike insecure. 

Wilson proceeded without interruption as far as Elytowu, whenc* 
lie moved due south upon Selma, where he arrived on April 2d. 
Between Elytown and Selma there had been considerable skirmishing 
with Roddy's rebel cavalry, which fell back towards the latter place, 
where Taylor and Forrest had concentrated all their available troops 
behind substantial works. These consisted of a heavy line of earth- 
works, eight to twelve feet in height, and fifteen feet thick at base, with 
a ditch in front, partly filled with water, four feet in width and five 
feet deep, and in front of this a stockade, or pickets of heavy ]iostg, 
planted firmly in the ground, five feet high, and sharpened at the top. 
Four heavy forts, with artillery in position, also covered the ground 
over which the men were to advance ; the ground was rough, and a 
deep ravine had to be passed before the works could be reached. 

After a brief reconnoissance, one division, under General Long, was 
directed to attack on the rio;ht of the Summcrville road, while another,, 
under General Upton, Avas to move to the Plantersville road, penetrate 
a swamp at a point regarded impassable by the eiiemy, and attack just- 
after dark. But before Upton could get 'into position, 'the rebel Ges- 
eral Chalmers having attacked Long's picket, posted on the creek ro. 
cover his rear. Long, without waiting for the signal designated, imme- 
diately began the attack with two dismoimted regiments from «9ah 
47 



738 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

brigade, numbering in all but one tbousand one Irandred and sixty 
men; Long himself, together with his brigade commanders, gallantly 
leading the charge. Ku>!hing over five hundred yards of open field, 
swept by musketry and artillery, the intrepid assailants, leaping and 
tearing up the stockade, pu'shed through the ditch, atid over the para- 
pet, in a sudden and irresistible tide. The foe, though outnumbering 
the assailants, everywhere succumbed or lied. Nothing seemed able 
to stand before an onset of such swift and determined vigoi'. On parts 
of the line, indeed, and for a moment, the enemy fought stubbornly, 
with clubbed guns, but in vain. Upton's Division, finding the "n orks 
carried by Long's Division, immediately advanced from its position on 
the Plantersville road, the skirmish line, driving the enemy and cap- 
turing five guns. Winslow's Brigade then charged into the city in 
various directions, capturing several pieces of arliliery and several hun- 
dred prisoners. In vain did the enemy attempt to rally behind an 
inner line of works ; they were overpovrered and cnplured by hundreds, 
and night alone enabled Forrest, with about half his force, to make a 
.precipitate retreat. General Taylor had left at three p. M. by the rail- 
road for Mobile. Two thousand seven hundred prisoners, including 
«one hundred and fifty officers, twenty-six field-guns and one thirty- 
pound PaiTott in position, and about scwenty heavy guns, besides large 
quantities of military stores in the arsenal and foundery, fell into Wil- 
son's hands at Selma. Immediately the work of destrui-tion com- 
menced, and ill a brief time all the immense Goveinme!it v.Mrks, arse- 
nal, rolling-mills, founderies, factories, munitions of war, ordnance and 
subsistence stores, and other material, were in ruins. 

On the 10th, Wilson resumed his march, and on the 14th occu[)ied 
Montgomery without resistance. This, it will be i-emenibered, wa« the 
(•••ipital of the now fast-crumbling " Confederacy," in the early days of 
,the rebellion. On the 16th, West Pohit, on the Chattahoochee, was 
captured by Lagrange's Brigade, after a desperate resistance by the 
small rebel garrison, and on the same day the main body reached the 
important city of Columbus, Geoi-gia, situated on the east bank of the 
•.Chattahoochee, and defended by two tliousand seven hundred infantry, 
■behind strong earthworks. The onset of the Union troops was irre- 
sistible, and by ten p. u. the city, with its vast munitions of Avar, one 
thousand five hundred prisoners, and twenty-four pieces of artillery, 
was in our possession. This victory was the closing confiict of the 
war, and was gained with a Union loss of not above thirty. Long's 
Division, under Colonel Minty, now took the advance, and moved to- 
wards Macon, within a short distance of which place he was met by a 
flag of truce, with a dispatch from General Howell Cobb, in command 
there, announcing an armistice betvy^een Sherman and Johnston. Sus- 
pecting, from the maimer of the rebels, that this was only an exp-,)- 
dient to gain time, Minty pushed rapidly forward, and readied Macon 
just in lime to save the fine bridge across the Ocmulgee, which the 
rebels were about to lire. The city and defences were at once surren- 
dered by Cobb. The captures comprised five general officers, viz., 
Major-Generals Cobb and Gustavus W. Smith, and Brigadier-Generals 
Mackall, Robertson, and Mercer, together with forty-five other officers, 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 739 

and one thousand eiglit hundred i^iud forty-three enlisted men, and sixty 
pieces of artilleiy. 

Thus, in thirty days, Wilson's command had marclied live hundred 
miles, part of the distance over an exceedingly difficult country, had 
captured two hundred and forty pieces of artillery, of all calibres, and 
six thousand three hundred prisoners, and destroyed cotton and public 
property to the value of hundreds of millions of dollars. It was uu- 
doubiedly the most brilliant and important raid of the war. 

In the foregoing pages we have related the history of the attempts 
which the rebels made, by force of arms, in tlie open field, to resist 
and overthrow the power of the General Government. It now becomes 
necessary to allude to other means employed by them to effect the same 
end, which "were directly sanctioned by the rebel government, and 
over Avhich huni;mity would wish to drop the veil of oblivion. But as 
an impartial narrator of events, the writer of these pages could no 
more avoid an allusion to this subject th.an he could omit any of the 
prominent occurrences of the war previously related. Without h\u:\i 
allusion the History of the Great liebellion would be incomplete. If 
acts like the destruction of unarmed merchantmen on the high seas, or 
the massacre of the garrison of Fort Pillo^v, may be excused as neces- 
sarily growing out of a state of warfare, it will scarcely be pretended 
that the deliberate destruction of prisoners by starvatioji, neglect, or 
ill treatment, the burning of peaceful cities fir removed from the seat 
of war, by disguised emissaries, the introduction of pestilence, or the 
piratical seizure of vessels and the murder of their officers, are legiti- 
mate means of conducting war. They were, however, each and all, 
resorted to by the rebel authorities, as we shall briefly narrate. 

For upward of a year after the commencement of the war, there was 
no regular system in operation for the general exchange of the prisoners 
captured on either side. Finally, in the summer of 1862, a cartel was 
signed for the equitable exchange of prisoners, man for man, and offi- 
cer for officer, and for the paroling of prisoneis within ten days after 
their capture. This remained in force until the succeeding summer, 
when difficulties occurred, in consequence of the loose manner in which 
the rebel authorities interpreted the cartel, which threatened its per- 
manent interruption. ]>y this time the colored regiments of the Na- 
tional Army had begun to participate in the war, and the officers and 
privates of these regiments captured by the enemy were, in accordance 
with a resolution of the rebel Congress, withheld from exchange, and 
reserved for special punishment. After much acrimonious correspond- 
ence, the rebel Commissioner of Exchanges, Mr. Quid, proposed in the 
latter part of October, that all officers and men, on both sides, should 
be released in conformity with the provisions of the cai'tel, tiie excess 
on the one side or the other to be on parole. Tliis proposition was re- 
jected by General Meredith, the Union Commissioner, for the reason, 
among others, that the officers and privates of 1^ colored regiments, 
not being recognized by the rebels as prisoners of war, would not be 
delivered by tlienj wit^h the other prisoners. The rebels had also 
shown bad faith in declaring exchanged, before the right to do eo in 
accordance with the terms of the cartel bad accrued to them, most of 



740 



HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 



the prisoners paroled by Grant and Banks at Vicksburg and Port Hud- 
son. And as at the close of the year we liad in our possession about 
forty thousand rebel prisoners against thirteen thousand of our me'n in 
rebel prisons, it was justly considered hazardous to permit the rebels 
to have the control of so large an excess as twenty-seven thousand 
men. Thenceforth exchanges ceased, except in a few special instances, 
and prisoners began to accumulate in large numbers on either side. 

In the latter part of 1863 complaints began to be made of the treat" 
ment to which Union ])risoners were subjected in rebel prisons. In 
those at Richmond, the mortality at certain periods reached fifty a 
day — a rale which, in the opinion of exchanged Union surgeons, was 
altogether unprecedented, and arose from neglect, insufficient food and 
clothing, and similar causes. In reply the rebels alleged that Union 
prisoners were placed on an equality, in respect to rations and clothing, 
with their own men, and that they did not receive the comfoi'ts which 
might reasonably have been expected, simply because it was not in the 
power of the Confederate government to give them. But this excuse, 
urged strenuously by the rebels and their friends, and half accepted 
by every one disposed to be moderate and just, accounted for only a 
small part of the conduct of the rebels to their captives. The latter 
wei*e crowded in city wareliouses of far too limited dimensions to 
lodge them with any approximation to comfort, or compelled to en- 
dure the rigors of winter in open encampments. They were almost 
invariably stripped of their private property, even to the clothing on 
their backs at the time of their capture, and tlie supplies of food and 
clothing, which, after much negotiation, they were permitted to receive 
from the North, were, in many instances, stolen or withheld. The 
rations issued to them were frequently of the most execrable descrip- 
tion, and barely sufficient to sustain life. On the other hand, the 
rebels captured in war were, in nine cases out of ten, men in fine 
physical condition, well clad, and giving abundant evidence of having 
been well fed ; while tb.e few Union prisoners from time to time ex- 
changed, exhibited such frightful evidences of suffering and privation, 
that photographic representations of their appearance wei-e taken, in 
order that the accounts of their condition might not seem overdrawn. 
The allegation of the rebel government, that it was embarrassed for 
want of supplies, that its own soldiers were naked and hungry, and 
that even the prison-guards shared the privations of the prisoners, 
must therefore be dismissed as utterly unfounded. 

A few months later the rebels threw off even this thin disguise, and 
in terms too plain to be mistaken announced by their acts their inten- 
tion to systematically destroy their prisoners, for tlie purpose, appar- 
ently, of relieving themselves of the charge of such persons, and of 
thereby lessening the number of their enemies. As if the Libby Prison 
and Belle Isle * at Richmond were not sufficient, refinements in cruelty 



* This is a small island in the Jamca River, op- 
posite the Tredegar iron works, and in sij;ht of the 
Libby Prison. Here, in an enclosure of less tiian six 
»cres, surrounded by an earthen wall and ditch, 
were confined at times from ten to twelve thou- 
aand prisoners, who were turned in like so many 
MtUa to Und what resting-place they could. 



Some found a poor shelter in a number of Sibley 
tents, rotten and full of holes ; but thousands hail 
no tents or shelter of any kind, and all were hen- 
subjected alike to the heat of midsummer or the 
cold of winter. Under such circumstances it is 
not to be wondered at that the rate of mortalitj 
yfiiS large. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 741 

u ere attempted, and at Charlotte and Salisbury in North Carolina, and 
Millen and Andersonville in Georgia, prison-pens were erected, in 
which tens of thousands of Union prisoners were deliberately starved 
to death or destroyed by neglect and ill usage. The last-named place, 
in particuhu', has obtauied a hideous reputation, and to the wretches 
who entered its precincts must have occurred the idea contained in 
Dante's inscription over the gates of Hell, "Who enters here must 
leave all hope behind." It comprised an open space of about twenty- 
live acres, and was surrounded by a high stockade, and by earth- 
works mounted with cannon. About one quarter of the enclosure was 
occupied by a swamp, through which' crept a shallow muddy stream, 
or rather sewer, which had previously received the tilth and refuse of 
a rebel camp beyond, and which formed the only sujjply of waterto the 
prisoners. Here, in a country so covered with woods as to be nearly 
a forest, were frequently crowded thirty thousand men, with not so 
much as a simple shed to protect them irom the rain, or the heat, or the 
cold. The unfortunate prisoners found a partial shelter by burrowing 
in the earth like wild animals, and upon the occupation of the place by 
the Union forces, the groimd was discovered to be completely honey- 
combed by their digging. The details of the life which prisoners passed 
in this place would prove too sickening to our readers, and we willingly 
omit them. Probably more of the men admitted there died than left 
the prison, and of the latter class most will bear about them for life the 
marks of the privations which they there endured. In a memorial ad- 
dressed to President Lincoln in August, 1864, by Union officers confined 
in Charleston, occurs the following passage with reference to the 
Andersonville prisoners : "They are fast losing hope and becoming ut- 
terly reckless of life. Ntimber's, crazed by their sufferings, v\^ander about 
in a state of idiocy. Others deliberately cross the ' Dead Line ' and 
are remorselessly shot down." 

As accounts of the atrocities practised upon Union prisoners at An- 
dersonville were made public by those persons who were fortunate to 
escape from the prison alive, a feeling of horror pervaded the North, 
and in the ojainion of many persons their statements were too dreadful 
to believe. It was assumed that they must be greatly exaggerated, and 
that the rebel authorities were ignorant of the atrocities alleged to be 
committed there. Fortunately we are enabled to verify by rebel evi- 
dence the condition of things at Andersonville and the infamous pur- 
pose of General J. H. WindX^-, the commanding officer in charge of the 
post. Some months after the termination of the war, Captain Henry 
Wirz, a subordinate, having immediate command of the prison, was 
arraigned before a military court in Washington for wanton and un- 
necessary cruelty to his prisoners. The facts we have stated above 
were corroborated by many Union soldiers, summoned as witriesses ; but 
more valuable testimony, considering the source froni which it emar 
uated, was given by Colonel D. T. Chandler, formerly an inspector- 
general in the rebel service. The following is an extract from_ an 
official report from this officer, addressed to Colonel Chilton at Rich- 
mond, under date of August 5, 1864 : — 



742 lUSTOKY OF TILE GREAT EEBELLIOIS'. 

"My chit}' rcqniros me respectfully to recommend a change in the officer in command 
of the post, Brijiadier-General J. H. Winder, and the substiiution in his place of some 
one who unites both energy and good judgment with some feelings of humanity and 
consideration for the welfare and comfort (so far as is consistent with their safe keep- 
ing) of the vast number of unfortunates placed under his control; some one who. at 
least, does not advocate deliberately and in cold blood the propriety of leaving them in 
their present condition until their number has been sufficiently reduced by death to 
make the present arrangements snflice for their accommodation ; who will not consider 
it a matter of self-laudation, boasting that he has never been inside the stockade — 3 
place the horrors of which it is difficult to describe, and which is a disgrace to civiliza- 
tion — the condition of which he might, by the exercise of a little energy and judgment, 
even with the limited means at his command, have considerably improved." 

Colonel ChnncUer, upon being called to the stand, verified the forego- 
ing report, adding that lie had nothing to retract; and stating that 
during his inspectioii he had a conversation witli Gentn'al Winder, who 
seeme<l very intlifierent to the welfare of the prisoners, and was indis- 
posed to do any thing. He remonstrated with General Winder as Avell 
as he conld. He spoke to him of the great mortality, and suguested 
that, as the sickly season was coming on, theswani]) should be drained, 
better food furnished, and other sanitary measures adopted. Winder 
replied to him that he thought it would be better to let one-half die, so 
they could take care of the remainder. His (Chandler's) nssistant. 
Major Hall, had previously reported that Winder had made a similar ex- 
pression to him ; and upon Chandler's remarking that he thought this 
incredible, Hall said Winder had repeated that expression to him sev- 
eral times. 

This certainly shows tliat the rebel government in Richmond Avas 
niad'e ofiicially cognizant of tiie barbarities committed at Andersonville; 
and as the condition of the prisoners at Belle Isle had been so imme- 
diately under their eyes that ignorance could not possibly be ])leaded, 
the conclusion seems inevitable that they deliberately approved of tlie 
measures adopted by the commanding officers at botii ))laces. Finally, 
in November, 1864, the general exchange, intcrrnpted in the previous 
year, was resumed, and the survivors of the rebel prison-pens released 
from their sufferings. In contrast with the treatment of Union prison- 
ers was that accorded to captured rebels. They Avere comfortably 
housed and clad, drew abundant rations, and, wlien sick or wounded, 
received no less kind treatment than our own soldiers. To both Union 
men and rebels were also extended the beneficent offices of the Sani- 
tary Commission and the Christian Commission, two noble private 
philanthro})ic associations, whose expenditures amounted to many mil- 
lions, and whoso agents were found in every camp and hospital, and on 
every battle field of the war, supplyhig to the; sick and wounded the 
numberless little delicacies and comforts which the Government, amid 
the muliiplicity of cares, could not well furnish, and affording by their 
acts a proof of the humanizing influences of free institutions. In con- 
trast with this, the conduct of the rebels to their prisoners illustrates 
once more the barbarizing influences of slavery. 

Hoon after the commencement of hostilities in 1861 the Canadian 
jirovinces began to be a i-esort for rebel refugees, who gradually accu- 
mulated in Quebec, Montreal, and other cities, in large numbers. 



HISTORY OF TIIE GEE AT EEBELLIOK 743 

Among these men were some of the most wily and determined enemies 
of the Union whom secession had begotten, and their presence so near 
om* Northern frontier Avas felt to be full of danger, as it was known 
they were prepare*! for any desperate enterprise. Their leaders, George 
N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson, and men of like pro- 
clivities, spared no efforts to organize plots against the United States, 
in defiance of the neutrality of the country in which they resided, and, 
Htrange to say, the local authorities seemed indiiferent to these attempts 
to abuse the right of asylum. In the latter part of 1863 a ])lot was set 
on foot by Snnders and his associates, under instructions from the gov- 
ernment at Richmond, to release twenty-five hundred rebel officers im- 
prisoned on Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, who, in coiijunetion with a 
body of rebels in Canada, were to attack and destroy l^ufialo and other 
lake cities. The American Consul-General at Montreal, having received 
ihnely notice of this plot, laid the details before the Governor-General 
of Canada, by whom they were connnunicated on November nth to 
the United States Government. The prompt measures taken by the 
latter to guard against the danger prevented the execution of the i)lot. 
The British Government, however, seems to have taken iio measures to 
arrest and punish the participators in this transaction.' But though 
baffled in tliis attempt, the secessionists in Canada relaxed in no degree 
their efltbrts to harass the border towns of the United States. On the 
afternoon of October 19, 18G4, a body of forty Avell-armed men,lie,i<!ed 
by one Young, t^uddcnly attacked tlie villageof St. Albans, in Vei-mont, 
fifteen miles from the C-anadian frontier, and, after rol)bing the banks of 
over two hundred thousand dollars, and firing upon the defenceless and 
thoroughly astounded inhabitants, one of whom was mortally wounded, 
rode oif to Canada, where nearly the whole gang was subsequently ar- 
rested. They were brought befoi-e the Court of Quarter Sessions at 
Montreal, and discharged by Justice Coui-sol on the ground of a want 
of jurisdiction. Subsequently, on being tried before the Superior Court 
of Lower Canada, they were all discharged. The St. Albans banks re- 
- covered a portion of the money stolen from them, but the United States 
Government received no i-eparation for this incursion upon their terri- 
tory from a friendly state. 

In September, 1804, John Y. Beall, an officer in the rebel army, 
organized in Canada a force for the ]nirpose of a raid on the lakes, and 
succeeded in capturing and destroying two steamboats owned by citi- 
zens of the United States. In the succeeding December he was ar- 
rested near the suspension bridge over the Niagara liiver, in the State 
of New York, for attempting to throw a passenger train from Buffalo 
off the railroad track, which act he claimed to have perpetrated by 
virtue of his commission from the rebel government. He was tried 
and executed as a pirate, spy, and murderer, on Governor's Island, 
New York, on February 24th, 1865. 

As if the attempt to rob defenceless towns, and murder their la- 
habitants, or to throw railroad trains off the track, were not sufficient>- 
ly infamous, the Canadian refugees now organized a plot to fire the 
principal hotels of the city of Ncav York. The attempt was made on 
the night of November 25th, and, if successful, might have resulted 



744 HISTOEY OF THE GIIEAT EEBELLION. 

in a frightful sacrifice of property and life ; but fortunately, it was 
committed to timid and unskilful hands, and the fires kindled by them 
were soon extinguished. Captain Robert C. Kennedy, of the rebel 
service, was subsequently arrested in Detroit for complicity in this 
plot, and Avas tried and executed at Fort Lafayette, in New York 
Harbor, on Mnrch 24th, 1865. 

Similar to the exploit of Beall on the lakes was that of a party of 
disguised rebels, who, embarking on the passenger steamer Chesa- 
peake, at New York, on December 19th, 1863, murdered one of the 
officers, and carried the vessel into a Nova Scotian port. She was 
subsequently restored to her owners, but her piratical ciptors, like so 
many of their associates in British America, went unwhipped of jus- 
tice. Finally, to cap the climax of horrors, we have to lecord the 
attempt, fortunately abortive, of a Dr. Blackburn, to introduce into 
the United States the yellow fever, by means of infected clothing 
brought froni Bermuda. This, like the other acts just related, was 
done in the interest of the rebel Confederacy, by men claiming to act 
as Confederate soldiers, and indicated a lack of moral principle, which, 
for the sake of civilization, it is to be hoped was rare among the in- 
habitants of the seceded States, or their sympathizers. 



CHAPTER LXXVn. 

Peace Negotiations ;it Fortress Monroe. — Their Fruitless Issue. — Second Inauguration 
cf Lincoln. — His Addre.=s. — Rejoicings at the Prospect of Peace. — Assassination of 
Lincoln. — The Public Mourning. — Funeral Pi'ocession. — Character of Lincoln. — 
Booth, the Murderer. Pursued and Shot. — Trial and E.vecutiou of his Accomplices. — 
Inauguration of Andrew Johnson as President. — Amnesty Proclamation. — Plan for 
Reconstruction. — Pursuit and <'apture of Davis. — Capitulation of Generals Taylor 
and Kirby Smith. — Termination of the War and Disbanding of the Armies. — The 
National Debt. — Concluding Reflections. 

With the opening of 1865, the air was filled, as it had been often 
before, with rumors that tlie rebels were anxious to negotiate for 
peace, and in order that no opportunity might be lost to eflect a con- 
summation so devoutly Avished for by all classes of the people, Mr. 
Lincoln authorized Secretary ScAvard to proceed to Fortress Monroe, 
and there confer with Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, the rebel 
Vice-President, R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and J. A. Campbell, of 
Alabama, Avho had been designated by Jelferson Davis as Cf)minission- 
ers to act in behalf of the Confederacy. The President's instructions 
were conveyed to Mr. Seward in the following terms : — 

• 

"Executive M.ansign, Wasiiixgton, } 
^^ January ol, 18G5. f 

"Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State: 

"You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, there to meet and informally confer 
with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, on the basis of my letter to F. P. Blair, 
Esq , of January 18, 1865, a copy of which you have. You will make known to them 
that three things arc indispensable, to wit: First, the restoration of the national 



HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. 745 

authority throughout all the States. Second, no receding by the Executive of the 
United States, on the slavery question, from the position assumed thereon in the late 
annual message to Congress, and in the preceding documents. Third, no cessation of 
hostilities short of an end of the war, and the disbanding of all the forces hostile to 
the Government. You will inform them that all propositions of theirs not inconsist- 
ent with the above, will be considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality. 
You will hear all they may choose to say, and report it to me. You will not assume 
to definitely consummate any thing. Yours, &c., 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

On February 2d, tlie President himself left for Fortress Monroe, 
and on the succeeding day had an interview of several hours' duration 
with the rebel commissioners on board of a steamer anchored in 
Hampton Roads. Tlie conference was altogether informal, but enough 
was developed to show that the rebels would enter into no negotia- 
tions for peace, without first obtaining a recognition of their inde- 
pendence. " What the insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor," said 
Mr. Seward in a dispatch to the American minister in London, " was 
a postponement of the question of separation upon which the war is 
waged, and a mutual direction of the efforts of the Government, as 
well as those of the insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme 
for a season, during which passions might be expected to subside, 
and the armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the 
people of both sections be resumed." This was immediately rejected 
by the President, who further declared that "the complete restoration 
of the national authority everywhere, was an indispensable condition 
of any assent, on our part, to whatever form of peace might be pro- 
posed." The conference, accordingly, came to an end by mutual 
agreement, without accomplishing any thing. 

In February, 18G5, the electoral vote for President was officinlly an- 
nounced to be, for Lincoln, two hundred and twelve, for McClellan, 
twenty-one. Andrew Johnson was also announced to have received 
two hundred and twelve votes for Vice-President. On March 4th, 
Mr. Lincoln was, for the second time, inaugurated President, receiv- 
ing the oath of office from Chief-Justice Chase, the late Secretary of 
the Treasury, who had been a])pointed to succeed Taney on the bench 
of the Supreme Court. The President elect then delivered from the 
Capitol the following address to the citizens in attendance : — 

THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

" Fellow-Countrymen : — x\t this second appearing to take the oath 
of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address 
than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a 
course to be pursued seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at the 
expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been 
constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest 
which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the 
nation, little that is new could be presented. 

"The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is 
as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably 
satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, 
no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 



TJ:6 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

" On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ajjo, all tliongbts 
were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; 
all sought to avoid it. While the inaugural address Avas being de- 
livered fiom this place, devoted altogether to saving the Unioi) witl>- 
out war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it 
without war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the efl'ects 
by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would 
make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept 
war rather than let it perish, and the war came. 

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not dis- 
tributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Soiitliern part 
of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All 
knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To 
strengthen, perijetuate, and extend this interest was the object for 
which the insurgents would rend the Union by war, while the Gov- 
ernment claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial 
enlargement of it. 

" Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration 
which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of 
the conflict might cease, even before the conflict itself should cease. 
Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and 
astounding. 

"Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each in- 
vokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men 
should dave to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread 
from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be 
not judged. The jjrayers of both should not be answered. That of 
neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. 
Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that 
oflfenccs come ; but woe to that man by whom the offence coraetb. 
If w'e shall suppose that American slav^ery is one of these oflences, 
which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having 
continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and 
that He gives to both North and South this terrible wnr as the woe 
due to those by wiiom the offence came, shall we discern there is 
any departure from those Di\ine attributes which the believers in a 
living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do 
we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. 
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the 
bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be 
sunk, and imtil every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid 
by another drawn Avith the sword, as was said three thousand years 
ago, so, still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are trua 
and righteous altogetlier. 

" With malice towakds none, ■with cdarity fob all, "with 

FIBMNESS IN THE BICtHT, AS GoD GIVES US TO SEE BIGHT, LET US 
FINISH THE WORK "WE ABE IN, TO BIND UB THE NATIOn's AVOUNDS, 
TO CARE FOB HIM AVHO SHALL HAVE BOKNE THE BATTLE, AND FOE 
HIS WIDO"W AND HIS ORPHANS, TO DO ALL "WHICH MAY ACHIEVE AND 



HISTOKT OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOIf. 74^ 

CHERISH A JUST AND A LASTIIS^G PEACE AMONG OUIiSELVES AND WITH 
ALL NATIONS." 

The new cabinet was almost identical witl) the oM, the only impor- 
tant change Tjcing the substitution of Hugh McCulloch as Secretaiy 
of the Treasury "for Mr. Fessenden, who resumed his place in the 
Senate. 

Meanwhile, the important events related in the few last chapters 
followed each other in rapid succession, and with the tall of Richmond 
and the capitulation of Lee, a universal feeling of joy thrilled the 
country. The President, after Vvitnessing the closing scenes of the 
great drama in Virginia, and visiting the late rebel capital, returned 
on April 9th to Washington, followed a day or two later by General 
Grant; and, as an earnest of the good results which were to How from 
the events which had just ocenircd, he caiised the following ofiicial 
bulletin to be issued by the War Department: — 

"War Department, Washington, April 13, 18C.^ — 6 p. m. 

"This Department, after mature coDsideration, and cunsultation with the Lieutenant- 
General upon the results of the recent campaigns, has come to the following determi- 
nation?, which will be carried into effect by appropriate orders, to be immediately 
issued: 

" First. To stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal Stales. 

" Seanid. To curtail purchases for arms, ammunition, quartermaster and comrais- 
aary supplies, and reduce the expenses of the military establishment in its several 
brandies. 

" Third. To reduce the number of general and stafl'ofiQcers to the actual necessities 
of the service. 

'■'■ Fmirili. To remove all military restrictions upon trade and commerce, so far as 
may be consistent with public safety. 

" As soon as these measures can be put in operation, it will be made known by 
public orders. 

" Edvv'in LI. Stanton, Secretary of TTar." 

On the evening of April 14th (Good-Friday), Mr. Lincoln, in com- 
pliance with therequest of the proprietor, visited Ford's Theatre in 
Washington. Preoccupied as he was with public duties and ques- 
tions of future policy, lie felt Utile inclination to go ; but as the annoimce- 
raent that he woidd be jiresent had been nuide ])ul)lic, he determined, 
rather than disappoint the audience, to conquer his reluctance and 
give an hour or two to relaxation. In the midst of tlie performance, 
while sitting in the Presidential box, which adjoins the st;ige, in com- 
pany with his wife and two friends, he was attacked by an assassin, 
who, bursting suddenly upon him, shot him in the back of" the head 
with a pistol, and then, leaping upon the stage and brandishing a dag- 
ger, shouted, ''Sic Seriq^er Ti/rcmnis— the South is avenged," and 
disappeared into the street. There, mounting a fleet horse which was 
in readiness, he effected his escape almost betbre the astounded audi- 
ence were aware of the tragedy that had happened. Between tho 
deed of blood and the escape of the assassin there was not the lapse 
of a minute. Mr. Lincoln* was conveyed in an unconscious state to a 

* Abrahnm Lincoln wns born in Il.irdin Conntv. | he .issisted to clear. Dnrinfc this period lie r»- 
Kv., yebruarv 12th, 1809. In 1816 he removed 1 ceivedin the atrgrefr-ite about one yeiirs SfhooU 
with his pnrents to what is now Spencer Coiintv, in?. In 1S30 he remove.l with Ins (iither t» llli- 
Indiana, where, for upwards of ten years, he wis | nois. and for several years was variously employed 
jirincipally employed on hia father's farm, which I as flatboat-man, farm laborer, and clerk in a eoun- 



748 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 



neigliborlng house, where he expired the next moriung, April 15th, at 
twenty-two miniites past seven o'clock, surrounded by his cabinet and 
ti'iends. The murderer was recognized by several persons in the audi- 
ence to be Jolni Wilkes Booth, a member of a distinguished family of 
actors, nnd himself an actor of some reputation. On the same night. 
Secretary Seward, who was then confined to his bed in a crippled 
conditi(jn, in consequence of having been thrown from his carriage a 
few d;iys previous, was attacked by an assassin, who forced his way 
into the house, overcame the resistance of the attendants, and after 
intiicting dangerous, though fortunately not mortal, wounds with a 
knife on Mr. Seward and his son Frederick, efiected his escape into 
the street. 

The horror and alarm with which these acts filled the community 
cannot be adequately described ; and, indeed, the impression caused 
by them is too recent to render description necessary. The revulsion 
from unl)Ounded delight at tlie prospect of returning peace, to despair 
and distrust of what the future might bring forth, was sudden and 
terrible. Almost with one accord the peoj)le ]-ealized that they had 
lost a friend and a father, one who, through good rejjort and through 
evil report, amidst caivs and embarrassments such as have seldom 
rested upon any ruler, had borne himself with a meekness and patience, 
a dignity and rectitude, and had exhibited withal an ability which 
challenged the admiration of the world. Stricken down by an assas- 
sin's hand at the moment when his patient forbearance and unswerving 
trust in the result of the war for the Union were about to meet their 
reward from a people whose confidence he had already largely received, 
he passed moie deeply into the affections of his countrymen than 
ever befoi'e. At once the idea came uppermost to every mind that 
the Southern rebels, in whose behalf Booth had professed to com- 
mit his mad act, had lost in Abraham Lincoln the man who, of all 
others, would have dealt most tenderly with them. His large and 
generous nature could harbor ill-will to no one — not even to those 
political opponents who, throughout his Administration, liad spared no 
efforts to denounce and misrepresent him, and who had even ridiculed 
his rugged features and ungainly form ; nor to the rebels, Avho had 
exhausted the vocabulary for coarse terms of abuse to ajtply to him ; 



try store. In 1S32 he served as captain of a com- 
pany of volunteers in the Black llawk War, and 
was subsequently an unsuccessful Whig candi- 
date fen- tlie Illinois Legishiture but fnjm 1S34 to 
1842 he held a seat in that body. After a brief 
attempt to keep a country store, he studied law, 
ond, in 183,(5, obtained a license to practise. In 
1S3T he sealed at Springfield, and rose rapidly to 
distinction in his profession. He was, at the same 
time, an active member of the Whig party, by 
which he was eUcted, in 1S46. to represent the 
Central District of Illinois in Congress. In that 
body he voted for the Wilniot Proviso, and advo- 
cated othtu- anti-slavery measures. After several 
yeai's, devoted mainly to professional duties, he 
re-entered political life upon the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise, in 1S54. ai<led in securing 
the election of Mr. Trumbull as United States 
Senator from Illinois, in place of General Shields, 
the Democratic candidate, and became a decided 
Eepublicun. lu I'S^ii he was the Republican can- 



didate for United States Senator, in opposition to 
Stephen A. Douglas, with whom he conducted an 
.active canvass throughout the Slate, both candi- 
dates s[)eaking on the same day at the same place. 
The result of the election was a popular vote of 
125,275 for the Itepublican candidates to the Leg- 
islature, who were pledged to vote for Mr. Lin- 
coln ; 121,1<.)0 for the Douglas candidates; 85,071 
for the Lecompton candidates. Uut, though Mr. 
Lincoln had a clear majoiity over Mr. Donglaa, 
the latter was elected Senator by the Legislature, 
wliere his supporters h.ad a majority of eight on 
joint ballot. At the Convention in Chicago in 
May, 1S60, he was nominated the Republican can- 
didate for Pre.sident. and was elected in the suc- 
ceeding November by a large majority, receiving 
the votes of all the Free States, except three in 
New Jersey, given to Mr. Douglas. lie was in> 
augurated on March 4th, ISGl. His subsequent 
career is related iu tha foregoing pages of tbi* 
work. 



HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION-. ^49 

ftnd at the moment when the fatal bullet lodged in his brain, he stood 
before the woi-ld, to use his own noble words, "with malice towards 
none, with charity for all." A kindly, humble, simple-hearted, and up- 
right man, without learning, with little training in statesmanship, and 
with no great intellectual endowments, he had succeeded in fulfillinor a 
great public trust, partly by the exercise of a natural sagacity, but 
chiefly by his moral rectitude and abiding trust iu the providence of 
God. As the recollection of all that he had done and suffered in be- 
half of that Union he had sworn to maintain and defend, of his en- 
deanng private traits, and even of that quaint humor which he 
assumed to drive away, for tlie moment, the harassing cares of state, 
rose in the public mind, the people bowed itself and wejDt. Such a 
universal mourning had not been knov/n in the memory df living men : 
the land seemed clad in the habiliments of woe. 

At noon, on the 19th of April, his obsequies were celebrated in the 
Executive Mansion at Washington, in the presence of the chief civil 
and military authorities of the nation ; and at the same hour through- 
out the country the tolling of church bells and the booming of minute- 
guns announced that the people were participating in the solemn 
ceremony. An imposing procession then escorted the body to the 
Capitol, where it lay in state until the 21st. It was then conducted 
in one long funeral procession,' occupying several weeks, through the 
chief cities of the Union, to its final resting-place in the cemetery at 
Springfield, Illinois. It may be added, that the untimely end of Air. 
Lincoln called forth in Europe expressions of horror not less vehement 
than those uttered by his own countrymen ; and from all parts of the 
civilized world went up imfeigned tributes of respect for his virtues 
:md ability. 

Meanwhile the Government was on the alert to arrest the assassiji 
and his accomplices. Booth was finally tracked to a farm-house, near 
Port Koyai, on the Rappahannock, where, refusing to be arrested, and 
fighting with the desperation of a wild beast brought to bay, he was 
mortally wounded on the 27th, dying a few hours afterwards. Har- 
rold, an accomplice, was captured with him. A few days later a mnn 
Jiamed Payne was arrested and identified as the assassin who had 
attempted the life of Mr. Seward. Other arrests followed, and on 
May 10th, David E. Harrold, George A. Atzeroth, Lewis Payne, 
Michael O'Laughlin, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Sur- 
ratt, and Samuel A. Mudd, were arraigned before a military tribunal, 
presided over by General David Hunter, as principals or accessories 
to the murder. After a trial, lasting nearly two months, in the course 
of which the existence of a plot to murder not only Mr. Lincoln and 
Mr. Seward, but Vice-President Johnson, General Grant, and others, 
was made manifest, Harrold, Payne, Mrs. Surratt, and Atzeroth wen? 
found cfuilty of murder, and were hung in Washington on the 7th of 
July; 'Mudd, Arnold, and O'Laughlin were sentenced to imprison- 
ment for life, and Spangler to six years' imprisonment at hard labor. 

By the Constitution of the United States, the office of President, 
in the event of the death of the incumbent, devolves u])on the person 
holding the office of Vice-President. Accordingly, a few hours after 



750 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLIOIS". 

Mr. Lincoln had breathed hi'^ last, the oath of office was fidministered 
by Chief-Justice Chase to Vice-President Andrew Johnson,* in the 
presence of ihe Cabinet. After receivin<^ the oath and being formally 
declai-ed President of the United States, Mr. Johuson addressed the 
following remarks to those present : — 

"GE>fTLEMEN: — I miist be permitted to say that I have been almost overwhelmed 
by tlie announcement of the sad event which has so recently occurred. I feel incom- 
petent to perform duties so important and responsible as those which liave been so un- 
expectedly thrown upon me. As to an indication of any policy which may be pre- 
sented by me in the administration of tlie Government, I have to say that that must be 
left for development as the administration progresses. The message or declaration 
must be made by the acts as tliey transpire. The only assurance that I can now give 
of tlie t'uture is by reference to the past. The course whicli I have taken in the past 
in connection willi this rebellion, must be regarded as a guarantee of the future. My 
past public life, which has been long and laborious, lias been founded as I, in good 
conscience belicA'C, upon a great principle of right, v^liicli lies at the basis of all things- 
The best energies of my life have been spent in endeavoring to establish and perpetuate the 
principles of free government, and I believe that the Government, in passing through its 
present trials, will settle down upon principles consonant with popular rights, more perma- 
nent and enduring than heretofore. I must be permitted to say, if I understand the feelings 
of my own heart, I have long hibored to ameliorate and alleviate the condition of the 
great mass of the American people. Toil and an honest advocacy of the great princi- 
ples of free government have boon my lot. The duties have been mine — the conse- 
quences are God's. This has been the foundation of my political creed. I feel th.it 
in the end tlie Government will triumph, and that those great principles v/ill be per- 
manently established. In conclusion, gentlem.en, let me say that I want your en- 
couragement and countenance. I shall ask and rely upon you and others in carrying 
the Government through its present perils. I feel in making this request that it will 
be heartily responded to by you and all other patriots and lovers of the rights and 
interests of a free people." 

Of the new chief magistrate, thus unexpectedly inducted into office, 
it scarcely falls within our province to speak. His Administration be- 
longs ratlier to the new era now dawning upon tlic country than to that 
which witnessed the rise, tlie progj-ess, and the overthrow of the Great 
llebellion, and ot whicli we have assumed to give the narrative. He 
was known to be a man of ability, energy, and integrity, who, from the 
commencement of the rebellion, had pronounced unmistakably for the 
Union. It was hoped and believed that he would pursue the course 
already marked out by his predecessor, and although he was popularly 
supposed to have less of the mild clemency for which President Lin- 
cohi was noted, that circumstance ratlier accorded than otherwise with 
the prevailing temper of the people, whose hearts, for the time, were 



* Andrew Johnson was boi-n in lialcish, North 
Carolin.i, December 29tli, 1S0S, .and at the ago of 
t<'n wius apprenticed to a t.ailor in his native town, 
with whom he remained seven years. Ho never 
had one day's schoolina: in the course of his lite, 
i)Ut by liis own exertions learned to read while 
an apprentice. A few years later his wife 
instructed him in writing and ciphering. In 
IS'21) he emigrated to Tennessee, and settled in 
Greenville as a tailor. At twenty years of age 
he was elected an alderman of Oreenville ; Avas 
re-elected in the two succeeding years, and from 
IS.'^O to 1834 held the office of mayor of the town. 
In 1835 he entered political life .as a Democratic 
meinhiT of the Tennessee Legislature; was re- 
•tl^Kjted in lbo9, and during the I'residcniial can- 



vass of 1840 was an active speaker in favor of the 
Democratic candidate. In IS-II he was a member 
of the State Senate, and from 18-43 to 18r)3 held a 
seat in Congress. From 1858 to 1857 he filled the 
office of Governor of Tennessee, and in the latter 
year was elected by tho Legislature a Uniti-d 
States Senator. At tho outbreak of the rebellion 
he pronounced strongly in favor of the Union, 
and was commissioned a brigadier-general of 
volunteers. In 18G2 he was appointed military 
governor of Tennessee, which position he heKl 
until his election as Vice-President of the United 
States, on the same ticket with Mr. Lincoln. ITe 
was inaugurated Vice-President March 4th. 1865, 
and on the I.Oth of April succeeded Mr- Lincoln 
as President. 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT REBELLIOIT. 751 

turned a\^ay from clemency, and who demanded taat stern and exact 
justice should be meted out to the rebels. This sentiment gradually 
passed away, and tlic President and his cabinet, the same witoni Mr. 
Lincoln had selected, set themselves seriously to work to reconstruct 
loyal govermnents in the States which had attempted to form a new 
confederacy. Of the principles on which such reconstruction was to 
rest, rai idea maybe obtained from tv/o important proclamations issued 
by the President within a few Aveeks of his entrance upon office. The 
first, a new amnesty proclamation, rendered necessary by the progre.ss 
of events, was in the following terms: — ■ 

" WAsniNGTOX, May 29. 

"By tile Presidknt op the United States of America. 

" A PROCLAMATION 

" Wlicrens, The President of the United States, on the e'ghth day of December, A. V. 
eighteen hnndred and sixty-three, and on the twenty-sixth day of Marcl:, a. d. eighteen 
hundred and sixty-four, did, witli the object to suppress the existing rebellion, to in- 
duce all persons to return to their loyalty, and to restore the authority of the United 
States, issue proclamations oflering amnesty and pardon to certain persons, who had 
directly or by implication participated in the said rebellion ; and 

" Wltcna-s, Many persons, who had so engaged in said rebellion, hp.TC, since the issu- 
ance of said proolamations, failed or neglected to take the benefits offered thereby ; and 

" Whereas, Many persons, who had been justly deprived of all claim to amnesty or 
pardon thereunder, by reason of their participation, directly or by implication, in said 
rebellion, and continued hostility to the Government of the United States shice the date 
of said proclamations, now desire to apply for and obtain amnesty and pardon ; 

"To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Government of the United States 
may bo restored, and that peace, order, and freedom may be established, I, Andrew 
Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant 
to all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in the existing rebellion, ex- 
cept as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all rights of 
property, except as to slaves, and except in cases wliere legal proceedings under the 
laws of the United States providing for the confiscation of property of persons engaged 
in rebellion liave been instituted ; but on the condition, nevertheless, that every such 
person shall take and subscribe tlie following oath or alTirmation, and thenceforward 
keep and maintain said oath inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for perma- 
nent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit : •■ 

" ' I. , do solemnly swear or affirm, in presence of Almighty God, that I will 

henceforth faithfully support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the 
Union of the States thereunder. And that I will, in like manner, abide by and faith- 
fully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing re- 
bellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God.' 

" The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits of this proclama- 
tion : 

'■ First. All who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers, or other- 
wise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate Government. 

" Second. All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion. 

" TInrd. Ah who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended Confed- 
erate Government above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in tlie navy. 

" Fourth. All who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid tlio rebellion. 

''■Fifth. All who resigned or tendered resignations of their commissions in the army 
or navy of the United States, to evade dutv in resisting the rebellion. 

" Sixth. All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully m 
prisoners of war persons found in th.o United States service, as officers, soldiers, sea- 
men, or in other capacities. 

"■Seventh. All persons who have been or are absentees from the United Stat;.-; for 
vhe purpa-JG of aiding the rebellioii. 



752 HISTORY OF THE GEE AT REBELLION". 

" Eighth. All military and naval officers in the rebel service who were educated by 
the Government in the Military Academy at West Point, or the United States Naval 
Academy. 

'* Ninth. All persons who held the pretended offices of Governors of States in insup- 
rection against the United States. 

" Tenth. All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of 
the United States and passed beyond the Federal military lines into the so-called Con- 
federate States, for the purpose of aiding the rebellion. 

^'■Eleventh. All parties who have been engaged in the destruction of the commerce of 
the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the 
United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United 
States upon the lakes and rivers that separate the British Provinces from the United 
States. 

" Twtlfth. All persons who at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof 
by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval, or civU confinement, or 
custody, or under bonds of the civil, militarj', or naval authorities or agents of the 
United States, as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of any kind, either 
before or after conviction. 

" Thirteenth. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the 
estimated value of whose taxable propeily is over twenty thousand dollars. 

" Fourteentli. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty, as prescribed in the 
President's Proclamation of December eighth, a. d. eighteen hundred and sixty-three, 
or an oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States since the dates of said 
Proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the same inviolate 
— provided that special appHcation may be made to the President for pardon by any 
person belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be liberally extended 
aa may be consistent mth the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United 
States. 

" The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for administering and 
recording tlie said amnesty oath so as to insure its benefit to the people and guard the 
Government against fraud. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United 

C -1 States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, the twcn1j--ninth day 

'•■'"■-' of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, 

and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. 

"By the President: "Andrew Johnson. 

" Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

The second proclamation provides for the reconstruction of a State 
government in Mississippi, and may be taken as the model on which 
all similar acts are to be formed : — 

"Bt the President of the United States of America, 

"A PROCLAMATION. 

"Whereas, The fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United 
States declares that the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a 
republican form of government, and shall protect each of them agamst invasion and 
domestic violence ; and whereas, the President of the United States is, by the Consti- 
tution, made commander-in-chief of the army and navy, as well as chief civil executive 
.officer of the United States, and is bound by solemn oath faitlifully to execute the office 
of President of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed; 
nnd whereas, the rebefiion which has been waged by a portion of the people of the 
United States against the properly constituted authorities of the Government thereof, 
in the most violent and revolting form, and whose organized and armed forces have 
now been almost entirely overcome, has, in its revolutionary progress, deprived the 
people of the State of Mississippi of all civil government ; and whereas, it becomes 
necessary and proper to carry out and enforce the obligations of the United States to 














.--^5 -^V 



©iSIIvl^' 



i® 



HISTORY OF TtEE GEEAT EEBELLIOK 753 

the people of Mississippi in securing them in the enjojiiient of a republican form of 
groyernment now, therefore, m obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon 
me by the Constitution of the United States, and for the purpose of enabling the loyal 
people of ^ind State to organize a State government, whereby justice may be estab- 
lished, domestic tranquillity restored, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of 
life, liberty, and property; I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States and 
Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of the United States, do hereby appoini 
William L. Sharkey, of ilississippi, Pro\isional Governor of the State of Mississippi, 
whose duty it sh allbe, at the earliest practicable period, to prescribe such rules and 
regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention, composed of 
delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of said State who are loyal to tlis 
United States, and no others, for the purpose of altering and amending the Constitution 
tliereof, and with authority to exercise, within the limits of said State, all the powers 
necessary and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of Mississippi to restore 
eaid State to its constitutional relations to the Federal Government, and to present such 
a republican form of State government as will entitle the State to the guarantee of tlio 
United States therefor, and its pei;;.]e to protection by the United States against inva- 
sion, insurrection, and domestic viilcnce; provided, that in any election that maybe 
held hereafter for choosing delegates to any State Convention, as aforesaid, no person 
shall be qualified as an elector, or shall be eligible as a member of such convention, 
unless he shall have previously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set forth 
in the President's proclamation of May twenty -ninth, a. d. eighteen hundred and sixty- 
live, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the State of 
Mississippi, in force immediately before the ninth of January, A. D. eighteen hundred 
nnd sixty-one, the date rf the so-called ordinance of secession. And the said conveiv- 
tion, when convened, or the Legislature that may be thereafter assembled, will pre- 
ecribe the qualification of electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office under tite 
constitution and laws of the State — a power the people of the several States composing 
the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Government to the 
present time. And I do hereby direct: 

" First. That the military commander of the department, and all officers and persona 
in the military and naval service, aid and assist the said Provisional Governor in car- 
rying into etfcct this Proclamation ; and they are enjoined to abstain from in any way 
hindering, iuipediug, or discouraging loj'al peoj^le from the organization of a State Gov- 
ernment, as herein authorized. 

" Se-'ind. That the Secretary of State proceed to put in force all laws of the United 
States, the administration whereof belongs to the State r\;partment, applicable to tlie 
geographical limits aforesaid. 

" Third. That tlie Secretary of the Treasury proceed to nominate for appointment 
a.S3essors of taxes and collectors of customs and of internal revenue, and such other 
officers of the Treasury Department as are authorized by law, and put in execution the 
revenue laws of the United States within the geographical limits aforesaid. In making 
appointments the preference shall be given to qualified loyal persons residing within 
the districts wliere their respective duties are to be performed. But if suitable resi- 
donts of districts shall not be found, then persons "residing in other States or districts 
shaU bo appointed. 

'■Fourth. That the Postmaster-General proceed to establish post-offices and post- 
routes, and put into execution the postal laws of the United States within the said 
States, giving to loyal residents the preference of appointment; but if suitable residents 
are not found, then to appoint agents, &c., from other States. 

''Fifth. That the District Judge for the judicial district in which Mississippi is in- 
cluded, proceed to hold courts within said State, in accordance with tlie provisions of 
the act of Congress, and the Attorney-Generr.l will instruct the proper officers to hbel 
and bring to judgment, confiscation, and sale, property subject to confiscation, and en- 
force the administration of justice within said State, in all matters within tlic cogni- 
r.ance and jurisdiction of the Federal courts. 

" Sixth. That the SecrL-tary cf the Navy take possession of all public property belong- 
ing to the Navy Department within said geographical limits, and put in operation all 
tcts of Congress in relation to naval affiurs having apphcation to snid Stato. 

•* Seroenth. Tliat the Secretary of tlie Interior put in force the liiwa relating to the 
luterior Dep,artraent applicOTile to the geographical limits aforesaid. 
43 



^54 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, ^'nd caused t)ie seal of the 
United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this thirteenth 
[l. s.] day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
five, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-uintl^. 
" By the President : " Andrew Johnson. 

" "Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

In a former chapter we have described how Davis, at the approach 
of danger, hurried southward, leaving to Lee and his remnant of an 
army the task of defending the State of Virginia. On the 3d of April 
he arrived in Danville, and assumed, with such of his cabinet and offi- 
cials as he could gather around him, to establish the fiction of a gov- 
ernment. He also issued a proclamation, announcing his intention to 
hold on to Virginia. But the capitulation of Lee and the threatening 
aspect of Sherman and Stoneman counselled him to move farther 
southward, while escape was possible. With his fugitive government 
fast crumbling to pieces around him, he still maintained an appearance 
of confidence and a degree of assurance which deceived no one ; and 
at Charlotte, North Carolinn, where he remained several days, he 
made a public speech, promising soon to have a larger army than ever 
before in the field. About the 25th of April he left Charlotte, alarmed 
by the approach of Stoneman's Cavalry, who now became aware that 
the great head of the rebellion was in their neighborhood. Passing 
through Yoi'kville, South Carolina, with a train of several ambulances 
and a small mounted escort, he entered Georgia in the beginning of 
May, and on the 4th reached Washington, a small town northwest of 
Augusta. Thence he moved rapidly southward, hoping, possibly, to 
reach the Gulf and there find a vessel to convey him to Cuba. Mean- 
while, rumors of the flight of Davis through Georgia reached General 
Wilson at Macon, who sent out parties of cavalry to scour the neigh- 
boring country. At Irwinsville, about seventy miles south of Macon, 
the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, Colonel Pritchard, came upon the traces 
of the rebel ex-President, and at daybreak on the 9th of May his en- 
campment, two miles outside of the town, was completely surprised 
and the whole party of fugitives captured, including Mrs. Davis an<i 
her sister, the i-ebel Postmaster-General, Reagan, and others. The 
following description of the manner in which Davis was captured is 
vouched for as true, to the minutest detail, by an eye-witness : — 

"Andrew Bee, a private of Company L, went to the entrance of Davis's tent, and 
was met by Mrs. Davis, 'barebeaded and barefoot,' as he describes her, who, putting 
her hand on his arm, said : 

" ' Please don't go in there till my daughter gets herself dressed !' 

"Andrew thereupon drew back, and in a few minutes a young lady (Miss Howell) 
and another person, bent over as with age, wearing a lady's 'water-proof,' gathered 
at the waist, witli a shawl drawn over the head, and carrying a tin pail, appeared and 
asked to go to 'the run ' for water. Mrs. Davis also appears and says: 

" ' For God's sake let my old mother go to get some water!' 

" No objections being made, they passed out. But sharp eyes were upon the singu- 
lar-looking ' old motlier.' Suddenly Corporal Munyer, of Company C, and others at 
the same instant, discovered that the 'old mother' was wearing very heavy boots for 
an ag(;d female, and tlie corporal exclaimed : I 

" ' That is not a woman I Don't you see the boots ?' and, spurring his horse forward 



HISTORY OF IHE GREAT REBELLION. 755 

and cocking his carbine, compelled the -witbdrawal of the shawl, and disclosed JefT 
Davis. 

" As if stung by this discovery of his unmanliness, Jeff struck an attitude, and cried 
oirt: 

" ' Is there a man among you ? If there is, let me see him I' 

"'Yes,' said the corporal, 'I am one; and if you stir, I will blow your brains I' 

" ' I know my fate, and might as well die here.' 

"But his wife threw her arms arouud his neck, and kept herself between him aiui 
tlie threatening corporal. 

"No harm, however, was done him, and he was generally kindly spoken to: he 
■was only stripped of his female attire. 

" As a man, ho was dressed in a complete suit of gray, a light felt hat and high cav- 
alry boots, with a gray beard of about six weeks' growth covering his face. 

" He said he thought that our Government was too magnanimous to hunt women 
end children that way. 

"When Colonel Pritchard told him that he would do the best lie could for his com- 
fort, he answered : 

" ' I ask no favors of you.' 

" To which surly reply the colonel courteously responded by assuring him of kiiid 
treatment." 

Davis was conveyed to Macon, and thence to Fortress Monroe, whe^e 
he arrived in the latter part of May, and where he has since been in- 
carcerated, awaiting his trial for high treason. Stephens, the rebel 
Vice-President, was captured about the same time, together with 
others, who had held high civil and military positions in the rebel 
government. 

A few words will sniEce to relate the formal closing of the rebellion. 
On May 4th the forces under General Taylor, comprising all those 
troops east of the Mississippi who had not yet succumbed, were sur- 
rendered to General Canby on the same terms as those accepted by Gen- 
eral Lee ; and a few weeks later the whole of Kirby Smith's trans- 
Mississippi command was surrendered on similar terms. On June 1st, 
1865, there was not an organized body of men east of the Rio Grande 
who defied the authority of the National Government. Long before 
tins final act was effected, measures had been taken to reduce and dis- 
perse the ijnmense forces which had been converging upon Richmond. 
On May 23d and 24th the armies of Grant and Sherman were reviewed 
in Washington in the presence of President Johnson and a vast con- 
course of people, and f<oon these famous organizations remained such 
only in name. To all parts of the country poured a steady stream of 
disbanded regiments, and by the 1st of September half a million of 
men had been discharged from the national service, leaving less thim 
two hundred thousand for duty in the recently revolted States. Over 
the whole country settled a profound peace. The South, from sheer 
exhaustion alone, was incapable of offering further resistance, aiid ac- 
quiesced in the result of the great struggle. To such a pitch of mis- 
ery had it been brought during four years of war that peac(i was wel- 
come on any terms, and numbers of recent rebels, including some Avho 
had held high civil and military office, became applicants for pardon 
at the hands of the Executive. Although the emancipation of the 
slaves was generally accepted as a settled fact, prejudice and habit 
could not at once succumb to the force of circumstances, and the re- 
ciprocal relations and duties of those who had recently been masters 



< 00 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

jiml slaves were not iiumediately recognized. In order to protect the 
interests of the latter class, a Freednian's Bur^au was organized bv 
the Government, of "whicli General Howard Avas appointed snperiu- 
tendent, with agents distributed over every portion of the late insur- 
gent States. The close of the war necessarily found the Government 
saddled with an enormous debt, but with its credit unimpaired at 
home or abroad. So popular, indeed, was tlie 7.30 loan among all 
classes of the community, that during the spring and summer of 1865 
the subscriptions, principally in small sums, to the authorized issues, 
sometimes reached the enormous amount of twenty-live or thirty mil- 
lions a day. On the 31st of May the Secretary of the Treasury pul> 
lished an oflicial statement of the public debt, from which it appeared 
that the amount outstanding, bearing interest in coin, was Si, 108,- 
113,842; the interest being $04,480,480.50. The debt, bearing intep- 
est in lawful money, was $1,053,476,371 ; the interest being $60,158,- 
384.52. The debt on wdiich interest has ceased was $786^270. Tlie 
debt bearing no interest was $472,829,270.57. The total indebted^ 
ness was $2,635,205,753.50; the interest, both in gold and paper, being 
$124,638,874. The amount of legal-tender notes in circulation was 
$659,160,560. These included $432,687,966 of the new issue, and 
$160,143,620 of the compound-interest notes under the act of June 
80, 1S64. Tiie uncalled for pay requisitions were $40,000,000, and the 
Hinount in treasury notes over $25,000,000. Tlie amount of fractional 
currem-y was $24,607,000. 

Here we may fitly close our History of the Gre.at Rebellion. Du^ 
ring four years* of trial such as few people liave lived through, of un- 
equalled financial pressure, and of ceaseless warfare with a foe of our 
own blood and birth, the nation had struggled on to final victory. 
The aristocratic governments of the Old World, pleased at the idea of 
seeing the great republic of the West dismembered and displaced from 
among the family of nations, stood appalled at the prodigious energy 
and vitality which she displayed in her hour of trial. At the call of 
the President armies had sprung up as if by a magician's wand, swarn>- 
ing in nmnbers that recalled the hordes which" peneti-ated from the 
remote East into Europe; arms in abundance Avere put into their 
hands, and great generals Avere found to lead them in the field. With- 
in tAvo years a petty navy, not greater than a third-rate European 
power would maintain, had swollen to a size rivalling those of Great 
Britain or France; and two years later it contained vessels Avhich 
could bid defiance to any foreign ship afloat. These armies had been 
raised and maintained, this navy built and manned, Avithout so much 
as one dollar obtained by loans from Europe; the men, the ships, and 
the money Averc furnished by our own people. Such a result Avas cer- 
tainly astounding to those Avho could not ai)preciate the patriotism and 
the unconquerable will of a free people ; such a command of resources, 
even to those Avho thought they knew the capacity of the country, 
seemed inexplicable. They had looked for weakness, and they wit- 
nessed a strength Avhich, if it aroused their apprehensions, increased 
also their respect. The war had deA'eloped the overgroAvn boy, de- 
sjiiised for his awkwardness and unconscious of his powers, into a very 



HISTORY OF TIIE GREAT EEBELLIOiy. 757 

giant. The United States at once took its place among the great pow- 
ers of the world, more than ever before the bulwark of freedom, the 
hope of struggling democracies in the Old World, and the exemplar of 
progress. That all this was accomplished without years of sorrow and 
misery such as, it is to be hoped, we may never endure again, it would 
be useless to deny ; but in the nobler manhood, the self-sacrilicing spirit, 
and the pure patriotism which the struggle called forth, and, above 
all, perhaps, in the overthrow of the institution of slavery, the war 
furnished some compensating advantages. The chastening hand of 
God was heavy upon us, as many a desolated hearth-slone will attest, 
but in His providence He permitted us also to 

" Gain in moral height, 
Kor lose tho wrestling thews that throw the world.". 



INDEX. 



AdQutA Ckkkk, rebel 'biftteries silenced at, 91. 

Acts passed by the Thirty-seveiitli (Congress, 125. 

Act to prevent certain sales of gold. &c., GT4. 

Aowortli, JohnstoM compelled by Sherman to aban- 
don his works at, 5T-i. 

Adams, John <>iihu'y, attempt to expel from the 
House of Representatives, 20. 

Adams, Mr., representiitions of. to Earl Russell, 
with recard to the Alabama, 374.' 

Adams, I'residc-nt, measures taken by, in relation 
to the Indian troiible.s in Georiria, 1S25, 20. 

Address, inangnral, of Mr. IJncoln, 60; effect of, 
on the Sonth, 01 ; Mr. Lincoln's second inaugural, 
745. 

Alabama, secession movements in, 8S; secession 
ordinance of, 3S; sm.all vote of the people of, in 
favor of secession, 39. 

Alabama, steamer, history of the, 372-375; depre- 
dations of the, 373; action of the liritish Govern- 
ment in relation to the, 374; claim of indemnity 
for depredations of the, 375; United States 
steamer Hatteras captured by. 375; details of 
her fight with tlie Keavsarge, <52.3-e27. 

Albemarle, rebel ram. important assistance ren- 
dered l>y, in the capture of Plvmouth, G21 ; fiirht 
of, with the Sassacus, 022; sunk by Lieut. Gush- 
ing, 022; subsequently raised, 623. 

Alexandria, occupation of, by New Tork Fire 
Zouaves, &c., 90. 

Alexandria, La., occupation of, by Gen. Banks's 
force, GOO; perilous position of Porter's fleet at, 
602; consumed by Are, 603. 

Algiers, occupation of, 308. 

Alien acts an^ sedition law, origin of, and opposi- 
tion to, 19. 

"Alien enemies'" in the South, property of, seques- 
trated, 117. 

Allatoona Pass, turned by Gen. Sherman, 573, 574; 
defence of, by Gen. Corse, 632. 

Allsman, Andrew, rebel prisoners shot in retalia- 
tion for the supposed murder of, 005. 

" Anaconda plan," 14G. 

Anderson, Major liobert, biographical sketch of, 
64; transfers the garrison of Foi-t Moultrie to 
Fort Sumter, 52, 05; attempts made to re-enforce, 
' 52; his defence of Fort Sumter, 68-72; placed 
in command of State and National forces in 
Kentucky, 165: proelamalion issued by, 165; 
order issued by, at Louisville, 167; resign.ation 
of on account of ill health, 168; succeeded by 
Gen. Sherman, 168; directed to restore the Na- 
tional flag on Fort Sumter, 704. 

Andersonville, infamous treatment of Union pris- 
oners at, 741. 

Annapolis, Gen. Butler given command of the de- 
partment of, 82. 

Antietam, battle of, 3S0-3SG; indecisive results 
from the liattle of, 38:1 

Anti-Federalists, opposition of, to the alien acts 
and sedition law, 19. 

Anti-slavery agitation, growth of the, 26. 

Arkansas, ordinance of secession of, 43 ; operations 



of Gen. Curtis in, 298-302; operations of Gen, 
Steele in, towards Shreveport, 003. 

Arkansas, ram, passes through the Union fleet 
above Vicksburg. 309; her commander.'s report, 
370; failure of acombiued attack upon, 370: final 
destruction of. 371. 

Arkansas Post, capture of, 420. 

Arlington Heights, headquarters of Gen. McDowell 
at, 90. 

Armies, Federal and Confederate, in the field In 
1864, statistics of, 695. 

Armies, Northern, organization of, necess.ary, 
139. 

Armorv at Harper's Ferry seized by Virginia miU- 
lia, 74. 

Armory at Springfield, capacity of the, 90. 

Arms, great scarcity of, at the outbreak of the re- 
bellion, 89, 95; inadequate sui)ply of, in Missouri, 
153; modern improvements in "the manufactUEe 
of, 22:3-228; rei)eating, 225. 

Army, strength of, at the outbreak of the rebellion, 
62; organization, 94: number of troops in, in 
1801, 122; number of troops in, in 1804, 695. 

Army of the Cumberland, reorganized by Gen. 
Kosecrans, 492; numbers and composition of, in 
May, 1864, 568. 

Army of the Ohio, force and composition of, tn 
May, 1864, 568. 

Army of the Potomac, demoralization in, 140.; 
McClellan called to take command of, 140; Gen. 
Lana on the demoralization in, 141; rapi<l reor- 
ganization of, 142; position of, in Septemben, 
1861, 143; position of, made impregnable by 
McClellan, 145; movements of, 21U; inactivity 
of, under McClellan, 228-245; general advance 
of, 234; concentration of, at Cumberland, 255; 
operations of, .asainst Richmond, 279-295; situa^ 
tion of, on the James, after the Seven Days' bat- 
tles, 290; address of McClellan to, 291 ; losses of, 
291; long detention of, at Harrison's Landing, 
326; Pope's comjilaints respecting brigade and 
division commanders in, 3:34; return of, to Fort- 
ress Monroe, 337; united with that of Virginia, 
under McClellan, 377; advance of, by way of 
LeesburiT, 390; oper.ations of, under Hooker, 443 
-450; chief apparent duty of, 451; Gen. Meade 
supersedes Hooker in the command of, 455; 
movements of, after the battle of Gettysburg, 
4(54-472; reorg.anization of, 474-476; list of gen- 
erals and brig.ade commanders in, 475, 476; 
movements of, under Gen. Grant, from the Eap» 
idan to the Chickahominy, 508-529; movement* 
of, till the crossing of the James, 533-5:!9 ; oper- 
ations of, against Petersburg, 539-549; effect 
upon, of the rajiid succession of battles, 545; 
operations of, before Petersburg and Richmond, 
690-693; operations of, till the surrender of Lee, 
717-728. 

Army of the Tennessee, numbers and composition 
of, 503 ; command of, assumed by Gen. Howard, 
586. 

Arrest of citlxens \Yithout warrant of law, 130. 



760 



INDEX 



Arsenal at St. Louis, arms in, secured by Capt 
Stokes, 104. 

Article of war, adilitionnl, prohibiting the return 
of fugitive Slavics, OGi 

Articles of Confederation of 1778, insufficiencyof, iS. 

Artillery, improvements in the manufacture of, 
225. 

Art of war, remarks on the. 134-139. 

Asboth, Gen., capture of Marianna by, C15. 

Ashby, Gen., death of, 275. 

Ass.assination of Mr. Lincoln threatened, 59 ; ac- 
complished, 747. 

Assessments, arbitrary, in the Confederate States, 
128. 

Atlanta, siege of, 587-591; description of, 5S7 ; 
battles near, 5S1-5S4, 586, 589, 590; evacuation 
of, by Gen. noo<l, 591 ; civilians sent from, by 
Gen. Sherman, 593; remarks on Sherman's cam- 
paign against, 5s4; correspon<lence between 
Mayor Calhoun and Gen. Sherman in relation to 
the' depopulation of, 628, 629; destruction of 
property in, 680; abandoned by the army of 
Sherman, 681 ; march of Sherman from, to Sa- 
vannah, 681 -683. 

Atlanta, iron-clad, capture of, by the Weehawken, 
504. 

Austerlitz, Napoleon at, 136. 

Averill, Gen., defeats a rebel force at Moorfleld, 553. 

Averysboro', battle of, 714. 



Bailey, Godard, stocks of Indian Fund abstracted 

by, 52. 
Bailey, Lieut.-Col., Porter's tleet on the lied River 

rescued by, 602. 
Baker, Col. E. D., d^eath of, at the battle of Ball's 

Bluff, 213. 
Baker's Creek, battle of, 427. 

Baltimore, attack on the Massachusetts Sixth Regi- 
ment in, 77 ; Federal authority restored in, by 
Butler, 83 ; advance of rebel cavalry toward, 553 ; 
Republican convention of 1864 held at, 663. 
Ball's Blulf, battle of, 213; results of the battle 

of, 214. 
Banks, Gen. Nathaniel Prentiss, biographical 
sketch of, 435; supersedes Gen. Butler in Mary- 
land, 108; transferred to the valley of Virginia, 
108; operations of, in the valley of the Shenan- 
doah, 265-270 ; dispatchesof, 268,270; retreat of, 
209,270 ; McDowell and Fremont sent to the aid 
of, 274; at the battle of Cedar Mountain, 325; 
supersedes Butler in New Orleans, 435; opera- 
tions of, in the Southwest, 43.5-443; operations 
of, in Texas and on the Red River, 596-604. 
Banks, nation.al, organization of, 677. 
Banks, Southern, condition of, in 1861, 119. 
Banks's Ford, battle of, 448. 

Bardstown, Ky., address of Gen. Bragg issued from, 
to the people of the Northwest, 401 ; retreat of 
the Confederates from, 406. 
Barnard, Gen., extract from his report on the Pen- 
insula campaign, 294. 
Barron, Commodore, surrenders Fort Uatteras to 

Gen. Butler, 146. 
Base, McClellan's change of, 285. 
Battle of Antietam, 380-386. 

Atlant:i, 5?; I -534, 586, 589, 590. 
Averysboro', 714. 
Ball's Blulf, 213. 
Baker's Creek, 427. 
Banks's Ford, 448. 
Belmont, Mo., 179. 
Big Bethel, 92. 
Booneville, Mo., 106. 
Brier Forks, Mo., 106. 
Bristow Station, 467. 
Bull Run, 100. 
Bull Rim, second, 831. 
Bunker Hill, Va., 109. 
Campbell Station, 498. 



Battle of Carricksford, 112. 

C'Cdar Creek, 650-651 

Cedar Mountain, 32,5. 

Champion's Hill, 427. 

Chancellorsville, 446-444 

Chantilly, 335. 

Charlestovvn, Mo., 152. 

Cheat River, 112. 

Chickamanga, 486-491. 

Cold Harbor, 534, 535. 

Cross Keys, Va., 275. 

Dallas. 573. 

Darbytown, 691. 

Drainesville. 214. 

Dug Springs, 148. 

Fair Oaks, 261. 

Fisher's Hill, 646. 

Five Forks, 721-723, 

Fort Darling, 531. 

Fort Donelson, 176. 

Friinkiin, Tenn., 633. 

Fredericksburg, 393. 

Gaines's Mills, 285. 

Gettysburg, 458-463. 

Glendale, 290. 

Griswoldsville, Ga., 68L 

Hainesville, Va., 109. 

Hatclier's Rim, 692. 

Jackson, Miss., 426. 

Jonesboro', 5S9. 

Kelly's Ford, 463. 

Kenesaw Mountain, 577. 

Laurel Hill, Va., 111. 

Lookout Mountain, 500. 

Lost Mountain, 575. 

McDowell, Va., 273. 

Malvern Hill, 290. 

Mansfield, 600. 

Marion, 732. 

Mechanicsville, 533. 

Mill Spring, 172. 

Monocacy, 552. 

Murfreesboro', 413-41T. 

Nashville, 037-640. • 

Nelson's Farm, 290. 

Olustee, 618 

Peach -ti-ee Creek, §61. 

Pea Ridge, 299-301. 

Perry sville, Kv., 407. 

Pittsburg Landing, 307-312, 

Pleasant Hill, La., 601. 

Pumpkin Vine ('reek, 563. 

Rappahannock Station, 463. 

Raymond. 425. 

Keams'a Station, 557. 

Rich Mountain, 111. 

Romney, Va., 111. 

Salisbury. 733. 

Savage's Station, 288. 

Selma, 738. 

Seven Days', on the Peninsula, 2S4-2^ 

Seven Pities. See Fair Oaks. 

Shiloh. See Pittsburg Luinding. 

South Mountain, 457. 

Stone River, 413-417. 

"Wilderness, 509-515. 

•Weldon Itailroad, 542, 556, 557. 

■Williainsljunr, 253. 

"Wilson's Creek. 149. 

■Winchester. 267, 646. 
Bates, Attorney-General, opinion of, in rel.ati«n to 
the President's power to suspend the habeas 
corpus^ 130. 
Baton Rouge, occupation of, by Gen. William*, 
36S; (Jen. Williams attacked at, by Gens. Brecfc- 
inrldge and RuErgles, 870; raid of Grierson to, 
from Lairiange, Tenn., 434. 
Bautzen, Napoleon at, 137. 

Bayou Techo country, successful expedition to the, 
436. 



INDEX 



761 



Beall, John T., execution of, as pirate, spy and 

murfU'ivr. 743. 
Bc'dufort, N. C, Burnside's operations against, 

340-341i. 
Beaufort, S. C, occupation of^ by Federal forces, 

200. 
Beaurecrard, Gen. P. G. Toutant, bio<;rapliical 
filcetch of, G7; placed in eoinniand at (iliarleston, 
67; his bDinbardnient of Fort Sumter, CS-72; 
proclamation of, to the people of Loudon, Fair- 
fax, and Prince William Counties, Va., 80; at 
Manassas Junction, 97 ; confirmed full general 
in the Confe<lerate service, 118 ; inactivity of, in 
Virginia, 14.5; assumes command of the Confed- 
erate Army of tlie Mississippi, 805; letter of, 
from Corinth to Samuel Cooper, Richmond, 312; 
evacuates Corinth, 315; late pursuit of, 31G; ap- 
peal of, to the people of Georgia, 681. 
Belle Isle prison at Uichmond, description of, 740. 
Belmont, Mo., <lefeat of Confederate troops at, by 

Gens. Grant and McClernand, 1T9. 
Beman, John, hung for refusing to take the oath 

to sustain the Confederacy, 129. 
Benham, Gen., his siege of Fort Pulaski, 844 ; dis- 
astrous operations of, on James Island, 347 ; 
placed under arrest. 347. 
Bentonville, Sherman's army at, 715. 
Berry, Gen. Hiram Gregory, biographical sketch 
of, 450 ; death of, at the battle of Chancellors- 
ville, 450. 
Berry villc, supply train captured at, by Mosby, 643. 
Bethel, Big and Litlle, expedition against, 92. 
Betts, Judge, on misprision of treason, 132. 
Beverly, Vii., surrender of Col. Pegram at, 113. 
Big Bethel, battle of, 92. 
Bills, military, before Congress, 123; by whom 

opposed, 124. 
Biography of Anderson, Major Robert, 64. 

Beauregard, Gen. P. G. Toutant, 67. 
Berry, Gen. Hiram Gregory, 450. 
Bragg, Gen. Braxton, 72. 
Buchanan, Capt. Franklin. 246. 
Biiell, Gen. Don Carlos, 1C8. 
Burnside, Major-Gen. Ambrose E., 

206. 
Butler, fien. Benjamin Franklin, 307. 
Davis, ^tferson, 114. 
Dix, Gen. John Adams, 67. 
Duijont, Itear-Admiral Samuel F., 

19S. 
Ewell, Gen. Richard Stoddard, 525. 
Farragut, Admiral David G., 421. 
Floyd, John Buchanan, 65. 
Foote, Rear-Admiral Andrew H., 

173. 
Gillmore, Gen. Qnincy Adams, 504. 
Grant, Lieut.-Gen. Ulysses S.. 1.50. 
Halleek, Gen. Henry Wager, 295. 
Hardee, Gen. William J., 152. 
Hood, Gen. John B., 580. 
Hooker, Gen. Joseph, 44.3. 
Howard, Gen. Oliver Otis, 586. 
Jackson, Gen. Thomas Jonathan, 205. 
Johnson, Andrew, 750. 
Johnston. Gen. Joseph Eccleston, 98. 
Kearny, Gen. Philip, 234. 
Kil|iatrick. Gen. Jiidson, 710. 
Lee, Gen. Robert Edmund, 66. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 747. 
Longstreet, Gen. James. 4S7. 
Mctilellan. Gen. George B., 229. 
McCulloch, Gen. Ben.', 298. 
McDowell, Gen. Irvin, 90. 
McPherson, Gin. James B., 583. 
Magiuder, John Bankliead, 93. 
Mansfield, Gen. J. K. F., 90. 
Meade, Gen. George G., 456. 
Mitehel, Gen. Ormsby McKniglit, 

812. 
Morgan, Gen. John U. 731. 



Biography of Patterson, Gen. Robert, 96. 

Pemberton, Lieut.-Gen. John C..4VI. 
Phelps, Gen. J. W., 204. 
Pillow, Gen. Gideon J , 152. 
Polk, Gen. LeonitUis, 575. 
Pope, Gen. John. 147. 
Porter, Admiral David D., 601. 
Price, Gen. Sterling, 151. 
Rosecrans, Gen. William S.. 111. 
Schofield, Gen. John McAllister, 604^ 
Sedgwick, Gen. John, 517. 
Sheridan, Gen. I'hilip Henry, 522. 
Sherman, Gen. Thomas W.. 199. 
Sherman, Gen. William Tecuinselk 

418. 
Shields, Gen. James, 2G6. 
Sigel, Gen. Franz, 148. 
Stephens, Alexander IL, 114. 
Stone, Captain Charles P., 64. 
Stuart, Gen. James B., 522. 
Thomas, Gen. George Henry, 487. 
Toombs, Robert. 114. 
Van Dorn, Gen. Earl, 297. 
Wadsworth. Gen. James Samnel, b\S; 

death of, 513. 
Ward, Capt. James H., 9.3. 
Winthrop, Major Theodore, 93. 
Wool, Gen. John E., 63. 
Birney, Gen., his attack upon Laurel Hill, 559. 
Black, Secretary, circular addressed by, to minis- 
ters abroad, 216. 
Blackmore, Dr., attempt of, to introduce yellow 

fever into the United States, 744. 
Blair, Col. Francis P.. complaints of, in relation t« 
Fremont's management in Missouri^ 1.55 ; ar- 
rested by Fremont, 155; joins Sliei-man's army 
with the Seventeenth Corps, 575. 
Block.adc of Southern ports declared, 74. 
Blockade of the coasts of Virginia and North Car- 
olina ])roclaimed. 187. 
Blockade, law of, 190-192. 
Blockade of Charleston temporarily interrupted 

by Capt. Ingrahnm, 502. 
Bolivar Heights, Va., Colonel Geary attacked neac, 

211. 
Bombardment of Fort Sumter, 6S. 
Bonneville. Mo., defeat of tlie rebels near, by Gen. 
Lyon, 100; Shelby routed at, by tho Missouri 
militia, 607. 
Bootli, John Wilkes, assassination of President 
Lincoln by, 748; shot near Port Royal,ji49; 
trial and punishment of his accomplioes. 749. 
Border States, liesitation of the, 42; propositions 
of a committee of the, 54; convention of, at 
Frankfort, Ky., 87 ; proposition of Presideitt 
Lincoln in relation to emancipation in, .357. 
Boston, petition sent from, in favor of the Critten- 
den resolutions, 55. 
Bowling Green, Ky., occupation of, by Gen. Luck- 
ner, 167; occupied by a Federal force utuler 
Gen. Mitehel, 175; occupation of, by Gen. 
Bnigg, 401. 
Bradford, Major, his defence of Fort Pillow against 

Forrest, 565; murder of, by rebel .soldiers, 507. 
Bragg, Gen. Braxton, biographical sketch of, 72; 
sircceeds Beauregard at' OKalona, 318; address 
of, to the iieople of the Nortliwest, 401 ; cpent- 
tionsof, in Kentucky, 401-40S; order of, in re. 
lation to the inauguration of a rebel governor of 
Kentucky, 403; great quantity of si>oiIs carried 
off by, from Kentucky, 408; retreat of, from 
Murfreesboro'' before i;osecrans.410; driven back 
upon ChattanooL'a by Rosecrans, 482: aliaiidon* 
Cliattanoog.a, 484; re-enforced from the army of 
Johnston, 485; remarks on the career of. 492; 
inactivity of, before Chattanixjga, 4W; diiven 
from Lookout Mountain. .500. 
BraiKly Station, retreat of Gen. Meado to, 470. 
Brashear City, surprise and capturo oi; by the 
rebels, 438. 



762 



INDEX. 



BrecliinridiTC, J. C, rt^signs.bis senatorabip, 16S. 

Breese, C!ii)tain, his attack on the sea front of Fort 
Fisher, Oiil. 

Brier Forks, Mo., battle near, 106. 

Bristow .Station, battle of, 46T. 

Broiigb, John, elected governor of Ohio, 653. 

Brown, Col. Harney, secret expedition dispatched 
under command of, 67; arrival of, at Fort Pick- 
ens with re-enforcements, 72; operations of, at 
Fort Pickens, 20S. 

Brown, Gov., forts in Gcorsria seized by, 40. 

Brown, John, raid of, at Harper's Ferry, 33; exe- 
cution of, 34. 

Brownlow, Uev. W. G.; persecuted for loy.ilty, 129. 

Brown's Gap, strong position of Karly at, 64S. 

Brownsville, occupation of, by the troops of Gen. 
Dana, 598. 

Buchanan, Capt. Fr.anklin, biographical sketch of, 
246; wounded and captured in the ram Tennes- 
see, 613. 

Buchanan, President, his messago of Doc., 1S60, 
50; message of, Jan., 1S61, .52. 

Buckner, Gen. S. B., proclamation issued by, from 
Bowling Green, 167 ; his surrender of Fort Don- 
elson to" Gen. Grant, 177. 

Buell, Gen. Don Carlos, biographical sketch of, 
163; succeeds Anderson and iihermau in com- 
mand of the Departnient of the Cumberland, 16S; 
advance of, on Nashville, 17S; o])[>ortune arrival 
of his troops at Pittsburg Landing, 310; lo.sses 
of, at the battle of Pittsburg Landing, 311 ; ojier- 
Hlions of, in Kentucky, 3U9-40S; superseded by 
Gen. Thomas, 404; reinstated in Jjis command, 
405; large force under, 405; superseded by Gen. 
U»secr4Ks, 412. 

Bull liun, battle of, 100; effects of the defeat at, 
104; benettcial etl'eot on the North of the battle 
of, 113; paralyzing influence of the defeat at, 
139; second battle of, 330; losses at the second 
battle oi; 331. 

Bunker Hill, Va., battle near, 109. 

Burbridge, Gen., letter of bhi-rman to, in relation 
to the treatment of guerrillas, 57S; routs Mor- 
gan at Cvnthiana, 780; attempt of, to capture 
8altville,'73L 

Bnrnside, Maj.-Gen. Ambrose E., biographical 
sketch of, 206; operations of, on the coast of 
North Carolina, 206, 338-342; return of, to For- 
tress Monroe, 343; important services of, at the 
battle of Antietam, 3Si; McClellan superseded 
by, in command of the Army of the Potomac, 
390; account of his operations against Freder- 
icksburg, 391-398; inquiry into the causes of his 
failure at Fredericksbt-g, 3s5; singular tele- 
gram of the President to, 897; i)lan3 of, made 
known to the enemy, 398; superseded by Gen. 
Hooker, 398; ca])ture of KnoxviUe by, 484; re- 
lieved from the command of the department of 
the Ohio, 501. 

Butler, Gen. Benjamin Franklin, biographical 
sketch of, 307i placed in comm.aud of the Anna- 
polis di'partment, S2; occupies Itel.ay House, 
63; maintains the Federal authority in Balti- 
more, S3; head-quarters of, at Fortress Monroe, 
91, 108; surrender of Fort Hatteras to a force 
under, 146; account of his Ship Island Expedi- 
tion, 202-206: attempts to raise troops in Massa- 
chusetts without State authority, 204; expedi- 
tion of, against New Orleans, 863-367; his occu- 
])ation of New Orleans, 367; administration of, 
in Now Orleans, 367; superseded by Gen. Banks, 
435; co-o|)erative movement of, up the James, 
489; operations of on the James, 629-5.33; dis- 
patch of, from City Point, 530; attacked by 
Beauregard within his lines, 532; consolidation 
of his army with that of Grant, 642 ; expedition 
of, against Wilmington, 6S7-690; relieved of the 
command of the Army of the James, 696; letter 
of to Admiral Porter, in relation to Fort Fisher, 



Buzzard Koost, Johnston's position at, turned by 
Sherman, 569. 



Cabell, Gen., repulse of, at Fayetteville. Ark.. 606{ 

raid of, in Southwestern Mis.souri, 607. 
Cabinet, Confederate, members of the, 48, 114. 
Cabinet, Federal, changes in the, 51. 

Cairo, apprehended Confederate movements 
against, 170; tleet of gunboats prepared at, un- 
der the direction of Fhig-officer Foote, 173. 

Caleb Gushing, revenue cutter, captured in Port- 
land liarbor, 875. 

Calhoun, a stong advocate of nullification, 24; error 
of President Jackson in relation to. 25. 

Calhoun, Mayor James M., surrenders Atlanta to 
Gen. Ward, 591 ; letter of, to Gen. Sherman, in re- 
lation to the depopulation of Atlanta, 628; Gen, 
Sherman's reply to, 629. 

Calhoun, Sherman's forces at, 572. 

Camden, Ark., occupation of, by Gen. Steele, 603. 

Cameron, Col., killed at Bull Pain, 103. 

Cameron, Secretary, rejjort of, to the Thirty- 
seventh Congress, 122; visit of, to Missouri, to 
inquire into Fremont's management, 159; resig- 
nation of, 215. 

Camp Beach Grove, fortified by Zollicoffer, 171. 

Campbell, John A., Mr. Seward accused of dupll>- 
city by, 62. 

Campbell Station, battle of, 493. 

Camp Dick Kobinson, Ky., complained of as antn- 
fringement of Kentucky neutiality, 162. 

Camp Jackson, surrender of Gen. Frost at, to Capt. 
Lyon, 104. 

Camp Wild Cat, battle near, between the troops 
of Zollicoffer and Schcetf, 107. 

Canal, Dutch Gap, proposed by Gen. Butler, 554. 

Canal cut across the peninsula opposite Island No. 
Ten, 303. 

Canal from the Mississippi to Lake Providence, 
421. 

Canal on the peninsula, opposite Vicksburg, re- 
opened, 420 ; abandoned, 421. 

Cannon, improvements in the manufacture o^ 
225; lart'e number of, captured at Vicksburg, 
432. 

Cape Fear River, forts on, abandoned by the rebels, 
699. 

Cape Girardeau, defence of, by Gen. McNiel, against 
Marmaduke, 600. 

Capital, national, consumption of, 353. 

Carlile, Mr. J. S.. admitted to the Senate from 
West Virgiraa, 124. 

Carrollton, occupation of, by Gen. Phelps, 363. 

Casey, Gen., Division of, routed at the battle at 
Seven Pines, 261. 

Cass, Hon. Lewis, resignation of, 51. 

Cattle, twenty-five hundred head of, carried off by 
Wade Hampton, 5.59. 

Cavalry, want of, in McClellan's army, 386. 

Cedar ('reek, battle of, 650-654; Sheridan turn* 
defeat into victory at, 653. 

Cedar Mountain, battle of, 325. 

Centre ville, advance of Gen. Tyler to, 99; descrip- 
tion of the Confederate works at, 231; army of 
Gen. Pope at, 334. 

Certificates, issue of, 251. 

Chambersburg. proclamation issued from, by Geu. 
li. E. Lee, 455 ; fired by rebel cavalry under Mo- 
Causland, 563. 

Champion's Hill, battle of, 427. 

Chancellorsville, battle of, 446-443. 

Chandler, Col. D. T., testimony of, as to Gen. Win^- 
der's infamous treatment of Union prisoners, 
742. 

Change of base, McClellan's, 285. 

Chanlilly, battle of, 335. 

Charleston, South Carolina, convention adjonrneil 
to. 35; notice of the forts at, 64; military prepa- 
rations made in, C5; Beauregard placed in cona- 



nn)Ex. 



763 



mand at, 67; sleg« of, 545-347,501-508;, shelled 
by Gen. Gillmore, 508; luovemeiit of Gen. Gill- 
more against, 702 ; sunender of, 703. 

Charleston harbor, stone fleet sunk at the entrance 
of, 202. 

Charlestown. Mo., battle of, 152. 

Charlestown, Va., cajjture of, by Gen. Imboden, 
467. 

Chase, Secretaiy, measures taken by, to obtain loans, 
127. 

Chattahoochee Eiver, Sherman's army at the, 578 ; 
Johnston compelled by Sherman to retire from 
the, 580. 

Chattanooga, Gen. Kirby Smith at, with 20,000 
men, 318; Bragg driven back upon, by Long- 
street, 482 ; retreat of Bragg from, 484 ; llose- 
crans at, after Chickamanga, 491; situation of 
Eosecrans at, 494; arrival of largo re-enforce- 
ments at, 496. 

Cheatham, B. P., appointed brigadier-general in 
the Confederate service, 118. 

Cheat Mountain Pass, operations near, 182. 

Cheat Kiver, defeat of General Garnett at, 112. 

Cherokee Station, General Osterhaus i-epulsesLee 
and Loring near, 497. 

Chesapeake, steamer, seizure ' of, by Confederate 
passent:ers, 744. 

Chicago, Democratic Convention of 1SG4 held at, 
665. 

Ohickahominy, advance of the Army of the Poto- 
mac to the, 258 ; bridges over the, 260 ; Grant's 
battles on the, 534-537. 

Chickamanga, battle of, 486-491 ; killed and 
wounded at, 4S9; remarks on the campaign ter- 
minating with the battle of, 491. 

Christian Commission, beneficent offices of, 742. 

Christmas gift, Sherman's, 685. 

Cincinnati, alarm occasioned in, by the approach 
of Gen. Bragg, 403; martial law proclaimed in, 
by Gen. Wallace, 403; proclamation of the may- 
or of, 404; liquor stores closed in, 404. 

Circular addressed to foreign ministers by Mr. 
Seward, 217. 

Circular addressed by Mr. Seward to the governors 
of States, 222. 

Circular addressed by Memminger to officers of 
Confederate States, 119. 

Circular of Gen. Sherman in relation to newsp.aper 
reporters and the transmission of mails, 572. 

Citizens, Northern, banished from Southern States, 
117, 129. 

City Point, explosion of an ordnance boat at, 554. 

Clay, Clement C, and others, letter of Horace 
Greeley to, 670 ; final reply of, to Mr. Greeley, 671. 

Clay, Henry, author of tlu- Missouri compromise, 
22; compromise measures proposed by, in rela- 
tion to the tariff, 25. 

Cobb, Howell, resigns liis position as secretary of 
the treasury, 51 ; elected chairman of the South- 
ern Convention, 46. 

Coercion, President Adams's measures for, in 
Georgia, 23; President Jackson's measures for, 
in So'uth Carolina. 25. 

Coggin's Point, 2,5lM) cattle carried off from, by 
Wade Hampton, 559. 

Coin, interest on the national debt and customs 
duties to be paid in, 348. 

Cold Hai-bor, battles at, 5:34, .535. 

(^llins. Commander, captures the Florida in the 
Bay of San Salvador, 627, 

Columbia, South Carolina, Convention adjourned 
from, an account of small-pox, 35; surrender of, 
to Gen. Howard, 711 burning of, 711. 

Columbiad irun, description of the, 226. 

Columbus, K}'., occupation of, by Gen. Polk, ICD; 
fortification of, by the Confederates, 170; occu- 
pation of, by Federal tn)ops, 178. 

Columbus, Ga., capture of, by Gen. Wilson, 7.'5S. 

Commerce, American, how afl'ected by the dep- 
redations of Southern cruisers, 376. 



Commissioners, Confederate, sent to Europe, 161. 

216; reply of Earl liussell to, 220, 
Commissioners, Southern, reply of Mr, Seward tn, 

61 ; final letter of, to Mr. Seward, 02. 
Commission of the Virginia Conveulion, reply of 

Mr. Lincoln to, 0'2. 
Commissions, Christian and Sanitary, beneficent 

offices of, 742. 
Compromise, measures of, proposed by Clay, to 

relation to the tariff, 25, 
Compromise, Missouri, history of the, 22; repeal 

of, 28, 
Confiscation act, provisions of, 125 ; signed by the 

President, 858. 
Confiscation in the North of property belonging 

to rebels, 134. 
Congress, Confederate, e.arly proceedings of, 83, 
S6; assembled in Kichmoiid, July, 1861, 
113; how constituted, 114; action of, 
in relation to Missouri, 116. 
the Thirty-si.Nth Federal, action of, 57. 
the Thirty seventh Feder.'^i, how con- 
stituted, 121; acts iiassed by, 125; sej>- 
ond session of. 354 ; results of the pro- 
ceedings of, 362. 
frit'ate, capture of, by the Merrimac, 
247. •• 

Conscription, Confederate, after tho battle of 
Gettysburg, 466. 
law, Mr. Wilson's, 362 ; unpopulais- 
ity of, 450 ; amended by Congress, 
662. 
Constitution, Federal, history of tho formation of 
the, 17; binding on the whoLa 
people, IS; amendments to, su^ 
gcsted by the Hartford Conven- 
tion, 21; anien<lmeiits to, ]iroposed 
by Mr. Crittenilen, 54; proposed 
amendment to the, 58; Webster 
on the, 25; powers conferred by, 
upon the Government, 355. 
Confederate, 48; adojKed by tho 
Virginia Convention, 43 ; adopted 
by the North Carolina Couveiv- 
tion, 45. 
adopted by the Montgomery Coa- 
vention, 47. 
Convention of 1787 to amend the Articles of C0». 
federation, 17. 
Alabama, secession ordinance of, 39. 
Arkansas, ordinance of secession, 

passed bv the, 43. 
Democratic, of 1864, pl.atform of, G66. 
Hartford, resolutions .adopted by the, 

21. . 
Mississippi, action of, 37 ; eecesstDn 

ordinance of. 3S. 
Missouri, iirtion of, 110. 
Montsromcrv, delrgale.s to the, 47. 
of Paris of INjO, in relation to priva. 

teering, 115. 
Eepublican, of 1864. platform of, 663. 
South Carolina, adjourned from Co- 
lumbia to Charleston, 35; ordinance 
of secession of, 35; reasons of, for 
secession, 30 ; resolutions adopted 
by, 36. 
of States invited by tho \irgiuia le^ 

islature, 56. 
Te.xas, ordinance of secession passed 

by, 41. 
Virginia, reply of Mr. Lincoln to tho 
commissioners of, 62 ; secession ordi- 
nance i)as.se(l by the, 42; Confeder- 
ate constitution adoi)ted by, 43. 
Washington, 46. 

Western Virginia, loyal action of, 83. 
Corcoran, Col., made prisoner at I'.uU Eun, 103. 
Corinth, concentration of Confederate troops at, 
under Gen. A. S. Johnston, 306; operations of 



764 



IJSTDEX 



Gen. TTalleok Ji^ainst, 313-817; dispatches of 
HallecU in relation to captiii-e of, 313-S16; evac- 
nation of, by the forces of Bcauregani, 815 ; siege 
of, by Piice, Van Dorn, and Lovell, 410. 

Corse. GtU., his defence of Allatoona I'ass, 632. 

Cost of construction of Federal forts in the Slave 
Slates, 85. 

Ootlon, export of, prohibited by tho Confederate 
Congress, 86, gi-eat destruction of, in the South- 
west, 318; and atNew Orleans, 305; large quan- 
tities of^ captured at Savannah, 6S5. 

Cotton gin, effect of the invention of the, 26. 

Covington, Ga., raid of Gen. Garrard to, 584. 

Creditors, Northern, act of the Confederate con- 
gress in relation to, 119. 

Oeeks, titles of, to lands in Georgia, extinguished 
by treaty of 1825, 23. 

Crew of the Savannah, trial of the, 195. 

Crittenden, Col. Thomas L., troops raised by, in 
defence of Kentucky, 164. 

Crittenden, Gen. George B., in command of the 
rebel force at Mill Spring, ITl. 

Crittenden, Mr., amendments to the Federal Con- 
stitution proposed by, 54; resolution moved by, 
in tho House of Kepresentatives, 124. 

Crittenden resolution^, fate of the, 58. 

Cross Keys, Va., battle of, 276; dispatch of Fre- 
mont in relation to the battle at, 276. 

Cuba, schemes for the annexation of, 29. 

Gulluin, Gen., his report on the works at Winches- 
ter, 451. 

CSulpepper Court-IIouse, advance of Gen. Pope to- 
ward, 324. 

Gjlmberland, concentration of the Army of the Po-. 
toniac at. 255. 

Guniberland, frigate, the sinking of, by the Merri- 
niae. 24(). 

Qumberhind Gap, occupation of, by Gen. Zollicof- 
fer, 164; description of, 408; capture of, by Gen. 
G. W. Morgan, 409. 

Onmberland Kiver, description of, 173. 

Currency, Confederate, rapid depreciation of, IIS, 
119. 

Guvtin, Governor, militia of Pennsylvanii^ called 
out by. 377. 

CSurtis, Gen. Samuel R., biographical sketch o^ 
297; operations of, in Missouri and Arkansas, 
297-302; slaves lil)erated by, in Arkansas, 301. 

Gushing, Lieut W. B., how he sank the rebel ram 
Albemarle. 622. 

Cynthiana, burnt by the guerrilla Morgan, 730. 



Dahlgrcn, Admiral John A., succeeds Dupont in 
command of the South Atlantic Squadron, 504. 

Dahlgren, Col., death of, 472 ; papers said to have 
bern found on his bodj', 472. 

Dahlgren gun, peculiarity of the, 220. 

Dallas, Ga., battle of, 573. 

DivUas, Mr., succeeded by Mr. Adams at the Court 
of St. James, 217, 218. 

Dalton, Johnston comiielled by Sherman to aban- 
don his works at, 569. 

Dam built by Lieut.-Col. Bailey on the Ked Riv- 
er, 602. 

Dana, Gen., expedition of, to Brownsville, Texas, 
598. 

Dana, Mr. C. A., dispatch of, from Spottsylvania 
Court-House. 521. * 

Danville and Weldon railroad8,expedition of Wil- 
son and Kautz airainst, 544. 

Darbytown, batlle'of, 691. 

Davis, Commodore, defeats the rebel fleet near 
Meinfhis, 317: fleet of, joins that of Farragut 
above Vicksburg, SOS. 

Davis, Gen. Jefl'erson C, biographical sketch of, 
800; expedition of, toward Uover and Franklin, 
480; relieves Gen. Palmer, 586. 

Davis, Jefferson, biographical sketch of, 114; ex- 
tracts from his first message, S3; message of, to 



the Congress at Richmond, 115; address of, to the 
Confederate army after the retreat of McClellan 
from the Chickahoininy, 292 ; details of the cap- 
ture of, 754; confined in Fortress Monroe, 756. 

Dayton, Mr., Secretary Seward's instructions to, 
218, 219. 

Debt, interest-bearing, amount of, 353. 

Debt, national, interest on, to be paid in coin, 848; 
amount and composition of. in 1862, 849; and in 
1863,352; amount of, in 1^61-64,354; tabular 
statement of the, 678; at the close of the war, 
756. 

Debts, American, British, and French, comparative 
annual charges on, 354. 

Decatur, Ala., capture of, by Col. Turchin, 312. 

Deep Bottom, recounoissauce from, toward Rich- 
mond, 554. 

Deerhound, steam yacht. Captain Semmes and 
others carried off by the, 626. 

Delegat'^s to the Mongomery Convention, 47. 

Deiuoci-atic convention of 1S64, platform of, 666. 

Deposit loans. 349. 

Depreciation of the Confederate currency, 118. 119. 

Disloyalty in the diplomatic corps and among 
oflice-holderB, 130. 

Dismal Swamp Canal, expedition of Gen. Reno to 
destroy, 342. 

District of Columbia, abolition of slavery in the, 
357. 

Diplomacy, national, results of, 221. 

Diplomatic corps, disloyalty among the membera 
of the, 130. 

Dix, Gen. John Adains, biographical sketch of. 67; 
famous order of, 67; appointed to tho depart- 
ment of Maryland, 108. 

Doubleday, Gen., at the battle of Antietam, 3S2. 

Draft riot in New York, 466. 

Drafts, successive, 470,471, 473, 546, C94. 

Draeon, gunboat, destruction of, by the Mtrrimac, 
249. 

Drainesville. battle of, 214. 

Dred Scott decision, 28. 

Dug Springs, Mo., battle of, 14S. 

Dunham. Col., his defence and surrender of Murrv- 
fordsville, Ky., 401. 

Dupont, I!ear Admiral Samuel F., biographical 
sketch of, 198: operations of in Port Royal har- 
bor. 198: operations of, atrainst the Charleston 
forts, 502; retires from command of the Bouih 
Atlantic Squadron, 504. 

Dutch Gap cjmal, proposed by Gen. Butler, 554; 
diversion attempted to relievo the working pan- 
ties on, 554. 



Earlv, Gen. A. J., contribution levied by. tipom 
York, Pa., 456; his invasion of I'ennsylvania 
and Maryland, 551-553; operations of Sheridan 
against, in the Slienandoah Valley, 641-656. 

East Tennessee, o[)erations of Burnsi<le in, 484; 
other military operations in. 494-501 ; Gen. Stono- 
man app(dnted to command in, 732. 

Ei;:rhth Massachusetts Regiment, departure of, for 
Washington, 78; machinists in the ranks of 
the, 79. 

Election, presidential, of 1860, 82; followed by 
secession movements, 34 

Election, presidenlial. of 1864. 603-068. 

Ellct, Col., expedition of, up the Yazoo, SC9. 

Ellis, Gov., reply of, to President Lincoln's call for 
troops, 73. 

Ellsworth, Col. Ephraim E., death of, at Alexan- 
dria, 90. 

Emancipation, proposition of President Lincoln to 
Border States in relation to, 357. 

Emancipation proclamaiions. 356, 359, 361. 

j)roclamation of Gen. Fremont in 
Missouri, 154. 

England, relations witli the government of, 217. 

Europe, interference of, apprehended, 140. 



nn)Ex. 



Y65 



Ewell, Oen. Uicharfl Stoddard, biographical sketch 
o^ 525; advance of his corps upon Winchester, 
451 drives Milroy out of Winchester, 452. 

Exchange of prisoners, 739, 742; questions in rela- 
tion to, 19(5. 

Excise law, 350. 

Executive, questions as to the powers of the, 130. 

E-xports of the Confederate States, 118. 



Fair Oaks, battle of, 201 ; largo destruction of gov- 
ernment stores at, 288. 

Falls at Alexandria, how passed by Porter's fleet, 
602. 

Farragnt, Admiral David G., biojrraphical sketch 
of, 421 ; fleet of, pass the Mississippi forts, 864; 
letter of, to the Mayor of New Orleans, den;and- 
ing surrender ; fleet of, pass the Vicksburg bat- 
teries. 3CS; fleet of, pass the Port Hudson batter- 
ies, 421 ; operations of, against Mobile, 611-615. 

Fay, Ool., Gen. Zollicoffer killed by, 172. 

Fuyetteville, Ark., Gen. Cabel repulsed at, by Col. 
Harrison, 006. 

Fayetteville, N. C, occupation of, by Sherman's 
forces, 718. 

Feroeily of the Southern press and people, 129. 

Pessenden, Mr. "William Pitt, financial manage- 
ment of, 677. 

Finance measures of Secretary Chase, 127. 

Finances, P'ederal, disordered condition of, at the 
beginnins: of the war, 57; condition of, in 1861, 
123; chapter on, 345^54; in 1804, 672-679. 

Finances of the Confederate States, llS-121. 

Fislier's Mill, battle of, 646. 

Fishersville, capture of, by Sheridan, 707. 

Fitcli, Col., occupation of Fort Wright and Mem- 
phis bv, 317; battery at St. Charles stormed by, 
318. 

Five Forks, battle of, 721-723. 

Florida, secession movements i.-'IO; expedition to 
the east coast of, 333 ; plac occupied in', 844; 
Gen. Asboth"8 expedition „,015; other military 
operations in, 015-619. 

Florida, steamer, formerly the Oreto, sails from 
Mobile, 372; rebel cruiser, history of the, 627; 
capture of, in tlie Bay of San Salvador, 627. 

Floyd, John Buchanan, biographical sketch of, 65; 
resignation of, 51 ; escape of, from Fort Donel- 
soD, 177; compelled by Gen. liosecrans to retreat 
from the Gauley Itiver, 1S3. 

Flusser, Lieut. Commander, singular death of, 021. 

Footo, Kear Admiral Andrew H., biographical 
sketch of, 173 ; fleet of gunboats prepared at Cairo 
under the direction of, 173; surrender of Fort 
Henry to, 174; wounded at the siege of Fort 
Donelsnn, 176; death of, 504. 

Forrest, Gen., defeats Smith and Grierson at West 
Point, 563 ; operations of, in Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky, 503-507; operations of, against Sherman's 
communications, 630, 631 ; re-enforces the array 
of General Hood, 0:33; defeated by Gen. Milroy 
near Murfreesboro', 035; defeated and driven 
out of Selma by Gen. Wilson, 738. 

Fort Beauregard,' S. C, capture of, 200. . • 

Fort Darling, imsuccessful attack upon, by iron- 
clads, 250 ; failure of Butler's attempt upon, 531. 

Fort de Russey, La., capture of, 599. 

Fort Donelson. description of, 175; siege and cap- 
ture of, 175-177; results of the capture of, 177. 

Fort Fisher, description of, 0S7; torpedo vessel ex- 
ploded near, O-iS ; failure of the attack upon, O^S ; 
correspondence between Porter and Butler in re- 
lation to the attack upon, 6SS, 689, Language of 
Gen. Braces in relation to the attack upon, 090; 
second expedition against, under General Terry 
and Admiral Porter, 090-690; capture o^ by as- 
stiult, 693 ; killed and wounded at, 698. 

JI"ort Gaines, investment of, by Gens. Granger and 
Can by, 611 ; Mobile, surrender of, 614. 



Fort Hatteras, surrender of, to a force under Oen. 
Butler, 146. 

Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, siece and captuEo 
of, 174; results of the capupc nf 174. 

Forts Jackson and Bt. l'iiii:|', bombardment and 
surrender of, 304 305. 

Fort McAllister, attack on. by the iron-clad Moa- 
tauk. 501 ; capture of, by Gen. Huzen. 683; di»- 
jiatch of General Sherman alter tho capture ot 
083. 

Fort Macon, N. C, siege of, 341 ; capture of, 342. 

Fort Mahone, Petersburg. ca])ture of. 724. 

Fort Jiiorgau, Mobile, surrender of. 615. 

Fort Moultrie, garrison transferred from, to Fort 
Sumter, 52-65. 

Fort Pickens, Florida, garrisoned by Federal 
troop-^., 66; re-enforced by Colonel Harvey Brown, 
72; Are opened fi'om, on the navy yard and de- 
fences of Pensacola. 208. 

Fort Pillow, descri[)lion of, 501; taken by assault, 
505; details of the massacre at, 505-507. 

Fort Powell. Mobile, surrender of, 014. 

Fort Pulaski, siege ot, 344; surrender of, S45. 

Fort Steadman, hear Petersburg, capture and re- 
capture of, 717-719. 

Fori Sumter, garrison of Fo.rt Moultrie transferred 
to, 52-65; attempt to re-enforce, 52-66; bombard>- 
ment of, 63-70; names of oflici'rs in. during the 
bombardment, OS; arrival of Gen. Wigfall at. 70; 
surrender of, 72; effect of the fall of, 73; attack 
on, with iron-elads, 503; made a "shapeless 
mass of ruins" by Gilluiore, 507; n.ational flag 
restored on, by Gen. Anderson, 704. 

Fort Wai;ner, siesre of, 505-508. 

Fort Walker, S. C, cajiture of, 200. 

Fort Wrisht, siege of, 314.315; evacuation of, 319; 
occupation of, by Col. Fitch, 317. 

Fortifications, how far valuable, 135. 

Fortifications erected around St. Loui.% 153. 

Fortress Monroe, head-quai ters of General Butler 
at, 91 ; army of McClellan at. 241 ; return of Me- 
Clellan's army to, from Harrison's Landing. 387.,^ 

Forts, Federal, seized by State authorities, 67. 

Forts at Charleston, notice of the, 04. 

Forts in the Slave States at tho outbreak ofthej^-- 
bellion, 85. 

Forts on Capo Fear River, capture of, C99, 7^0., 

Foster, Gen., part taken by, in tho attack on N«w- 
bern, 839 ; apjiointed military govern(-i of New- 
bern, 340; assigned to command the Department 
of the Ohio, 501 ; opens communioatitvus with 
Savannah, 085. 

France, relations with the governroi>ni of, 217; ae- 
tion of the government of, in rtl;ition to the 
seizure of Mason and Slidell, 223. 

Franklin, Benjamin, Federal Constitution not 
satisfactory to. IS. 

Franklin, Gen. William Buell, biogriiphical sketch 
of, 599; at the battle of Antietam, 382; at the 
b.attle of Fredericksburg, 393; relieved from 
duty with the Army of the Potomac, 39S; expe- 
dition of. to Sabine Pass, 590. 

Franklin, Tenn.. attack up-m, by Van Dorn, 481; 
Hood repulsed at, by Schofield, 634. 

Frauds in the War Dep.artment, 52. 

Frederick, Mil., march of tho Confederate* upon, 
377.' arrival of Hooker's army at, 453. 

rredericksbur2, Burnside's operations against, 
391 ; battle of, ^3. 

Freedmen's Bureau established, 652. 

Fremont, Gen. John Ch;irles, biographical sketch 
of, 271 ; extensive command assigned to, 106; 
operations of, in tho West, 147-100; martial law- 
declared in St, Louis by, 151; proclamation of, 
in Missouri, of August, ISOl ; complaints made 
against, by Col. Blair, 155; allegeil extravagance 
ol^ 150 ; dispatch of, in ralatloii to the fall of I.^x- 
ingtoo, 158; advance af, toward Lexington, 159; 
reoceupies Springfield, l.'ii) ; order transmitted 
to, fraajvhe Secretary of War, 15ii ; suparas'dad 



766 



INDEX. 



by Gen. nnnter, 160; placed in command of the 
Moiintiiin DepiirtiiK'nt, 2:iS; operations of, in 
Virginia, 270-279 ; (lis!)atches of, to Harrison- 
burg, 275, 276; dispatch of, from Port KepubHc, 
Va,276; severe uu-asuros adopted by, against 
plunderers, 278; resignation of, 278; order of 
Stanton relievins, 271). 

French, Gen., at the battle of Antietam, 382; 
forces the passage of the liappabannoclc at Kel- 
ly's Ford. 46S. 

J'ront lioyal, Col. Kenly surprised at, 169. 

Frost, Gen., surrender of, at Camp Jackson, to 
Capt. Lyon, 104. 

Fugitive slave law, opposition to, in the North, 27. 



Gaines's Mills, battle of, 2S5. 

Galveston, operations at, 208. 

Gamble, llaniilton E., appointed provisional gov- 
ernor of Missouri, 116. 

Gantt, Hull. E. W., defection of, from the Confed- 
erates in Arkansas, 607. 

Gardner, Gen., correspondence of, with Gen. Banks 
in relation to the surrender of Vicksburg 441. 

Garfield. <^ol.. Humphrey Marshall driven out of 
Kentucky by, 172. 

Garnett, Gen., defeat and death of, at Carrick'a 
Ford, 112. 

Garrard, Gen., raid of, to Covington, Oa., 534. 

Garrisons in Federal forts in the Slave States at 
the outbreak of the rebellion, 85. 

Gauley Bri<lge, rapid retreat of Gen. "Wise from, 
181; operations in the vicinity of, 182-184. 

Geary. Col., attacked bv a rebel force near Bolivar 
Heights, Va., 211. 

Georgia, opposition to the National Government 
in, in 1825, 22 ; Indian claims to lands in, extin- 
gnishe<l by treaty, 23 ; forts in, seized by Gov. 
Brown. 40; operations of Sherman in, 567-596, 
679-CS6; appeals of Beauregard and the Georgia 
deleiration to the people of, 681 ; appeal of Sena- 
tor Hill to the people of, 682. 

Georgia, privateer, where built and armed, 875; 
capture of the. 627. 

Georgia Convention, secession resolution and or- 
dinance passed by, 40. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 45S-463. 

Gillem, Gen., defeated by Breckinridge near Bull 
Gap, 731; operations of, in Southwest Virginia, 
782. 

GJllmore, Gen. Quincy Ad.ams, biogr.aphical sketch 
of, 504; his capture of Fort Pulaski, 845; suc- 
ceeds Hunter in command of the Dei)artment 
of the South, 504; operations of, airainst Morris 
Island, 505; dispatch of, announcing the capture 
of Fort Wagner, 608^; in Butler's attack on Fort 
Darling, 531; the Florida expedition pl.anned 
by, 616; oper.ations of, against Ciiarleston, 702; 
dispatch of, announcing the surrender of Charles- 
ton, 703. 

Glendale, battle of, 290. 

Uold, rapid disappear.ance of, in the Confeder^.te 
States, 120; rise in the premium on, 349- 
851; measures of Congress to prevent dealing 
in, 674; effect of legislation on the price of, 675 ; 
monthly course of the pretniuin on, in 1862- 
1865, 679. 

G<)ld bill, repeal of the, 676. 

Goldsborough, occupation of, by Gen. SchofleW, 
702, 716. 

:Gordonsville, retreat of the Confederate forces to, 
from Manassas, 235. 

■GortchakofT, Prince, rem.arkable letter of, 220. 

Gosport Navy Yard, destruction of national prop- 
erty at, 74. 

Government, National, history of v.irious attempts 
to resist the. 18-30; war powers of the, 355. 

Governors of slaveholding States, reply of, to Pres- 
ident Lincoln's call f<ir troops, 73. 

flrain, largo export gf, to Europe, 852, 351 



Grand Gulf, occupation of, by Gen. Grant, 48-?; 
march of Gen. Grant's army from, toward Vicks- 
burg, 423-427. 

Granger, Gen., attacked by Van Dorn at Frank- 
lin, Tenn.,481. 

Grant, Lieut.-Gen. Ulysses S.. biogr.aphical sketch 
of, 1.50; occupies Paducah. 163, 171 ; proclamation 
issued by, at Paducah, 163; surrender of Fort 
Donelson to, 177 ; army of, at Pittsburg Landing, 
surprised by Gen. Johnston, 307; losses of the 
army of, 311; apology for, 312; appointed to 
the command of West Tennessee, SIS; opera- 
tions of, against Vicksburg, 420-430; corre- 
spondence of. with Pemberton. in relation to the 
surrender of Vicksburg, 430-432 ; letter of Pres- 
ident Lincoln to, after the fall of Vicksburg, 
434; called to command the army in Tennes- 
see, 495; drives Bragg from Lookout Mountain, 
500; .appointed lieutenant-general, 573; formal 
presentation of his commission to, 477; cor- 
respondence of, with President Lincoln. 477; his 
plan for the capture of Eichmond, 530; cor- 
respondence of, with Gen. Lee, in relation to 
terms of surrender, 72C-72S ; sent from Wash- 
ington to Sherman, at Kaleigh, 736. 

Gr.aves House, G.a.. skirmish at, 572. 

Greble, Lieut., death of, at Big Bethel, 9-3. 

Greeley, Horace, letter of President Lincoln to, 
358; letters of, in relation to propositions for 
peace, 669. 670^ telegram of President Lincoln 
to. 671 ; final reply of Clay and Holcombe to, 
672. 

Grierson, Col., cavalry raid of, from Lagrange, 
Tenn., to Baton Eouge, La., 434. 

Grierson and Smith, Gens., cavalry expedition of, 
from Memphis toward Meridian, 562. 

Griswoldville. Ga., battle of, 681. 

Guerrillas, activity of, in Western Missouri, 153; 
letter of Gen. Slierman in relation to the treat- 
ment of, 578. 

Guinney's Station, Gen. Torbert .at. 525. 

Gunboats, fleet of, prepared at Cairo, 173 ; Fort 
Henry, on the Tennessee, captured by the aid 
of, 174; compelled to retire from the attack on 
Fort Donelson, 170; screw, built for the navy. 
189; iron-clad, compelled to retire from Fort 
Darling, 256; importiint assistance rendered by, 
at the battle of Pittsburg Landing, 809; fight of, 
with the rebel fleet, near Memphis, 317; at- 
tack made with, on Sabine Pass, 596; capture of 
the rebel ram Tennessee by, 613. 

Gunboat Unadilla, description of, 190. 

Guns, calibre, weight, &c., of, in the United 
States service, 227. 

Guyandotte, a small body of Union troops sur- 
prised at, 185. 



ITahenx Corpua, suspension of, by the President, 
130; opinions of Taney and Bates as to the Presi- 
dent's power to suspend the, 13') ; opinion of 
Ecverdy Johnson in relation to the sus[)ension 
of, 13L 

ILlgcrstown, troops concentrated at, 837; Stu.ort's 
cavalry driven out of, 464: occupation of, by 
rebel cavalry, 552. 

H.iines's Blu;f, attacks of Sherman upon, 419, 422, 
423. 

Hainesville, V.a., battle at, 109. 

Halleck, Gen. Henry Wager, biographical sketch 
of, 295; command of the Western Dcpartmeni 
assumed by, 179; pl.aced in command of the !>«- 
partment of the Mississippi, 238; severe meas- 
ures of, with regard to secessionists, 296; .affairs 
in Missouri uncler the man.agement of, 295-302; 
order of, excluding fugitive slaves from Federal 
camps, 296 ; appointed to the Dep.artment of 
the Mississippi, 302; dispatches of, in relaliou 
to the evacuation of Corinth, 315-316; opera- 
tions of, against Corinth, 313-317 ; oiado coiu- 



I]!^DEX. 



767 



iiian<Ior-in-chief, 319; correspondence of, with 
McClellnn in relation to Harper's Ferry, &c., 
378; correspondence of, with Secretary StanKiti, 
in relation to the condition of Gen. McClellan"3 
army, oSS; testimony of, in relation to the delay 
at !Fredericksbur2, 395; relieved from dnty as 
commander-in-chief, and appointed chief of statf, 
473. 

Hampton, "Wade, carries off cattle from Cogsin's 
Point, 659 ; accused by Sherman of having fired 
Columbia, 71"2. 

Hancock, Gen. Winfield Scott, biosjraphical sketch 
of, 5'20; organizati(jn of the second army corps 
under, 475^ famous charge of his corps near 
Spottsylvania Court-House, 520. 

Hardee, Gen. William J., biographical sketch of, 
152 ; escape of, from Savannah, 6Si. 

Harkins, Col., his surrender of Union City to For- 
rest, 503. ■ 

Harper's Ferry, John Brown's raid at, 33 ; armory 
at, seized by Virginia militia, 7-t; railroad bridge 
at, burnt by .T(dmston"s troops, lOS; command 
assumed at, by Gen. Sigel, 27S ; Col. Miles in 
command at, 377; abandonment of. recommend- 
ed by McClellan. 37S; investment of, by Gen. 
Jackson, 37S; surrender of, to Confederate 
forces, 379; recapture of, 3S4; retreat of Sigel 
to, from Martinsbursr, 551. 

Harris, Gov., reply of, to Pres. Lincoln's call for 
troops, 73 ; Louisville and Nashville road closed 
by, 161. 

Harris, Itichai-d, inaugurated provisional rebel 
governor of Kentucky, 403. 

HaiTisburg, public property removed from, on the 
approach of the rebels, 4,t-L 

Harrison, Col. M. La Kue, repulses Cabell at Fay- 
etteville, 606. 

Harrisonburg, dispatches of Fremont from, 27o, 
276. 

Harrison's Landing, Army of the Potomac at, 292; 
Pope's movements intended to facilitate jMcClel- 
lan's retirement from, 324; delay of McClellan 
In leaving, 326; excuses of Gen. McClellan for 
not leaving, 336. . 

Hartford Convention, resolutions adopted by the, 
21. 

Hartsnff. Gen., wounded at Antietam, 8S1. 

Hartsvillo, .Mo., movements of M.armaduke and 
Porter against, 605. 

Harney, Gen., superseded hy Gen. Lyon, 105. 

Hatch,' George, Mayor of Cincinnati, proclauu.tion 
of, 404 

Hatcher's Run, battle of; 092. 

Hayes, Gt-n. Alexander, death of, 511. 

Hayne, of South Corolina, nullification advocated 
by, 23; declares the principles of State sover- 
eignty established, 25. 

Hazen, Gen., takes Lookout Mountain, 496; takes 
Fort McAllister, 6S3. 

Head-quarters, scene at Grant'.s, 516. 

Heckman, Gen., made prisoner in Butler's attempt 
on Fort; Darling, 531. 

Helena, Ark., repulse of Price and Mai-m.aduko at, 
by Gen. Prentiss, 606. 

Helper, John Rowan, effect of the publication of 
his book, 34. 

Henry, Alexander, call to arms addressed by, to 
the citizens of Philadelphia, 457. 

Hicks, Col., repulses Forrest at Paducah, 564. 

Hicks, Gov., extract from his address to the people 
of Maryland, SO; suggests Lord Lyons as "me- 
diator," 80. 

Hilton Head, operations of Gen. T. W. Sherman 
in the vicinity of, 343; schools for negroes es- 
tablished at, 344. 

History of the Federal Constitution, 17. 

History of various attempts to resist the National 
Government, lS-80. 

Hobson, Gen., entire force under, captured by Mor- 
gan, 730. 



Hollins, Capt G. N^ fleet fitted out by, at N»w Or» 
leans, 209. 

Holly Springs, Grant's d6p6t of supplies destroyed 
at, 412. 

Holmes, Gen., retreat of, before Gen. Steele, in 
Ark., 606. 

Hood, Gen. John B., biographical sketch of, 580; 
supersedes Gen. Johnston, 5S0; letters of, in re- 
lation to the removal of the inhabitants of At- 
lanta, .593 ; Sherman's letter to, 594 ; operations of, 
against Sherman's comnuinications, 631 ; retires 
before Sherman into Northern Alabama, 632 ; 
army of, re-enforce<l hy Forrest, 633; repulsed 
at Franklin, ft}4; advances on Nashville, 6;J4; 
operations of, against Nashville. 635-640; driven 
over the Tennessee by Gen. Thomas, 640; end 
of his career, 641. 

Hooker, Gen. Joseph, biographical sketch of, 443; 
at the battle of Antietam, oSO ; wounded at An- 
tietam, 3S1 ; at the battle of Fredericksburg, 
393; Burnside superseded by, in command of 
the Army of the Potomac, 398; his short cam- 
paign against Richmond, 442-l.'J0 ; confident 
order of, 445; remarks on his Richmond cam- 
paign, 450; superseded by Gen. Jleade, 455; 
farewell address of, 4.55; at Lookout Mountain, 
500; relieved by Gen. Slocum, 5S6. 

Hotels in Now York, attempts of Confedenites t« 
burn, 743. 

Houston. Gov., adverse to the .■jecession movement 
in Texas, 41. 

Howard, Gen. Oliver Otis, biogr.iphical sketch of, 
5S6; at the battle of Antietam, oSI ; appointed 
ti> command the Army of the Tennessee, 5S6. 

Howitzer, description of the, 227. 

Hunter, Gen., wounded at Bull Run, 101; supei"- 
sedes Fremont in Missouri, 160 ; rctieat of, from 
Springfield, followed by Price, 173; transferred 
to the Kansas department, 179; placed in con)- 
Diand of the Department of the South, 844; su- 
perseded bv Gen. Mitchel, 347; supersedes Sigel 
at (.Jedar Creek, 550; defeats Gen. Jones near 
Staunton, 550 ; advances to Lynchburg, 550; pre- 
cipitate retreat of, into 'Western Virginia, 651; 
superseded bv Gen Sheridan, 553. 

Huntsville, Ala"., capture of, by Mitcbel's forces, 
347. 



Illinois, important contributions from, of officers 

and men, 169. 
Imboden, Gen., worsted at ■^\''illiamsport, 461; 

capture of Cliarlestown by, 407. 
" Impending Crisis," effect of the publication of 

Helper's, "34. 
Inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln, 60 ; effect of, on 

the South, 61 ; second, 745. 
Income tax, 350. „ , . 

Indian hind, stocks of, abstracted by Godard 

Bailey, 52. 
Indianola steamer, capture of, 421. 
Indians, lands owned bv, in Georgia, Alabama, Jtr.., 

22 ; titles of, to lands in Georgia, extinguished by 

treaty in 1825, 23. , ^ , , 

Inflation of prices, enormous in the Confederata 

States, 119. . v, . .,• « . 

Ingraham, Capt, his attack on the blocKading fle*t 

off Charleston, 502. 
Interest, large actual, paid by Government, 35,3. 
Interest-bearing debt of the United States, 853. 
"Interior lines," held by the Confederate armies 

139 
Intrigue among officers of Burnside's army, 896. 
Iron-'clads buiit for the navy, 1S9 ; attack with, <n» 

the Charleston forts, .502. 
Island No. Ten, operations against, 303-804; Bi»- 

render of, to Commodore Foote, 805. 
Italy, Napoleon in, 135. 
luka, occupatioo of, by Gen. Price, 409. 



708 



INDEX. 



Jackson, Gen. Thoraas Jonathan, liiocrapliical 
sketch of, 265; movement of, towards Hancock, 
M(l., 18G; ojjeiations of, in the vallev of tlit^ 
Shenandoah, 265-270. 272-2T9; letter of" Gen. J. 
E. Johnston to, 272; pursuit of, by Gens. McDow- 
»-ll and Fremont, 274; movement of. towards 
Thorouahfore Gap, 323: escape of. from Pope, 
S29, 330; after the .rapture of Harper's Ferry, 
recrosses the Potomac, 880 ; operations of, against 
Hooker, 446 ; death of, 446. 

J»ckson, Gov., replv of, to Pres. Lincoln's call for 
troops, 73-104; flight o^ from Jefferson City, 
105; opposed to United States troops passing 
throiiiih fJissouri, 116. 

Jackson, President, measures taken hy, for the 
coercion of South Carolina, 25. 

Jackson, capture of, by Gen. Gr.ant. 420. 

Jacksonville, occupation of, by Federal troops, 
343 ; evacuation of, by order of Gen. Hunter, 
344; occupation of, by Gen. Seymour, 616. 

James Island, disastrous operations on, under Gen. 
Jjenham, 847; abandonment of, 347. 

James Kiver, crossing of, by Grant's army, 638. 

James Uiver Canal, property destroyed on, by 
Col. Rahlgren, 472. 

Jaque.s, Col. James F., visit of, to Davis at Rich- 
luond, 669. 

Jefferson, Thomas, Federal Constitution not satis- 
factory to, 18; action of, in support of State 
rights, 19 ; language of, in relation to " nullifica- 
tion," 20. 

JotTerson City, occupation of, by Gen. Lyon, 105. 

Jenkins, Gen., death of, 513. 

Johnson. Andrew, ot Tennessee, biographical sketch 
ot, 753 ; resolution moved by, in the Senate, 
124; appointed military governor of Tennessee, 
178; nomination of, for the Vice-Presidency, 
663 ; address of, on taking the oath of office as 
President, 750; proclamations of, in relation to 
reconstruction, 751, 752. 

Johnson, Iteverdy, opinion of, as to the power of 
the President to suspend the hcibeas curpxix, 
131. 

Johnson's Island, plot to release rebel officers con- 
fined on, 743. 

Johnston, Col. Samuel, notice of, to Virgiuiamili- 
tia, 1292. 

John.«iton, Gen. A. S., concentration of Confederate 
forces under, at Corinth, 306; death of, at the 
battle of Pittsburg Landing, 309. 

Johnston, Gen. Joseph Eccle^ton, biographical 
sketch of, 98; at Winchester, 9(3 ; junction of, 
with Beauregard. 100, letter of, to Gen. T. J. 
Jackson, 272; defeat of, by Grant, at Jackson, 
426; force under tho command of, Alay, 1864, 
569 ; superseded by Gen. Hood, 580 ; reinstated 
in command of the forces opposed to Sherman, 
712; concentrates at lialeigh, 713; details of his 
surrender to Gen. Sherman, 734-736. 

Jonesboro', battle of, 689. 

Jordan. Edward, opinion of, in relation to tho gold 
bill, 075. 

Judges of United States Courts, treason defined 
by, 132. 



Kansa.1, ert'orts to make a Slave Stale of. 29. 
Kauiz, Gen., cavalry raid of, from Suffolk, towards 

Petersburg, 530; cavalry expedition of, against 

tho Richmond and Danville Railroad, 531. 
Kantz and Wilson, expedition of, against tho 

Wcldon and Danville Railroads, 544. 
Kearny, Gen. Philip, biographical sketch of, 234; 

death of, 335. 
Koarsarge, corvette, details of her fisht with the 

Alabama, 623-627. 
Kelley. Gen, march of to Philippi, 110; rebel 

troops driven out of Romney by, 135. 
Kelly's Ford, battle of, 468. 



Kenesaw Mountain, description of, 574r-576; battle 
of, 577. 

Kenly, Col., surprised at Front Royal, 269. 

Kennedy, Capt. Robert C, executed for complicity 
in the i)lot to burn New York, 744. 

Kentucky, neutral policy of 45; Union sentiment 
in, 87; military operations in, 160-179; neutral- 
ity policy attempted in, 161 ; Union majority in 
the legislature of, 162 ; action of the legislature 
of, in favor of expelling Confederate troops, 164; 
course of, decided by the Confederate occnpiv- 
tion, 164; State and National forces in, placed 
under command of Gen. R. Anderson, 165; sta- 
tions and numbers of Confederate troops in, 166 ; 
large number of Federal troops in, 171; opera- 
tions of Bragg and Kirbv Smith in, asjainst Buell, 
399-403; Morgan's raid'in, 730. 

Keokuk, iron-clad, injured in the attack on Fort 
Sumter, 503. 

Kilpatrick. Gen. Judson, biographical sketch of, 
'710; raid of, from Stevensburg to Richmond, 
472; operations ofnis cavalry on the march to 
Savannah. 681, 682 ; surprise of, by Wade Hamp- 
ton. 713. 

Kingston, Sherman's forces a', 572. 

Kinslon, operations against, rJJ; occupation ot, 
702. 

Kirke, Mr., visit of, to Davis at Richmond, 669. 

'•Knishts of the Golden Circle," institution of tho 
order of, 31. 

Knoxville, capture of, by Burnside, 484; his de- 
fence of, 498 ; Longstreet retreats from, on tho 
approach of Sherman, 501. 

Knoxville Whig, suspension of the, 129. 



Lafayette, Ga., Confederate forces concentrated at, 

' 4So. 

Lake Providence, attempt to cut a canal to, from 
the Mississippi, 421. 

Lane, Gen., remarks of, on the disorganization at 
the Army of the Potomac, 141. 

Lancaster, Mr., carries oft' Capt. Semmes and 
others in the Deerhound, 626. 

Lander, Gen., death of, 186. 

Laluls in Georgia, Indian titles to,extinsuished by 
treaty, 1825, 23. 

Laurel Hill, West Virginia, battle of, 111 : captun* 
of rebel camp at, 112. 

Laurel Hill, near Richmond, attack upon, by G«n. 
Kirney, 559. 

Law of blockade, 190-192. 

Lawrence, atrocities of Quantrell at, 607. 

Lee, Gen, Whi.skey Rebellion of 1794 put down 
by, 19. 

Lee, Gen. Fitzhugh, repulsed by colored troops at 
Wilson's Wharf. 632. 

Lee, Gen. Robert Edmund, biographical sketch of, 
86; commissioned general in the Confederate 
service, 118; on the" Peninsular campaign, 294; 
invasion of Maryland by, 377; troops concen- 
trated by, at Harper's Ferry, 377; his Invasion 
of .Maryland and Pennsylvania, 451-460; retreat 
of, after the battle of Gettysburg, 464; appointed 
to command all the rebel armies, 712; corre- 
spondence of, with Gen. Grant, in relation to 
the terms of surrender, 726-728; surrender of, 
728. 

Legislature of Kentncky. Union majority in, 162; 
action of, in favor of expelling Confederate 
troops, 164; loans an<l the calling out of volun- 
teers authorized by, 165. 

Legislatures, Northern, assistance tendered by, to 
the Federal Government, 53. 

Leg.s, want of, with McClellan's army, 3S5. 

Letcher, Gov., replv of, to President Lincoln's call 
for troops, 73; efforts of, to induce Western Vir- 
ginia to join in secession, 89. 

Letters of marque, &c., offered by Jeffer3<.>n Davis, 
74. 



ESTDEX. 



769 



Lexinffton. "Ky., occupation of. by General Kirby 
Smith, 401. 

Lexington, Mo., advance of the Confederates to, 
152; descrii)tion of, 156; frarrison of, re-enforced 
by Col. Mulligan, 156; siege and surrender of, 
157 ; Gen. Price's report in relation to, 15S ; 
Fremont's dispatch in relation to the surrender 
of, 158. 

Lieutenant-general, office of, revived by Con- 
gress, 4T3. 

Lincoln, Abraham, biographical sketch of, 747; 
great public interest in the views of. 58; journey 
to Washington and threatened assassination of, 
59; inauguration of, 59; inaugural address of, 
60 ; message of, to the Thirty-seventh Congress, 
121; extract ofalfttcr from, to Fremont, 155; 
first general war order of, 215; letter of, to Mc- 
Clellan, urging energetic action, 242; reply of, to 
various di.'ipatehes of McClellan, 284; proposi- 
tion of, to Border States in relation to emancipa- 
tion, 357; letter of, to Horace Greeley, .358 ; 
emancipation proclamations of, 350, 359, 361 ; 
letter of, to McClellan, urging more energetic ac- 
tion, 386; reply of McClellan to, 3S7; letter of, 
to Gen. Grant after the fall of Vicksburg, 434; 
proclamation of, calling out militia, 453; an- 
nouncement o^ after the battle of Gettysburg, 
463 ; telegram of, to Gen. Meade, after the pas- 
sage of the Kappahannock, 409 ; order of, for the 
draft of April, 1S64, 473 correspondence of, with 
Gen. Grant, after his appointment to the lieuten- 
ant-generalship, 477; proclamation of, ordering 
the draft of September, 1804, 546 ; his reconstruc- 
tion plan. 659 ; vote for, in 1864, 068; instructions 
of, toMr.Seward, for his conference with Stephens 
and others, 744; interview of, with rebel com- 
missioners at Fortress Monroe, 745 ; inaugural 
address of, 745 ; assassination of, 747 ; obsequies 
of, 749. 

Little Osage crossing, defeat of Price's forces at, 
610. 

Little Rock, occupation of, by Gen. Steele, 606 ; 
retreat of Gen. Steele to, from Camden, 004. 

Loan, prudiice, in the Confederate States, 120. 

Loans authorized by Congress, 127. 

Longstrect, Gen. James, biographical sketch of, 
487 ; address of, to his soldiers, before Richmond, 
281; at the battle of Chickamauga, 488; opera- 
tions of, against Burnside, at KnoxviUe, 498 ; 
compelled bv Sherman to raise the siege of 
Knoxville, 501. 

Lookout Moimtain, description of, 492 ; taken by 
Gen. Ilazen, 496. 

Lost Mountain, description of, 575; battle of, 575. 

Louisiana, secession movements in, 40; popular 
secession vote in, 41. 

Louisiana Convention, secession ordinance passed 
by, 40 ; action of, with regard to the navigation 
of the Mississippi, 41. 

Louisiana, Western, lost to Union arms, by the fall 
of Brashear City, 48S. 

Louisville and Nashville Railroad, important effect 
of the closing of, 161. 

Lovell, Gen. M., defence of New Orleans intrusted 
to, 363. 

Lynchburg, arrival of Hunter before, 550; his 
rapid retreat from, 551. 

Lyon, Gen., surrender of Gen. Frost to, at Camp 
Jackson, 104 ; early operations of, in Missouri, 
105; why not re-enforced by Fremont, 147; 
operations of, in Missouri, 148 ; death of, at the 
battle of Wilson's Creek, 149. 

Lyons, Lord, suggested by Gov. Hicks as " medi- 
ator," 80. 

McCauley, Commander, destruction of national 
property by, at Gosport Navy Yard, 74; super- 
seded by Commodore Paulding, 74. 

McCausland, G^n., fires Chambcrsburg, 553. 

49 



McClellan, Gen. George B., biogr.iphical sketch of, 
229; appointed to the command of the Fourth 
Military Department, 110; operations of, in 
Western Virginia, 110-113; called to take com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac, 140 ; reforms 
commenced by, 141 ; jn-ecautionary measures of, 
145; general order of, in relation to Sabbath 
observance, 143; improvement brought about 
by, in the Army of the Potomac, 210; order 
issued by, in relation to depredations by soldiers, 
211; succeeds Gen. Scott in command of the 
.armies of the United States, 214; inaction of the 
Army of the Potomac under, 215; operations of 
the Army of the Potomac under, 228-245; com- 
mand of, restricted to the Department of the 
Potomac, 238 ; address of, to tlie Army of the 
Potomac, 238; orders of, to Adjutant-General 
Thomas, 239 ; at Fortress Monroe, 241 ; letter of 
President Lincoln to, urging energetic action, 
242; dispatches of, in relation to the capture of 
Torktown, 251; dispatch of, in i-elation to the 
battle of Williamsburg, 254; opportunity lost 
by, after the battle of Seven Pines, 263 ; dispatch 
ot; 263; address of, to the army, 204; corrected 
dispatches of, 204, 205 ; re-enforcements demand- 
ed by, 273 ; operations of, against Richmond, 
279-295; dispatch of in relation to McDowell's 
corps, 281 ; dispatch of, in relation to Jackson's 
movements, 2S2; various dispatches of, 283; 
reply of President Lincoln to, 284; address of, 
to the Army of the Potomac, after the seven 
days' battles, 291; extraordinary answer of, to 
Pope's request for rations, 333; excuses of, for 
not leaving Harrison's Landing, 330; arrival of 
the army of, at Fortress Monroe, 337; language 
of, addressed to Mr. Lincoln, in relation to the 
policy of the government, 355 ; troops gradually 
detached froiii the command of, 370; placed in 
command of the troops in and around Washing- 
ton, 377; dispatch of, to Ilalleck, in relation to 
Harper's Ferry, &c., 378; recaptures Harpers 
Ferry, 334; ordered by Mr. Lincoln to cross the 
Potomac, 385; dilatory policy of, 384; corre- 
spondence of, with Halleck, with regard to army 
movements, 385; letter of the President to, 
urging more energetic action, 380; reply of, to 
the Pi-esident's letter, 387; advance of, by way 
of Leesburg, 390; superseded by Gen. Burnside, 
390 ; merits and demerits of, 891 ; nomination 
of, for the Cresidency, 665; his letter of accept- 
ance, 667 ; vote for, 608. 

Macon, surrender of, by Howell Cobb, to Gen. 
Wilson, 738. 

McCook, Gen., escape of, from a superior force at 
Newman, 685. 

McCulioch, Gen. Ben., biographical sketch of, 298; 
killed at the battle of Pea Ridge, 3nl. 

McDowell, Gen. Irwin, biographical sketch of, 90; 
force under, at and near Alexandria, June, IbOl, 
96; advance of, towards Manassas, 9S; corps of, 
retained for the defence of Washington, 241; 
corps of, sent to the support of Gen. Banks, 260. 

McDowell, Va., battle of, 272. 

Mcintosh, Creek chief, assassination of, 23. 

McKinstry, Major J., appointed provost-marshal 
in St. Louis, 151 ; suppresses the War Bulletin 
and the Misfsourinn, 152. 

McNeil, Gen. John, rebel prisoners shot by, 605;. 
repulses Marmaduke's attack on Cape Girardeau, 
600; supersedes Gen. Blunt, 008. 

MePherson. Gen. James B., biographical sketch 
of, 583; defeats Gen. Gregg near ltaymond,425; 
operations of, from Vicksburg, 597; force under 
the command of, Mav, ISOt, 568; death of, 584. 

Magoflin, Gov., reply of, to Pre.^. Lin -.oln's call for 
troops, 73; protests against the occupation of 
Hickman and Columbus by Confederate troops, 
163. ^. , 

Magruder, Gen. John Bankhead, biographical 
sketch of, 93. 



770 



rc^DEx. 



Mails in tbo Confederate States in charge of John 
H Keasran. 87. 

Malvern Hill, battle of, 290; attack on the Con- 
federate position at, by Hooker and Sedgwick, 
837. 

Manassas, Gon. Beann^gard at, 97 ; advance of 
Gen. McDowell's force towards, 9S ; description 
of the Confederate works at, 231 ; sudden aban- 
donment of, by the Confederate force, 234. 

Man.a.ssas, tiie steam ram, blockading tieet below 
New Orleans attacked by, 'i09. 

Mann, Mr., Confederate commissioner to Europe, 
216. 

Mansfleld, battle of, 600. 

Mansfielil, Gen. J. K. P., bioEcraphical sketch of, 
90; force under, in Washington, June, 1S61, 90, 
mortally wounded at Antietam, 381. 

Mantua, Napoleon at, 136. 

Manufactures, how c.'iiled into being in the North, 
120; commenced In the South, 120. 

Marcy, Mr., proposition of, to European powers, in 
relation to privateering, 115; language of, in re- 
lation to privateering, 191. 

Marianna, capture oti by Gen. Asboth, 615. 

Marietta, occupation of," by Gen. Sherman, 577. 

Marines, assault of, on Fort Fisher, 697. 

Marion, defeat of Breckinridge at, by Gillem and 
Burbridse, 732. 

Marmaduke, Gen., operations of, against Spring- 
field, 605; defeat of, by Geh. Steele, 606; i:epulse 
of, at Capo Girardeau, by McNeil, 606; defeated 
by Gen. A. J. Smith near Lake Village, 60S. 

Marshall, Humphrey, with four regiments, driven 
out of Kentucky by Col. Garfield, 172. 

Marshall House, Alexandria, death of Col. Ells- 
worth at, 90. 

Martial law declared in St. Louis by Geu. Fre- 
mont, 151. 

Martinsburg, Sigel driven from, to Harper's Ferry, 
551. 

Marye's Hill, carried by Sedgwick's troops, 443. 

Maryland, position of, in relation to secession, 45; 
preamble and resolution passed by the legisla- 
ture of, 46; position of, at the outbreak of the 
rebellion, SO; action oi' the legislature of, 82; 
invasion of, by Gen. Lee, 877; raid of Gen. 
Stuart into, 386; second invasion of, 451 ; loyalty 
of the people of, 454; invasion of, by a I'ebel 
force under Early, 551-553. 

Maryland Hei<;hts occupied by McCIellan after 
the battle of Antietam, 8&4. 

Mason and Slidell, seizure of, by Captain Wilkes, 
222; restoration of, to the "British flag, 223; 
action of Congress with regard to the arrest of, 
354. 

Massachusetts Sixth liegiment attacked by rioters 
in Baltimore, 77. 

Massachusetts Eighth Regiment, departure of, for 
Washington, 78; machinists in the ranks of, 79. 

Massacre at Fort Pillow, report of the Congress- 
ional committee on, 565. 

Matamoras, extensive contraband trade of, 593. 

Mathias Point, Va., death of Capt Ward at, 93. 

Meade, Gen. George G., biographical sketch of, 
456; at the battle of Antietam, 3S0; succeeds 
Hooker in cornm.and of the Army of the Poto- 
mac, 455 ; dispatch of, after the battle of Gettys- 
burg, 463 ; retreat of, from the Itapidan, before 
Lee, 467; advance of, tovvards the line of tlie 
Eappabannoek, 46S; dispatches of, after crossing 
I the Rappahannock, 469; advance of, over the 
Itapidan, 470; retreat of, to Brandy Station, 
470 ; illness of, 471 ; dispatches of, after the bat- 
tles for the Weldon Railroad, 55S. 

Meadow's Bluff, Union stores destroyed at, 5.51. 

Meagher. General, wounded at the battle of Antie- 
tam, oSl. 

Mechanicsville, battle of, 533. 

Meigs, Lieut. John R., retaliation ordered by 
Sheridan for the murder of, 648. 



Memminger, C G., circular of, addressed to Con- 
federate State ollicers, 119. 

Memorandum of agreement between Gens. Sher- 
man and Johnston. 736. 

Memphis, naval en agement near, 817. 

Meridian, expedition of Sherman to, 5(32. 

.Merrimac, exploits of, otf Fortress Monroe, 245- 
250; blown up by the rebels, 256, 257. 

Merritt, Gen., destruction effected by, in Loudott 
and Faunuier counties, Va., 655. 

Mess.age of Pres. Buchanan of Dec, 1860, 50 ; of 
Jan., 1801, 52. 

Message of Pres. Davis, to the first Confederate 
Congress, extracts from, 83; to the Richmond 
Congress, 115. 

Message of Pres. Lincoln to the Thirty-seventh 
Congress, 121. 

Mexico, relations with the Government of, 221. 

Miles, Colonel, in command at Harper's Ferry, 
377; surrenders Harper's Ferry, 379. 

Militia, call of Pres. Lincoln for 75,000, 73 ; response 
of the Northern States to the call for, 76; called 
out for the defence of Pennsylvania, &c., 453. 

Militia, Virginia, armory at Haij)er's Ferry seized 
by, 74; notice of Col. Samuel Johnson to, 129. 

Millen, cruelties pnactised by the Confederate 
Government on the prisoners at, 741. 

Mill Spring, camp of Gen. Zollicoifer at. 171; de- 
feat and death of Zollicoffer at the b.attle of, 172. 

Milroy, Gen. R. H., Confederate camp in the Al- 
leghany Mountains attacked by, ls5 ; camp cap- 
tured by, at Huntcrsville, 1S6: rapid inarch of, 
to the support of Banks, 272; driven out of 
Winchester by Ewell, 452. 

Mine at Petersburg, construction of the, 546; ex- 
plosion of, 547; the assault after the explosion, 
548, becomes a slaughter-pen, 549. 

Mine Run, Gen. Lee's army at, 470. 

Mine sprung by the enemy at Petersburg, 554. 

Minister.s, American, circular addressed to, by 
Secretary Black, 210; circular addressed to,, by 
Secretary Seward, 217. 

Minnesota frigate, fights o., with the Merrimac, 
247-249. 

Mississippi, secession movements in, 37 ; ordinance 
of secession of, 88. 

Mississippi River, Lotiisiana convention in favor 
of free navigation of, 41 ; navigation of, declared 
free by the "Confederate Congress, 4S; forts on, 
below New Orleans, 303 ; opened by the fall of 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, 443. 

Missouri, early operations of Gen. Lyon in, 104- 
106; H.amilton R. Gamlile appointe.l provisional 
governor of, 116; action of the Confederate Con- 
gress in relation to, 116; operations of Gen. 
Fremont in, 147-160 ; .situation of affairs in, after 
the death of Gen. Lyon, 150; martial law pro- 
claimed in, by Gen. Fremont, 153; important 
measures adopted in, by Gen. Halleek, 179; 
affairs in, under the management of Gen. Hal- 
leek, 295-302; military operations iu, 004; in- 
vaded by Gen. Price, 60S. 

Missouri Compromise, historv of the, 22 ; repeal 
of the, 28. 

Missouri State convention, action Oi, 110. 

Mitchel, Gen. Ormsby McKuight, biograpnical 
sketch of, 312; Bowling Green, Kj'., occupied 
by, 175; operations of, in Tennessee and Ala- 
bama, 312; supersedes Gen. Hunter in command 
of the Dep.artment of the South, 34T. 

Mob at Baltimore attack the Massachusetts Sixth 
Regiment, 77. 
St. Louis attack troops, 105. 

Mobile, siege of, 610-615; description of the de- 
fences of, 610; capture of the ram Tennessee in 
the harbor of, 613 ; surrender of the forts of, 614 ; 
military operations against, 7U4-706; evacuation 
of, 706. 

Mobs, influence of, on the Northern press, 133. 

Money, paper, effect of the excessive issue of| in 



INDEX. 



in 



the Confederate States, 120 ; larjre issue of, an- 

thorizcd by the Federal Government, 848, 350. 
Monitor, arrival of the, off Fortress Monroe, 248; 

fight of, with the Merrimac, 24S. 
Monocaey Kiver, defeat of Gen. Wallace at the, 

652. 
Monroe, John F., Ma)-or of Now Orleans, surren- 
ders the eity to Commodore Farnifjut, 366. 
MontaiiU, iron-clad, att.ack of, on Fort McAllister, 

501. 
Montgomery, proceedings of the Confederate Con- 
gress at, 83, 86 ; occupation of, by Gen. Wilson, 

733. 
Montgomery Convention, delegates to the, 47; 

constitution adopted by the, 47. 
Morehead, ex-Governor, arrest of, 161. 
Morgan, Gen. George W., capture of Cumberland 

Gap by, 409. 
Morgan, Gen. John H., biographical sketch of, 731 ; 

activity of guerrillas under, in Kentucky, 8',)'.); 

raid of, in Ohio, note, 731 ; his raid in Kentucky, 

730 ; surprised and killed, 731. 
Morris, Gen., operations of, in Western Virginia, 

110-113. 
Morris, Gen. W. H., death of, before Spottsylvania 

Court- House, 517. 
Morris Island, operations against, 504. 
Mortar, description of the, 227. 
Mosby, supply train captured by, at Berryville, 

643; murders Union cavalrymen, 644; surren- 
der of, 728. 
Mound City, steamer, explosion of the boiler of 

the, at St. Charles, Ark., 318. 
Mulliiran, Col., bis defence of Lexington, Mo., 157; 

surrender of, 157. 
Mumlbrdsville, light near, between Indianians 

and Texas Eangers, 169; capture of, by Gen. 

Braffg, 401 ; reoccupation of, by Gen. Buell, 

404." 
Murfreesboro', battle of, 413-417 ; fortified by Rose- 

craus, 4S0; attack on, by Forrest and Bates, 635. 
Murphy, Col., driven out of luka. 
Musket, old smooth-bore superseded by the rifle, 

224. 



Napoleon in Italy, 135; at Austerlitz, and at Man- 
tua, 136 ; at Bautzen, 137. 

Nashville, surrender of, to Gens. Buell and Nelson, 
17S; Gen. Thomas sent to direct operations at, 
630 ; Hood advances on, 634 ; field order issued 
at, by Gen. Thomas, 636 ; Hood driven back 
from, 640. ' 

Nashville, steamer, cruise of the, 194. 

Nashville and Louisville Railroad, importanf effect 
of the closing of the, 161. 

Natchez, surrender of, to a Union force, 363. 

National Freedmen's Relief Association, 344. 

Navigation laws, action of the Confederate Con- 
gress in relation to, 49. 

Navy, Federal, condition of, in 1861, 122 ; condi- 
tion of, attheoutbreakof the rebellion, 1S6; ves- 
sels purchased for, 188; list of vessels built for, 
189. 

Navy Yard at Gosport, destruction of national 
property at, 74. 
at Pensacola burned, 203. 

Negroes, Chief- Justice Taney on the rights of, 28; 
schools for, established at Hilton Head, 844; gal- 
lantry of, in the assault on Fort Wagner, 506^ 

Negro soldiers put on an equal footing with white, 
602. 

Nelson, Gen. William, biographical sketch of, 404; 
movement of, on Piketon, 16!) ; proclamation 
Issued by, from Prestonburg, Kv., 1G9 ; advance 
of, on Nashville, 17S; killed' by Gen. J. C. Davis, 
404. 

Nelson Judge, treason defined by, 132; on piracy, 

195. 
Nelson's Farm, battle of, 290. 



Neutrality, extract from an address to the people 
of Kentucky, advocating, IGl. 
policy of the British government, 218 ; 
Seward on, 218. 
Newbern, description of, 338; Burnside's opera- 
tions against, 839; occupation of, 340 ; Gen. Fos- 
ter appointed military governor of, 340; Gen. 
Pickett's demonstration against, 620. 
New England, hostility to the National Govern- ,., 
ment in, in 1807-15,20; State rights doctrine A 
in, 21. o ♦- s 

New Madrid, occupation of, by Gen. Pillow, 152; 

ev.acuatiou of, by the Confederates, 303. 
New Orleans, expedition of Gen. Butler against, 
363-367 ; destruction of cotton and tobacco at, 
365; surrender of, to Commodore Farragut, 366; 
occupation of, by Gen. Butler, 367 ; mayor and 
coumion council of, arnested, 367. 
Newspapers in the South compelled to support 
the Confederate Government, 129. 
Northern disloyal, suppressed, 183. 
New Tork, memorials from, laid before Congress, 
55; response of, to the President's call for 
troops, 78 ; draft riot in, 466 ; rebel plot to burn, 
748. 
New York Fire Zouaves at Alexandria, 90. 

Legislature, aid oft'ered by, to the Fed- 
eral Government, 53. 
Seventh Regiment, departure of, for 
Washington, 78. 
Nicaragua, Walker's expedition into, 29. 
Noleman, C'apt, ilefeat of a party of Confederates 

by, in Missouri, 153. 
Nominations, Rei)Ublican, of 1864, 665; Demo- 
cratic, 665, 606 
Norfolk, destruction of national vessels .and prop- 
erty at, ^4; evacuation of, by the rebels, 256; 
occupation of, by Gen. Woid, 257. 
North Anna River, crossed by Grant's army, 527; 

recrossed, 528. 
North Carolina, progress of secession in, 44; se- 
cession ordinance of, 45 ; Confederate constitu- 
tion adopted by, 45; Burnside's operations on 
the coast of, 206 ; operations of 15urnside in, , 
338-342; Hon. Edward Stanly appointed mill- •■ 
tary governor of, 342; military operations in, 
619-623, 699-702 ; Sherman's operations in, 713- 
716. 
Northwest, address of Gen. Bragg to the people of 

the, 401. 
Nullification, Jefferson's doctrine of. 20. 

in Georffia and Alabama in 1S25, 22; 
in South Carolina in 1832, 24; Presi- 
dent Jackson's opinion of, 25. 

Oeraeoke Inlet, operations .at, 199; stone fleet 
sunk in, 202. 

Oflice-holders, disloyalty among, 180. 

OUicers, power to remove at pleasure given to the 
President, 143. 

Ohio, Morgan's raid in, note. 731. 

Okalona, Gen. Bragg at, with 80,000 men, 313; ar- 
rival of the cavalry column of Smith and Grier- 
son at, 5 3. 

Olustee. battle of, 618. 

Oostenaula, crossing of the, by Sherman's army, 
572. 

Opelika,raid of Gen. Rousseau to, 580. 

Orange Court-House, Lee's army at, 465. 

Orders, special field, of Sherman, for the march to 
Savannah, 680 .after the surrender of Savannah, 
6S5; after the occup.ation of Goldsboro', 716; re- 
orsanizing his army, 733. 

Ordinance of secession of Alabama, 89; of Arkan- 
sas, 43; of Florida, 39 ; of Georgia, 40 ; of Loui- 
siana, 40; of Mississippi, 83; of North Carolina, 
45 ; of South Carolina, 85 ; of Texas, 41 ; of 'Vir- 
ginia, 42. 

Ordnance boat, explosion of, at City Point, 554. 



772 



ETDEX. 



Oreto, steamer. See Florida. 
Organization of armies, American and foreign, 94. 
Osterhans, Gen., repulses Lee and Loring, at Cher- 
okee Station, 49T. 



Paducah, occupation of, by Gen. Grant, 163; 
Grant's proclamation at, 163; occuption of, by 
Gen. Grant, 171: repulse of Forrest at, 564. 

?alm»r. Gen., relieved by Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, 586 ; 
movement of, from Plymouth towards Wilming- 
ton, 690. 

■•amunkey River, crossed by Grant's army, 529. 

^'aper currency, fractional, 350, 351. 

Paper money, effect of the excessive issue of, in 
the Confederate States, 120 ; large issue of, au- 
thorized, 448, 350. 

Park, John, Mayor of Memphis, notice of, in rela- 
tion to the impressment of citizens, 128. 

Parke, Gen., in the attack on Newbern, 339. 

Parrott gun, description of the, 226. 

Parson Brownlovr persecuted for loyalty, 129. 

Parties, Federal and State Eights, early conflicts 
of, 18. 

Parties, political, in 1864, 656. 

Passport system adopted in the North, 134. 

Patterson, Gen. Eobert, biographical sketch of, 
96 ; force under, on the Potomac, June, 1861, 96; 
fatal negligence of, 99; operations of; in the 
Valley of Virginia, 108, 109; his reasons for not 
following up Gen. Johnston, 109. 

Paulding, tommodore, completes the destruction 
of national property at Gosport Navy Yard, 74. 

Pay of volunteer troops, 142. 

Peace negotiations, attempts to commence, 668- 
673. 
at Fortress Monroe, 744. 

Peach-tree Creek, battle of, 581. 

Pea Ridge, battle of, 299-301. 

Pegram, Col., surrender of, to Gen. McClellan, 112. 

Pemberton, Lieut.-Gen. John C, biographical 
sketch of, 427 ; operations of, in defence of Vicks- 
burg, 412 ; correspondence of, with Gen. Grant, 
in relation to the surrender of Vicksburg, 430- 
432. 

Pendleton, George H., Democratic nominee for the 
Vice-Presidency, 666. 

PeninsuLir battles, McClellan's, 280-292. 

Peninsular campaign, review of the, 292-295; ex- 
tract from Gen. Barnard's report of the, 294. 

Pennsylvania, militia of, called out by Gov. Curtin, 
377; raid of Gen. Stuart into, 386; invasion of, 
threatened, 453; militia called out ibr the de- 
fence of, 453 ; measures taken for the defence of, 
464; invasion of, by a rebel force under Early, 
551 ; "Western, history of the Whiskey Rebellion 
in, 18. 

Pennsylvania, ship-of-the-line, burned at Gosport 
Navy Yard, 75. 

Pensacola Navy Yard seized by the Florida St^ato 
authorities, 39: launches destroyed at, by Lieut. 
Russell, 207; burned, 208. 

Perrysville, Ky.. battle of, 407 ; retreat of Gen. 
Bragg from, 408. 

Personal liberty bills repealed or modified in va- 
rious States. 56. 

Pettigrew, Gen., mortally wounded at Falling 
Waters, 465. 

Petersburg, Kautz'a raid towards, 530; operations 
of Gen. Grant against, 539-549, 5.'>4-56] ; attack 
on, by the Eighteenth Corps, 539; other succes- 
sive attacks on the defences of, .540, 541 ; con- 
struction and explosion of the mine at, 546, 547; 
unsuccessful assault on, 548; Lee prepares to 
abandon, 723; evacuation of, by Lee's forces, 
724. 

Phelps, Gen. J. W., biographical sketch of, 204 ; 

. address of, to the people of the Southwest, 204; 

, address of, disavowed by Gen. Butler, 206; oc- 
oupation of Carrollton by, <i6S. 



Philadelphia, citizens of, called to arms by Mayor 
Henry, 457. 

Philippi, rebels driven out of, by Col. Kelley, 110. 

Pickett, Gen., at the battle of Gettysburg, 462; his 
demonstration against Newbern, 620. 

Pierce, Gen., defeat of, at Big Bethel, 92. 

Pierce, Mr. C. L., appointed government agent at 
Hilton Head, .344. 

Pierpont, Gov. Francis H., extract from the speech 
of, on taking oflice, S8. 

Piketon, Ky., "movement of Gen. Nelson on, 169. 

Pillow, Gen. Gideon J., biographical sketch of, 152; 
escape of, from Fort Donelson, 177, 

Piracy, what constitutes, 195; opinion in England 
as to what constitutes, 196. 

Pittsburg, alarm occasioned in, by the approach of 
Lee's cavalry, 456. 

Pittsburg Landing, battle of, 307-312; arrival of 
Gen. Buell's troops at, 310. 

Platform of the Democratic Convention of 1864, 
666. 

Platform of the Republican Convention of 1864, 
663. 

Pleasant Hill, La., battle of, 601. 

Pleasants, Lieut.-Col., the Petersburg mine pro-] 
posed by, 546. 

Pleasonton, Gen., reconnoissance of, over the Rap- 
pahannock, 451. 

Plymouth, capture of, by the rebels, 621; reoccu-! 
pation of, 623. 

Polk, Gen. Leonidas, biographical sketch of, 575; 
Confederate troops under, intrenched at Hick- 
man and Columbus, 162; proclamation issued 
by, from Columbus, 163 ; his reasons for the oc- 
cupation of Columbus and Hickman, 164; death 
of, 575. 

Pontoons, fatal detention of, in the attack on Fred- 
ericksburg, 392. 

Pope, Gen. John, biographical sketch of, 147; 
operations of, in Missouri, ISO; operations of, 
against New Madrid and Island No. Ten, 302-304; 
joins the army under Gen. Halleck. 314; placed 
in command of the Army of Virginia, 278; ac- 
count of his Virginia campaign. 319-835; address 
of, to the Army of Virginia, 320; general orders 
of, 322, 323 ; combined movement of Lee and 
Jackson against, 326 ; dangerous position of, 327 ; 
re-enforced by Porter and Heintzelinan, 328; 
effective force under the command of, 329 ; 
language of, with regard to the misconduct of 
Porter," 331; dispatch of, in relation to the sec- 
ond battle of Bull Run, 331; extraordinary an- 
swer of McClellan to his dem.and for rations, 
333; army of, return to Washington, 335; his 
complaints to Halleck of demoralization among 
officers of the Potomac Army, .335; attacked at 
Chan tilly, .335; relieved of his command, 335. j 

Population, white and black, in Western and East-j 
eru Virginia, ISO. . 

Porter, Admiral David D., biographical sketch of,' 
601; surrender of the forts below New Orleans, 
to, 364; bombardment of Vicksburg by, 368; 
fleet of, pass the Vicksburg batteries, 422 ; opera- 
tions of, on the Red River, 601 ; perilous posi- 
tion of his fleet, 602; expedition of, against Wil- 
mington, 6S7-690; letter of, to Gen. Butler, after 
the failure at Fort Fisher, 689. 

Porter, Col. Andrew, appointed provost-marshal in 
Washinigton, 141. ! 

Porter, GJn. Fitz-John, culpable inactivity of, du- 
rins the second battle of Bull Run, 331 ; charges 
preferred against, by Pope, 335. 

Potomac, Gen. Patterson's force on the, 96 ; posi- 
tion of the Confederates along the line of the, 
in September, 1861,144; navigation of, obstruct- 
ed by rebel batteries, 233 : crossing of, by Lee's 
army, after Gettysburg, 465. 

Port Gibson, defeat of the Confederates at, 423. 

Port Hudson, batteries at, passed by Farragut's 
fleet, 421 ; regular investment of, by the forces 



□a)EX. 



T73 



of Gen. Banks, 486; unsuccessful attack on the 
batteries of, 437; assaults upon, 4S9, 440; siege 
of, 435-443 ; correspondence between Gens. 
Banks and Gardner in relation to the surrender 
of, 441; terms of capitulation of, 441; occupa- 
tion of. by Union troops, 442 ; chronological rec- 
ord of the siege of, 442. 

Portland Harbor, revenue cutter Caleb Gushing 
captured in. 375. 

Port Republic, dispatch of Gen. Fremont from, 
276. 

Port Royal expedition, 197-202. 

Port Royal harbor, description of. 19S. 

Port Royal Island, occiijiation of, 201. 

Ports, Southern, declared in a state of blockade, 74. 

Powers of the Executive, questions as to the ex- 
tent of, 130. 

Prentiss, Gen., repulses Price and Marmaduke at 
Helena, 606. 

Press, loyal and disloyal, in the North, 133. 

Press in Missouri placed by Halleck under mar- 
tial law, 296. 

Prestonburg, Ky., occupation of, by Gen. Nelson, 
16S. 

Price, Gen. Sterling, biographical sketch of, 151 ; 
capture of Lexington, Mo., 157; extract from his 
official report, 15S ; wounded at the battle of 
Pea Ridge, 301; at Fulton with 15,000 men, 
81S; invades Missouri again, 60S; defeated and 
driven out of Missoiu-i by Curtis and Pleasontou, 
610. 

Price of gold in legal tender, in 1S62-1S65, 679. 

Prices, great rise in, 351 ; enormous inflation of, in 
the Confederate States, 119. 

Prisoners, questions in relation to, 190; cruel treat- 
ment of, by the Confederate govern- 
ment, 739-742. 
rebel, shot by McNeil, 005. 

Privateer Georgia, where built and armed, 375. 

Privateer Savannah, capture of, by the Perry, 195. 

Privateering, action of Congress in relation to, 115; 
language of Mr. Marcy in relation 
to, 191. 
Southern failure of, 371. 

Privateers, Southern, 193; policy of European 
powers in relation to, 193 ; opinion in England 
as to the character of, 196 ; eft'ect of the depreda- 
tions of upon American commerce, 376. 

Proclamation of Gen. Beauregard to the people of 
Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William Counties, 
Va., S6. 

Proclamation of Gen. Fremont, of August, 1861, 
153 ; modified by order of the President, 155. 

Proclamation of President Lincoln, calling for 
troops, effect of, in the South, 73 ; effeetof, in the 
North, 76; how treated in the Confederate Con- 
gress, S4; calling out the militia for the defence 
of Pennsylvania, 454; in relation to his recon- 
Etruction policy, 659 ; in relation to the recon- 
struction act of Congress, 662. 

Proclamations, emancifiation, 356, 359,361. 

Proclamations of President Johnson in relation to 
reconstruction, 751, 752. 

Produce loan. Confederate, projected. 120. 

Projectiles, description of various, 227. 

Property belonging to Southern rebels confiscated 
in the North, 134. 

Pumpkin-vine Creek, battle of, 573. 



Quantrell, the guerrilla chief, atrocities of, at Law- 
rence, 607. 

Queen of the West, steamer, capture of, in the Red 
River, in an attack on Fort Taylor, 421 ; used by 
the rebels in the cajitnre of the Indianola. 421 ; 
destruction of, in possession of the rebels, 436. 



Paid of Grierson from Lagrange to Baton Kouge, 

434. 



Raid of Kilpatrick aud Dahlgren to the vicinity of 
Richmond, 472. 

Raid of Sheridan from Winchester to the White 
House, 706, 707. 

Raid of Stoncman in Virginia, 444, 447-449; to- 
ward the Macon road, 5s4. 

Raid of Stuart around the rearof McClellan's posi- 
tion, 2S0; into Maryland and Pennsylvania, 386. 

Raleigh, occupation of, by Sherman's forces, 784; 
arriv.al of Gen. Grant at, 736. 

Ram Arkansas passes through the Union fleet 
above Vicksburg, 369; her commander's report, 
370; failure of a combined attack upon, 870; 
final destruction of, 371. 

Ram Manassas, Federal fleet below New Orleans 
attacked by, 209. 

Ramseur, Gen., death of, 6.54. 

Rapidan, defences of Gen. Lee south of the, 469 ; 
advance of Meade's army over the, 470. 

Rappahannock, operations of Pope on the, 327 ; 
crossing of by Gen. Meade's army, 468 ; crossed 
by Hooker's army, 444 ; recrossed by Hooker, 
447. 

Raiii'ahannock Station, battle of, 468. 

Rations, excellent quality of, in the United States 
army, 143. 

Raymond, battle of, 425. 

Reagan, John H., Clonfederate postmaster-general, 
87. 

Reams's Station, battle of, 557. 

Rebellion Whiskey, history of the, 18. 

Reconstruction, President Lincoln's plan for, 659; 
provisions of an act of Congress in relation to, 
661 ; proclamations of President Johnson in re- 
lation to, 751, 752. 

Record, chronological, of the siege of Vicksburg, 
433; oftthe siege of Port Hudson, 442. 

Red River, perilous position of Porter's fleet on 
the, 602. 

Red River expedition. Gen. Banks's, 598-604. 

Reed's Hill, defeat of Gen. Sigel by Breckinridge 
at, 550. 

Relations, foreign, 216-223. 

Relay House, occupation of. by Gen. Butler, 82. 

Reno, Gen , in the attack on Newbern, 339; expe- 
dition of, to destroy the Dismal Swamp Canal, 
342. 

Reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, 474. 

Repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 2S. 

Report of the Congressional Committee on the 
Fort Pillow massacre, 565. 

Reports of Secretaries to the Thirty-seventh Con- 
gress, 122, 123. 

Reporters, newspaper, Sherman's circular in re- 
lation to, 572. 

Republican convention of 1S64, platform of, 663. 

Republican party, origin of tlie, 29. 

Resaca, Johnston compelled by Sherman to aban- 
don his works at, 670. 

Revenue and expenses, national, for 1864, 6(6. 

Revenue cutters seized, 65-67. 

Revnolds, Gen., fall of, at the battle of South 
Mountain. 457. ,■,.,. 

Rhode Island, personal liberty bill repe.nled in,56.- 

Richmond, Confederate Congress assembled at. 115 ; 
retreat of the Confederates to, from Williams- 
huvs, 255; gradual aiiproach of McClellan's lines 
towards, 282; campaign of Gen. Hooker against, 
443-450; raid' of Kitpatrick to the vicinity of; 
from Stevensburg, 472; physical character of the 
country between Washington and, 478; three 
w.iys of approaching with an army. 479; Grant's 
plan for the capture of 530; rei'onnoissance of 
the Second and Tenth Corps towai'ds. 554 ; Grant 
renews the attack upon. 5.59 ; evacuated by the 
forces of Lee, 724 : flight of Davis from, and en- 
trance of Lincoln into, 720. 

Richmond and Danville Railroad, Kautz's opera- 
tions .against, 531. 

Rich Mountain, battle of. 111. 



7T4 



INDEX. 



Riflos,Mini6, Pprincfiold, and Enfield, 224; Sharpe's, 
Burnsido's, iiiul Muyinird's, 225. 

Eaanokc Island expedition, 206. 

Kodgers. Commander, in the Port Royal expedi- 
tion, 200. 

Rodmnn j;un, description of the, 226. 

Kolla, a company of Missouri cavalry defeated 
near, 60S. 

Rome, Sherman's forces at, 572. 

KoDiney, ViU, a body of secession troops at, routed 
by Col. Wallace, ill; rebel troops driven out of, 
by Gen. Kelley, 185. 

Rosecrans, Gen. William S., biographical sketch 
of, HI ; operations of, in Western Virginia, 111 ; 
in conunand of the Department of the Ohio, ISO; 
suitersedcd by Fremont in Western Virginia, 
270; his defence of Corinth against Price, Van 
Dorn, and Lovell, 410; supersedes Huell in com- 
mand of the Army of tlie Ohio, 412; reorganizes 
hisforce,41o; .advance of towards Murfroesbou)', 
413; attacks the army of Brags, 413; occupies 
Murfreesboro'', 41G; drives Brairg b.iek upon 
Chaltanotiga, 4S2; remarks on the career of, 492 ; 
operations of, in Tennessee, 4S0-494; letter of, 
in relation to the battle of Chickamaugiv 490; 
shut up in Chattanooga, 494; takes leave of the 
wmy, 495; assigned to the DeiKirtment of Mis- 
souri, 561 ; succeeds General Schofield in Mis- 
souri, 60S. 

Rost, Mr., appointed Confederate Commissioner to 
Europe, 116, 216. 

Rousseau, Gen., raid of, to Opelika, Ala., 5S0. 

Russell, Lieut., launches destroyed by, at Pensa- 
cola Navy Yard, 207. 

Russell, Lo'rd John, reply of. to Mr. Dallas, in re- 
lation to Mr. Seward's circular, 217; language 
of, to Mr. Adams, in relation to thu Oreto, 871 ; 
his excuse for the escape of the Alabama, 374. 

Russia, lelations with the government of, 220. 



Sabbath, general order of Gen. McCIellan in rela- 
tion to the ol)servance of the, 146. 

Sabine Pass expedition, 596. 

6t Albans bank, robbery ol, by Confederates from 
Canada, 713. 

St. Charles, Ark., captured by Col. Fitch, 81S. 

St. I.ouis, arms in the arsenal at, secured by Capt. 
Stoke.s 104; troops .at, attacked by a mob, 105; 
martial law declared in, by Fremout, 151 ; forti- 
fications erected around, 153. 

Salem Uill. capture of, by troops of Sedgwick, 44S. 

Salisbury, defeat of Gen. Gardiner at, by Gen. 
Stoneiuan, 733, 

Salkehaichie, crossing of, by Sherman's army, 710. 

Saltville, Confederate government salt-works de- 
stroyed at, 733. 

Sanders, George N., and others, plot set on foot by, 
to release rebel prisoners at Johnson's Island, 
743. 

Sanitary commission, beneficent offices of, 742. 

Santa Uosa Island, night attack on New York 
. Zouaves at, 207. 

Bassacus, gunboat, fight o^ with the rebel ram 
Albemarle, 622. 

Saunders, Gen., mortally wounded near Kuox- 
ville, 49S. 

Savage's Station, battle of, 2S3. 

Savannah, stone fleet sent to the entrance of the 
harbor of, 202, march of Sherman to, from 
Atlanta, 6S1-6S3; surrender of, 6S4; valuable 
captures made at, 6S5; notice and letter pub- 
lished by Sherman at, 70S, 709; Gen. Foster ap- 
pointed to command at, 710. 
r Savannah, privateer, capture of, by the Perry, 195; 
trial of the crew of, as pirate.^, 195; threat of re- 
taliation by the Confederate government in case 
the crew should be j>unished as pirates, 196. 

Schenck, Gen. K. C, surprised near Vienna, Va., 
»1. 



Schofield, General John McAllister, biographical 
sketch of, 604; resumes command of tiie Army 
of the Ohio, 561 ; force under the command of, 
1S64, 56S; repulses Hood at Franklin, Tenn., 
634; retires to Nashville, 634; assigned to tho 
command of the Department of North Carolina, 
700; operatious of, in North Carolina. 699-702. 

Schools for negroes established ut Hilton Uead, 
844. 

Scott. Gen., sent to Ch.arleston by President Jack- 
son, 25; retirement of, 214. 

Scrip, Southern, r.-ipid depreciation of, 119. 

Secession, resolved on by the Soutlurn leaders, 
31; progress ot; after the Presidential Election 
of 1S60, 35; consummation of, in South Carolina, 
36. 

Secession, popul.ar vote for, in Alabama, 39; ia 
Louisiana, 41; in Texas, 41; in Virginia, 43; ia 
Tennessee, 45. 

Secession Ordin.anceof Sonth Cai-olina, 35; of Ala- 
bama, 3S; of .Arkansas, 43; of Floridii, 39; of 
Georgia, 40; of Louisiana, 40; of Mississippi, 38; 
of Nortli Carolina, 45; of Texas, 41 ; of Virginia, 
42. 

Secessionville, description of, 346; Gen. 6cnham''s 
disastrous attack on a battery near, 347. 

Secretaries, reports of, to the Thirty-seventh Con- 
gress, 122. 123. 

Sedgwick, Gen. John, biographical sketch of, 517; 
iuiportant services of, at the battle of Seven 
Pines, 262; wounded at the battle of Antietam, 
8S1; at the battle of Chancellorsville, 448; ser- 
A'ices of, at the battle of Gettysburg. 460 ; forces 
the passage of tho Rai)pahannoek. at Rappahan- 
nock Station, 46S; organization of the Sixth Ar- 
my Corps under, 476,^ death of, 617. 

Selma, battle of, 738. 

Semmes, Cai>tain Raphael, command of the Ala- 
bama assumed by, 373 ; challenges tho Kear- 
sargo, 623; rescued by Mr. Lancaster in the 
Deerhound, 626. 

Senators, withdrawal of Southern, from the United 
States Senate, 8S; expulsion of, 124. 

Sequestration act passed by the Confederate Con- 
gress, 117. 

Seven days' battles on the Peninsula, 284-292. 

Seven Pines, battle of. See Fair Oaks. 

Seventh Regiment, Now Y'ork, departure of, for 
Wa.shinirtou, 78. 

Seward, Wm. H., reply of, to Southern commis- 
sioners, 61 ; charged with duplicity by John A. 
Campbell, 62; filial letter of tho Southern com- 
missioners to, 62; circular addressed by, to for- 
eign ministers. 217; actitm of, in relation to tho 
Paris Convention of 1S56, 116; on the depreda- 
tions of the Alabama, 375; life of, attempted by 
an assassin, 74S. 

Sevmour, Gen. lYuman, operations of, in Florida, 
616-619; defeated near Olustee, 61S. 

Shelby. Gen., routed at Boonville by the Missouri 
militi.a, 607. 

Shells, description of various, 228. 

Shenandoah Valley, operations of Jackson and 
Banks in, 265-270; operations of Gen. Jackson 
n, 272-279; operations of Gen. Ewell in, 451; 
operations of Gens. Sigel and llunter in, 549- 
554; destruction of grain and provisimis in, 643, 
649; houses destroyed in, 644; operations of 
Gen. Sheridan in, 641-656. 

Sherid.an, Gen. Philip Ilenry, biographical sketch 
of, 522; appointed to command the cavalry of 
the Army of the Potomac, 476; raid of, in rear 
of Lee's army, 522; supersedes Gen. Hunter, 
553; expedition of, against the Virginia Central 
Railroad, ,543 ; ettVct tjf the operations of, on the 
armies of Gens. Lee and Hood, 645; operations 
of, in the Shenandoah Vallev, 641-6,^6: raid of, 
from Winchester to the White House, 706, 707 ; 
wins the battle of Five Forks, 723 ; pursues Gen. 
Lee after the evacuation of Richmond, 724 



INDEX. 



775 



Shorman, Oon. Thomas W., bioj^raphical sketch of, 
19'J; In (•(iriiiiiaiKl of the troops in tijo Port 
Koyal expedition. 199; proclaiiiation addrussi-d 
by, IVoiii I'ort Itoyal, to tlio jioopic; of Soutli Caro- 
lina, 2011; opei'atiuns of, in tlio vicinity of Hilton 
Heail, :U'i: 6ii[)ei-siMlt-(l tiy Gen. Hunter, 314; 
loses II le;; at lln^ .siet;e of I'ort Hudson, 4157. 
Sherman. Gen. William 'I'eemnseh, biographical 
sketeli ,)f, 418; oi)era(io!!s lU', airainsl Vicksbur^c, 
418; placed in command r.l llie Army of tlie Ten- 
nessee, 49o; march of, from \icksbur? towards 
Chattanoo;.'a, 497; e.vi)edilion of, from Vicks- 
buri: to .Meridian, 002; operations of, in Georgia, 
5C7-."iy(); force under the command of. ."JOi; let- 
ter of, in relation to llie treatment of guerrillas, 
078; address of, to his troops. afliT the capture 
of Atlanta, M2 ; letter of, to Gen. Hood, in»i'ela- 
tion to the removal of civilians from Atlanta, 
594; letter of, li> Mayor Calhoun, in relation to 
the depopulation of A'tlanta, 029; operations of, 
in Oeoiifia, G79-GS6; march of, to (Savannah, ('>n[- 
6s:i; di.-,|)atch of, after the captin-e of Fort Mc- 
Allister, ()bS; special field orders of, for tliu 
march to Savannah. 080; orders of, afler.thc caj)- 
ture of .Savannah, (J-iH; operations of, from Sa- 
v.annah to Goldsboro', 708-710; notice and letter 
published by, at Savannah, 708, 709; eftorts of, 
to stop the progress of the tire at Columbia, 712; 
special field orders of, after the occupation of 
Goldsboro', 710; orders of, reorj.'anizins his ar- 
my, oi3; meetinf; of, with Gen. Johnston, 734; 
basis of agreement made by, with Johnston. 734, 
735; action of, disapproved of at Wasliington, 
735: iStatit n's reasons f<Jr disai)provinK of the 
action of, 736; receives the final surrender of 
Johnston, at J)urham Station. 730. 
Shiehls. Gen. James, biographical sketch of, 200; 

at the. battle of Wii|f'he.^ter, 207. 
Shiloli. battle of. See I'ittsburg Landing. 
Ship Island expedition, 202-200. 
Ship Island, Gen. Butler's force leaves, 304. 
Shreveport, movement of Gen. Banks's force to- 
wards, 000. 
Sickles, Gen., at the battle of Gettysburg, 459; 

wounded. 400. 
Siege of Atlanta, .187-591. 

Beaulort. N. C. .340-,342. 

Charleston. 34.5-347. 702. 

Corinth, by Gen. Halleck, 313-317. 

Corinth, by Price, Van Dorn, and LovcU, 
410. 

Fort Darling. 531. 

Fort Donelson. 175. 

Fort Fisher, 0^7-090, 69&-69a 

Fort Henry, 174. 

Fort Macon, N. C. 341. 

Fort Pulaski, 344. 

Fort Wa'.iner, 505-503. 

Fort Wrij.'lit, Tenn.. 314, 815. 

Island Number Ten, 303. 

Knoxville. 49S. 

Mobile, 610-01.5, 704-706. 

Newbern, 338-340. 

Petersburg, 039-549, 554-561. 

Plymouth, N. C, 020. 

Port Hudson, 43.5-^3. 

Savannah, 084. 

Yielisburg. 413-434 

Yorkti>wh, 241-245. 
Sigcl, Gen. Franz, biographical sketch of, 148; 
retreat of, i'rom Brier Forks to Carthage, 100: 
defeat of his column at Wilson's Creek, 149; 
comiiiand assumed by, at Harpers Ferry, 278; 
Bnccee(!S Fremont in command of the First 
Army Corps of the Army of Virginia. 279; im- 
portant services of, j^t the battle of Pea Itidsie, 
801: co-operative movement of, in the valley of 
the Shenandoah. 480; defeat of; by Breckinridtre, 
at Keed's Hill, 050; di-iven from Alartinsburg to 
Harper's Ferry. 



Sill, Col., large number of prisoners taken by, at 
Stevenson, Ala., 312. 

Slave lalior, great iu'n-ease of the demand for, 20. 

Slavery, i;rowlh of Northern opposition to, 20; 
efl'orts to introduce into Kansas. 29; abolition 
of, in tlie l)isti-ict of (Joluudiia and the Territo- 
ries, 8.'j7; am('n(lment of the ('onstitulion iu 
relation to, submitted to tlie States, 003. 

Slavery extension, question of, supposetl to have' 
been settled by tlie Missouri Comiiromi.se, 22. 

Slaves, fugitive, order of (ien. Halleck in relation 
to, 290; additional article of war, prohibiting tho 
return of, 302. 

Slaves in Confederate military service, act for tho 
confiscation of, 12.j. 

Slaves of rebels in Missouri declared free by Gon. 
Fremont, 154. 

Slave States, forts in, at the outbreak of the rebel- 
lion, «5. 

Slave trade, action of the Confederate Congress In 
relation to the, 49. 

Slidell and Mason, seizure of, by Captain Wilkes, 
222; restored to the British flag, 223; acUon of 
Con'.:ress with re<.'ard to. 354. 

Slocum, Gen., at the jjattle of Antietam, 362; at 
the battle of Gettysburg, 401 ; relieves Gen. 
Hooker in Georgia. OsO. 

Sloops, screw, built for the n.avy, 189. 

Small-pox, South Candina Convention ailjourned 
to Charleston on account of, 85. 

Smith, Gen. A. J., defeats Marmaduke near Lake 
Village, 608. 

Smith, Gen. C. F"., intrenchmentsat Fort Donelsim 
stormed l)y, 170. 

Smith. Gen. jMlmnnd Kirby, biographical sketch 
of, 003; at Bull Run, 102; wounded, 103; opera- 
tions of, in Kentucky, 399; sin-render of, 755. 

Smith, Gen. .M. B., wounded in Sherman's attempt 
on Vicksbui;;, 419. 

Sndth, (Jen. \V. K., in Butler's attack on Fort Dar- 
lin'.', 531 ; detached from Butler's army, with tho 
JCi'-diteenth Oirp.s, lo i-eenforce Grant, .W2. 

Smith an<l Grierson, cavalry expedition of, from 
Memphis towards Meridian, .002. 

Snake Creek Gap, passage of, by Sherman's army, 
009. 

Soul6, Pierre, arrest of. at New Orleans, 807. 

Sounds of North Carolina, (KJcupation of, by Fed- 
eral forces, 207. 

South Carolina, opposition in, to the tariffs of 1828 
and 1832, 23-20; nullification in, in 1832, 24; 
Secession Ordiiumce of, 35; Convention of, acl- 
iourjied lo Charleston, 35: proclamation ad- 
dressed to the people of, by Gen. T. W. ShermaI^ 
201 ; Gen. W. ']'. Sherman in, 711. 

South .Mountain, battle of, 4.57. 

Spain, policy of the governmeivt ol, 220 

Spanish Fort, Mobile, siege and surrender.of, 704- 

Speci'e payments, early st]8pen.sion of, by Southern 

banks. 119. t «• /-i „n„ 

SiJottsvlvania Court-House, movement ol Grant? 

army towards. 510; Lee's army at, 517; fighting 

before, 519-521 ; Grant's operations before, 519-. 

525- further attempts against abandonc-d, .525. 
Spra-ue, Judge, on the law in relation to piracy, 

Si)rin''li<-ld. Mo., occupation of. by Gen. Lyon, 148; 

' occupation oi; bv the ConlederaU-s under Gen. 
MeCulIoeh. 149; Zagony is charge upon the rebel 
rear-guard at, 159; movements ot Gen. Marma- 
duke airainst. 60.5. 

SpriiiL'Held aiiiiorv, capacity of the. 90. 

Springfi.-ld rifle, description of the, 224. 

S|.ring Hill, Federal brigade surprised at, by Van 
Dorn, 460. 

Stamp duties. 350. 

Stanly, Hi>n. Kdward. apjiomted military governor 
of North Carolina, 342. 

Stanton, Edwin M., appointed Secretary of War, 



11Q 



INDEX. 



215; correspondence of, with Gen. Halleck, in 
relation to the condition of McClellan's army, 
388. 

Star of the West, sent to re-enforce Fort Sumter, 
52; iireil upon, 66; seized off the coast of Texas 
& by Col. Van Dorn, 75. 

I State riirhts, action of Jeiferson and Madison in 
» favor of, 19. 

State Kis^hits and Federal parties, early conflicts of, 
18. 

State rights doctrine in New England in 1815, 21. 

State sovereignty, said by Gov* Hayne to be " es- 
tablished," 25. 

Staunton, property destroyed at, by Gen. Hunter, 
550. 

Steamers, side-wheel, built for the navy, 189. 

Steel cannon, advantage oi^ and how manufactured, 
227. 

Steele, Gen., operations of, in Arkansas, towards 
Shreveport, 603 ; retreat of, to Little Rock, 604 ; 
operations of, in Arkansas, against Marmaduke 
and Holmes, 606. 

Stephens, Alexander H., biographical sketch of, 
114; repeai of the Missouri Compromise pro- 
cured by, 28; opiiosed to secession, 40; mission 
oi; from Jetf. Davis to President Lincoln, 465; 
conference of Mr. Seward with, at Fortress Mon- 
roe, 744; capture of, 755. 

Stevens, Gen., death of, 835. 

Stevenson, Ala., occi^iation of, by Col. Sill, 812. 

Stock, large issues of, authorized, 350, 351. 

Stokes, Capt. John II., arms in the St. Louis ar- 
senal secured by, 104. 

Stone, Capt. Charles P., biographical sketch of, 640. 

Stone fleets sent to the entrances of Charleston and 
Savannah harbors and at Oei'acoke Inlet, 202 ; 
English opinion with regard to the use of, 202. 

Stoneman, Gen., cavalry raid of, in Virginia, 444, 
447^149; raid of, towards the Macon road, 5S4; 
defeat and capture of, 585; appointed to com- 
mand in East Tennessee, 732; operations of, in 
Southwest Virginia and North Carolina, 733. 

Stone Kiver, battle of, 413-417; results of the bat- 
tle of 480. 

Strasburg, retreat of Sigel upon, 550. 

"Strateiry" distinsuished from "tactics." 135. 

Streight, Col., defeat and capture of, by Forrest and 
Koddy, 481; imprisoned on a charge of inciting 
slaves to rebellion, 481. 

Stuart, Gen. James E. B., biographical sketch of, 
522; raid of round the rear of McClellan's posi- 
tion, 280; raid of into Maryland and Pennsylva- 
nia, 386 ; driven out of Hagerstown, 464 ; mor- 
tally wounded near Kiehmond, 522. 

Sudley Spring, late arrival of McDowell's troops 
at, iOO. 

Suffolk, occupatiorf if, 257. 

Suinner, Gen., at the battle of Antietam, 381; re- 
lieved from duty with the Army of the Potomac, 
398. 

Sumiei-, steamer, cruise of the, 194; abandoned at 
Gibraltar, 371. 

Suppression of disloyal newspapers in the North, 
133. 

Swift Creek, advance of Gens. Smith and Gillmore 
to, 530. 



Tacony, revenue cutter Caleb Gushing captured by 
the crew of the, 375. 

"Tactics" distinguished from " strategy," 1.35. 

Taney, Chief-Justice Koger B., decision of, in the 
Dred Scott case, 28; oath administered by, to 
Mr. Lincoln, 60; action of, in relation to the 
Presidentis suspension of the Aa6erts coi'pus,lSO. 

Tariff act <ii 1828, opposition o, on the part of 
isouth Carolina, 28. 

Tariff bill of March 2, 1S61, provisions of, 58. 

Tarissa Island, cargo transferred to the Alabama 
at, 872. 



Tatnall, Commodore, in command of rebel gun- 
boats at Port Koyal, 199; the Merrimac de- 
stroyed by, 257. 
Taxation, necessity for, 350. 
Taxation in the Confederate States, 119. 
Taylor, Gen. Dick, surrender of to Gen. Canby, 755. 
Teche Bayou, expedition to the region of the, 486. 
Tecumseh, iron-clad, sunk by a torpedo in the at- 
tack on Mobile, 612. 

Tennessee, secession of, 45; popular vote in, for 
secession; 45; Senator Andrew Johnson ap- 
pointed military governor of 178; military op- 
erations in, 4S0-.501, 561 ; Gen. Grant assumes 
command of the army in, 495. 

Tennessee, rebel ram, 'fight of, with Farragut's 
gunboats, 612. 

Tennessee Eiver, description of, 173. 

Tennessee, Western, Gen. Grant appointed to the 
command of, 818. 

Territories, abolition of slavery in the, 357. 

Terry, Gen., expedition against Fort Fisher nnder 
the command of, 696; operations of, against Wil- 
mington, 700; occupies Wilmington, 701. 

Texas, consequences of the annexation of, 27; pop- 
ular vote in, for secession, 41 ; secession ordi- 
nance of, 41 ; Federal forces, &c., in, surrendered 
by Gen. Twiggs, 67 ; operations of Gen. Banks 
in, 596, 598. 

Tliomas, Adjutant-General, order written by, to 
Gen. Fremont in Missouri, 159; general orders 
of McClellan to, 239. 

Thomas, Gen. George Henry, biographical sketch 
of, 487; important services of, at the battle of 
Chickamauga, 488: placed in comm.and of the 
Army of the Cumberland, 495; jilan of, for open- 
ing the Tennessee, 496; at Lookout Mountain, 
500; force under the command of. May, 1864, 
668; sent to Nashville, 63(#: directed to occupy 
Hood in Tennessee, 633; his defence of Nash- 
ville, 635-640; defeats Hood and drives him over 
the Tennessee, 040. 

Thompson, Gen. A. P., killed at Paducah, 564. 

Thouvenel, M., conversation of, with Mr. Dayton, 
217. 

Tilghman, Gen. Lloyd, his surrender of Fort Hen- 
ry, 174., 

Toombs, Eobert, biographical sketch of, 114; ap- 
p intod brigadier-gener.al, 118. 

Torbert, Gen., destruction effected by, at Guin- 
ney's Station, 525. 

Trade, home and foreign, liow affected by the war, 
352. 

Treachery in the Federal War Department, 100. 

Treason, opinions of United States judges as to 
what constitutes the crime of, 182. 

Treasury, Federal, condition of, in 1861, 123. 

Treatise, short, on the art of war, 184-13!). 

Treaty made with Creek Indians, 1825, 23. 

Trent, steamship. Mason and Slidell taken from, 
by Captain Wilkes, 222 ; action of Congress with 
regard to the capture of 354. 

Troops, Confederate, number of in the field, Janu- 
ary, 1S62, 118; volunteer and regular, liow raised 
and jiaid, 117,118; large proportion of, to the 
population, 118; number of, in the Federal ser- 
vice in IsOl, 122; severe measures taken to pro- 
cure, in the Confederate States, 128, 129; Union 
and Confederate, in Kentucky, 166. 

Twisgs, Gen. David E., treason and dismissal of, 
67r 

Tybee Island, occupation of, 202 ; oi)erations on, 
against Fort Pulaski, 344. 

Tyler, Gen., advance of to Centreville, 99; defea( 
and pursuit of, by Gen. Jackson, 277; repulse^ 
an attack by Ewell, 526. 

Tyler, John, president of the convention of States 
invited by Virginia, 56. 



Unadilla, gunboat, description of, 190. 



ESTDEX. 



Ill 



Union City, surrender of, by Col. Harkins,'to For- 
rest, 563. 
United States debt, tabular statement of the, 678. 



Vallandigham, arrest and banishment of, 657; 
Democratic nominee for governor of ()liio^658. 

Valley of the Shenandoah. See Shenandoah Val- 
ley. 

Valley of Virginia, Gen. Patterson's operations in 
the, 103, 109: 

Van Dorn, Gen. Eai-lo, biographical sketch of, 297 ; 
Star of the West seized by, otf the Texas coast, 
75; in command of Confederates at the battle of 
Pea Kidge, 293; force concentrated under, at 
Vicksburg, 863 oiierations of, in Tennessee, 
431. 

Vicksburg, d jcription of, 868; bombardment of. 
by Commodore Porter, 303; batteries of, passed 
by Farragiit's fleet, 363; canal on the peninsula 
opposite, 869; siege of, abajidoned. 370; an ex- 
pedition organized against, under Sherman and 
Grant, 412 ; siege of, 413-432 ; Porter's fleet pass 
the batteries at, 422; assaults upon, 429; corre- 
spondence between Gens. Grant and Pemberton 
in relation to the surrender of 4.30-132 ; chrono- 
logical record of the siege of, 433 ; cheering effect 
in the North of the fall t>f, 434; expedition of 
Sherman from, to Meridian, 562; operations of 
McPherson from, 597. 

Viele, Gen. Egbert L., appointed military governor 
of Norfolk, 257. 

Vienna, Va., Gen. Behenck surprised near, 91. 

Virginia, popular vote in, for secession, 43 ; decides 
to join the Confederacy, 74; first advance of 
Federal troops into, 86, i^ physical formation 
of, 97. 

Virginia Central Railroad, destruction eflfected on, 
by Sheridan, 543, 707. 

Virginia Convention, secessi(m ordinance passed 
by the, 42 ; Confederate Constitution adopted 
by, 43 ; reply of Mr. Lincoln to the Commission- 
ers of the, 62. 

Virginia Legislature, action of, favoring the Crit- 
tenden compromise, 55; resolutions passed by, 
inviting a Convention of States, 55. 

Virginia ordinance of secession, 42. 

"Virginiii, Western, action of the loyal convention, 
88; senators from, admitted to Congress, 89; 
McClellan's operations in, 110-113; other mili- 
tary operations in, 180-186. 

Virginia, "Western and Eastern, black and white 
population in, 181. 

Voltigeurs, organized by Napoleon, 187. 

Volunteers, the President's second call for, 93; 
abundance of, 95. 

Volunteer troops, p.ay of, 142. 

Vote, popular, at the Presidential election of 1860, 
83. 

Vote, popular, for secession, 39, 41, 43, 45. 

Votes for Lincoln and McClellan, in 1S64, 663. 



"Wachusett captures the Florida in the bay of San 
Salvador, 627. 

Wadsworth, Gen. James Samuel, bio^rraphical 
sketch of, 513; his report of the forces left under 
his command for the defence of Washington, 
240 ; death of, 51.3. 

Wallace, Colonel, routs a body of secession troops 
at Eomney, 111. 

Wallace, Gen. Lewis, proclaims m.arti.al law in Cin- 
cinnati, 403 ; defeat of, at the Monocacy, 552. 

Walker, William, expeditions of, into Nicaragua, 
P 29. 

War, art of, rem.arka on the, 134-139. 

War Department, Federal, treachery in, 100. 

War Dep.artment frauds, 52. 

War order, Presidc-nt Lincoln's first, 215. 

War powers of the Government, 355. 



Ward, Capt. James H., death and biographical 
sketch of, 93. 

Warren, Gen., organization of the Fifth Army 
Corps under, 475 ; operations of, against the Wel- 
don Railroad, 505; superseded by order of Gen. 
Sheridan, 723. 

Warsaw Sound, contest in, between the Atlanta 
and Weehawken, 503. 

Washington, Federal Constitution not satisfactory 
to, 13; measures taken by, to suppress the Whis- 
key Rebellion, 19. 

Washington, Col. John A., death of, 179. 

Washington, Gen. Mansfield's report of the number 
of troops in, June, 1361, 96; disorderly crowds 
of troops in, 140; Col. Porter appointed provost- 
maashal in, 141; system of earthworks con- 
structed for the defence of, 144; trcjops employed 
in strengthening the defences of, 210; force left 
for the defence of, under Gen. W.adsworth, 240; 
corps of McDowell retained for the defence of, 
241 ; anxiety of President Lincoln for the secu- 
rity of, 236, 373 ; alai-in caused in, by the move- 
ments of Jackson, 272 ; 50,000 militia called for, 
for the defence of Washinston, 274; threatened 
by a rebel force under Early, 552; the Sixth 
Corps detached from Grant's army for the de- 
fence of, 544. 

Washington, N. 0., evacuation of, by the Federal 
garrison, 621. 

Webster, Daniel, the nullification doctrine anni- 
hilated by, 23; on the Constitution, 25. 

Weehawken, monitor, fight of, with the iron-clad 
Atlanta, 503. 

Weitzel, Gen., assault of, en Port Hudson, 439 ; en- 
trance of, into Richmond, 724. 

Weldon Railroad, oper.ations against the, 542; ope- 
rations of the Fifth Corps against, 555; Hill's 
attack upon the Fifth Corps near, 556; destruc- 
tion ettected on the, 657. 

Weldou and Danville Railroads, e.tpedition of Wil- 
son and Kautz against, 544. 

Western Virginia, "McClellan's operations in, 110- 
113. See Virginia, Western. 

West Point, new oath adcaiuistered to the cadets 
at, 143. 

West Point, Miss., defeat of Smith and Grierson 
at, by Forrest. 563. 

West Point, on the Chattahoochie, capture of, 738. 

Wheeler, Gen., captures the train of the Four- 
teenth Corps, 494. 

Wheeling, proceedings of the Western Virginia 
convention at, 83. 

Whipple, Gen., death of at Chancellorsville, 450. 

Whiskev Rebellion, history of the, IS. 

White House, destinetion of stores at. 287; be- 
comes the new base of Grant's army, 529. 

White River, expedition to, 317. 

Whitwort'agun, description of the, 226. 

Wigfall, Gen., visit of, to Fort Sumter during tho 
bombardment, 70. 

Wilder, Col., his defence of Mumfordsville, Ky., 
401. 

Wilderness, b.attles of the, .509-515. 

Wilkes, Captain, account of his seizure of Mason 
and Slidell, 222 ; action of, apjiroved by Congress, 
354. 

Wilkins, Mr., measures proposed by, for the coer- 
cion of South Carolina in 1833, 2.5. 

Willey, Mr. W. T., admitted to the Senate from 
Western Virginia, 124. 

William Aiken, revenue cutter, surrender of, 65. 

Williamsburg, battle of, 253. 

Williams, Gen., Baton Rouge occupied by, 368; 
attacked by Gens. Breckinridge and Rugglea, 
370 ; death of, 370. 

Williamsport, defeat of Gen. Imboden at, 464 ; 
Lee's army at, 465. 

Wilmington, operations of Admir.al Porter and 
Gen..Butler ag.ainst, 687-690; amount of English 
capital invested in the trade with, note, 687 ; 



778 



INDEX. 



operations of Gen. Terry as^inst, 700; occupa- 
tion of, by Tony's forces, 701. 

"Wilson, Geu. James H.. raid of, in Alabama anil 
Southern Georgia, 7S7-T:?S). 

Wilson and Kaiitz, expedition of, against the "Wel- 
don and Danville liailroads, 544. " 

Wilson, Mr., conscription law brought into Con- 
gress bv, 302. 

Wilson"3"Cr>ek, Mo.. Mtfle of, 149. 

Wilson's Wharf, Fitzhugh Lee repulsed by colored 
troops at, r>o2. 

Winans, Mr. Uoss, attempt of, to send a steam-gun 
to Harper's Ferry, S2. 

Winchester, Gen. J. K. Johnston at, 9S; b.attles 
of, '2()7, C46 ; advance of Ewell's corps against, 

Winder, Gen. G. IT., his infamous treatment of 
ITniiiii prisdiiers at Aiulersonville, 741. 

WinsUnv. C'a|itaiM, details of his action with the 
AlabauKi, 02o-ti2G; his own account of the action, 
625; his account of the conduct of the Deer- 
hoimd, 626. 

Winthrop, Major Theodore, biooraphical sketch of, 
93; death of, at Big Bethel, 93. 

Wirz, t'apt. Henry, tried for cruelty to Union 

Wfirisoiiers, 741. 
ise. Gen., rapid retreat of, from Gauley Bridge, 
before Gen. Go.x, ISl. 
Woodbury, Gen., testimony of, in relation to the 
Fredericksburg failure, o95. 



Woodstock, dispatch of Bherld.an froni,C4S. 
Wool, Gen. John E., biographical sketch of, 68; 

occupation of Norfolk by, 257. 
WonloM, C"apt„ his fight with the Merrimac, in 

the Monitor, 24S. 



Tanccv, Mr., appointed Confederate Commissioner 
to Europe, 116. 216. 

Yazoo liiver, expedition of Col. EUet up the, 869. 

Vellow fever, attempt of T>r. Blackmoro to intro- 
duce into the Tnitod Stntes, 744. 

York, Pa., eontribntioM lex led upon by Early, 456. 

York Kiver, McClellan abandons his base on the, 
2S7. 

Yorktown, description of the defences of, 248; 
siego of, 241-245; evacuation of, by the Confed- 
erate forces, 251. 



Zagonyi, Major, noted charge of, with the body- 
guard of Gen. Fremont, 159. 

Zeigler, Col., part of the town of Guj-audotte 
burned by, l!?5. 

ZoUicotfer, Felix R.. appointed brigadier-general 
in the Confederate service, IIS; occui)ies Cum- 
berland Gap, 164 ; camp of, at Mill (Spring, 171 ; 
defeat and death of, near Mill Spriuir, 172." 

Zouaves, New York Fire, at Alexandria, 90; night 
attack on, at Santa Kosa Island, 207. 



THE END. 



Ja!S. iij, .I'b, 



HISTORY* OF TIIR GREAT EliliELLION. 



MILITARY TETIMS. 

Abatis. — An iutrenchinent of felled trees, willi their branchea sharp- 
eued so as to present a wall of pointed stakes to tlio enemy. 

Adjutant, — A staft' officer who transmits orders, details and mounts 
guards, &c. The Adjutant-General is the priucii)al staff officer 
of the army ; he supervises the camp, and is the organ of the 
general commanding. 

Aide-de-Uamp. — Attendant of a general officer who receives and 
bears orders, &c. 

Alarm Post. — Place of assembly in case of alarm. 

Alignment. — Placing in line. 

Appkoaohes. — Trenches by which besiegers ^^jiproach a fortified place ; 
they are opposed by count er-apjrroaches. 

Apeon. — The piece of leather or sheet lead which covers tlio vent of a 
cannon. 

Assembly. — Signal to form by company. 

Banquette, — An elevation of eartli within a fort, three or four fee* 
wide, and less than live feet from the toj) of the parapet, to ena- 
ble short men to fire over it. 

Basbette-G UNs stand on raised platforms and fire over the parapet, 
thus having a free range. 

Barricade. — To block up, obstruct. 

Bastion. — A work at one of the angles of a fortification, consisting 
of two faces and two flanks. 

Berm. — A narrow space between parapet and ditch. 

Bivouac. — To camp round fires withyut the shelter of tents. 

Cadence. — Uniform time and step in marcliing. 

Caisson. — The ammunition wagon accompanying a cannon. 

Calihue. — Diameter of the bore of a piece. 

Cantonments. — Soldiers' quarters in towns and villages. 

Capitulate. — To surrender on conditions. 

Cartel. — Agreement for an exchange of prisoners. 

Cascabel. — The knob at the breech of a gun. 

Casemate. — Bomb-proof chambers in fortifications from which gun» 
are fired through windows, called embrasures. 

Cashier. — To dismiss ignominiously. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBflLLION. , 

Cavalier. — A work in tlie interior of a bastion. 

Chase of a Gun. — Its length from trunnions to muzzle. 

Cheek. — The timber side of a gun-carriage. 

Chevaux-de-Frise. — Square beams, six to nine feet long, from which 
pointed stakes project at right angles ; used to stop breaches, &o. 

CiBOUMVALLATiON, LiNE OF. — A low parapet and trench of earthwork 
encircling a besieged place. 

Camp Colors. — Flags eighteen inches square, to mark evolutions. 

Commissary. — Provision purchaser. 

Convoy. — A detached guard to accompany supplies. 

Corps. — A body of troops under one commander. 

CouNTEEsoAEP. — Outcr Wall or slope of the ditch of a fort. 

Countersign. — Password. 

Cuirassiers. — Heavy cavalry with breastplates or cuirasses. 

Curtain. — The line of flat wall between two bastions. 

Deploy. — To mauceuvre troops from column into line of battle. 

Dragoons. — Cavalry who sometimes serve on foot. 

Eohelon. — An arrangement of troops, by which front and flanks 
are alike protected. 

Embrasure. — An opening in a wall or defence, through which to 
fire guns. 

Enfilade. — To rake the whole length of a work or line. 

Eprouvette. — A small mortar for testing gunpowder. 

Escalade. — An assault with scaling ladders. 

False Attack. — A strategic feint. 

Fascines. — Bound bundles of long twigs used for fortifications, &o. 

Field Officers. — Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Major. 

File. — A line of men one behind the other. 

Flanks. — Sides. 

Flying Sap. — A line of gabions, behind which men approach a de- 
fence. 

Forage. — Oats, hay and straw for horses. 

Forlorn Hope. — A party selected to begin an attack. 

Fugle-Man. — A drilled soldier who acts as guide in the manual, &o. 

Fuse. — The means by which a shell is exploded. 

Gabion. — A bottomless cylindrical basket, used in building intrench- 
ments. 

General Officers. — All above the rank of colonel. 

Glacis. — Parapet of the covered way of fortifications. 

Grape. — Large shot packed in bags by nines, and used for cannon. 

Grenade. — A shell thrown from the hand. 

Grenadiers. — Company on the right of a regiment, bearing hand-gre- 
nades. 

Guidons. — Small cavalry and light artillery flags. 



HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

GrwpowPER. — Ooinposition of 76 parts saltpetre, 14 charcoal, and 
10 sulplmr. 

Haversack.— A cotton or linen bag for a soldier's rations. 

Holsters. — Pistol eases on cavalry saddles. 

Howitzer. — Oliambered cannon for firing canister, hollow shot, &c. 

Interval. — Distance between platoons, companies, regiments, &c. 

Invest. — To shut up within a town or camp. 

Knapsack. — Foot soldier's traveling bag, strapped on his back, and 
containing clothing and necessaries. 

Light Infantry. — Infixntry scattered as skirmishers. 

Links. — Thongs of leather to enchain cavalry horses. 

Magazine. — Chamber for arms, ammunition, provisions, &c. 

Mine. — A passage dug under military works and stocked with pow- 
der to blow them up. 

Moetae. — A short chambered gun with large bore, for throwing 
shells, &c. 

Muster. — Parade of troops for inspection. 

Orderly. — A soldier attendant upon an officer. 

Ordnance Corps. — A corps of officers iu charge of arms and am- 
munition. 

OuT-PosT. — A body of troops posted beyond the regular lines. 

OuT-WoRKS. — Works outside the regular fortifications. 

Paixhan. — A large howitzer. 

Parallels. — The lines or trenches by which besiegers approach a 
fort. 

Paeapet. — A barrier of earth to intercept the fire of an enemy. 

Paek. — A number of cannon in close order. 

Paeley. — Conference. 

Paeole. — Word of honor given by a prisoner to his captor. 

Pateol. — Small guard under a non-commissioned officer, whose duty 
it is to preserve order in the encampment. 

Picket. — A small out-post guard. 

Pontoons. — Small boats to aid in the formation of bridges. 

PoBT-FiEE. — A match for firing cannon. 

Peoyost-Marshal. — Army-sheriff. 

Quartermaster. — Officer providing quarters and clothing. 

Rank.— A line of men side by side. Banh and file include privates 
and non-commissioned officers. 

Ration. — Daily allowance of food. 

Reconnoitre. — To survey, examine. 

Redoubt. — A small fortification. 

Relief.— One-third of a guard. Each third is on duty two hours and 
off four. 

Resebve.— Select body of troops retained in the rear. 



' »«« HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 

Bbvetlle.-— Beat of the drum at daybreak. 

Ricochet. — Rebounding of shot from the ground at a very obtuse 

angle. 
lliFLE.— Any fire-arm with a curved groove in tlie barrel. 
Roster. — List of oflBcers and men, by which to regulate their duties. 
RouxD. — A general discharge of cannon and musketry. 
Rounds. — Visiting or personal inspection of the guards and sentries. 
Safeguaed. — A passport. 
Salient. — An advanced angle. 
Sallt-Pokt. — CJiief entrance to a fort, 
■Sap. — An excavation by which to approach a fort or between 

trendies. 
Shells. — Hollow balls filled with explosive material, fired by a fuse. 
Skirmish. — A loose, desultory kind of engagement between small de- 

tacliments. 
Sorties. — Sally parties. 
Spherical-Case Shot. — Thin shells, loaded with musket-balls, for a 

• howitzer. 
Squadron. — Two troops of cavalry. 
Staff. — Officers attached to headquarters. 
Subaltern. — Any commissioned officer below a captain. 
Surgeon. — Army doctor. 
Tactics. — Knowledge of the order, disposition and formation of 

troops. 
Tattoo. — Drum beat at 9i p. m., for retiring. 
Traverses. — Parapets of earth thrown up as a protection against 

ricochet shots. 
Trenches. — Ditches. 
Troop. — Company of cavalry. 
Videttes. — Out-post sentries on horseback. 
Vent. — The passage of a gun or cannon which connects with the 

charges, — and through which the spark passes to discharge it. 
Windage. — Difference between the diameter of the shot and bore. 
"Wings. — Right and left divisions of an army. 
Zouaves. — Light infantry, originally Arabs and Moors. 



TO CANVASSING AGENTS. 



"We want every adult person in the United States to have a chance to 
purchase Kettells' one VoL History of the Great Rebellion. It is by far 
the best adapted to the want of the people of any work on the subject. It 
is sold for a small sum ; imparts a vast amount of information ; is emi^ 
nently a matter of fact History, not political in character; every letter was 
put in type long after the war was closed ; consequently more reliable than 
any history could be, one volume of which was prepared two years before 
the close of the war. 

THE SECOND CANVASS. 

We are satisfied that the second Canvass will in many places be more 
successful than the first ; after the work has been distributed through the 
Country, people will have a chance to compai'e it with other Histories and 
will find it so much more reliable, especially, than the first volume of the 
two volume Histories, and so much valuable information contained in it 
not found in others, that they will give it the preference. Thousands who 
have other works will purchase this for the valuable matter in it not found 
in the works they have. The Biographical Sketches alone are worth the 
price of this work. We want Agents to canvass every Town, City and 
Village that have not been canvassed. We also want the entire Country to 
have a second Canvass ; would like some one to canvass their own town 
the second time, see how many they can sell, then order the books. Very 
liberal commission" will be given. 

For Circulars, or any information, address as follows : 

New England States, Eastern Penn., Canada ; L. Stebbins, Hartford, 

Conn. 
New York State ; H. E. Goowin, Syracuse, New York. 
New Jersey and Delaware ; Geo. F. Tuttle, New York. 
Maryland, West Virginia, Western Penn. ; P. Garrett & Co., Philadel- 
phia, Penn. 

Ohio, Michigan and all States west ; Henry Howe, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
The services of disabled soldiers are especially solicited. 



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